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Common Cause Partner-in-Focus
Next week, representatives of eight bodies in the Anglican tradition will be meeting in Pittsburgh. Representing several churches, and a number of organizations, “Common Cause Partners” have worked to help unify orthodox Anglican mission and witness in North America.
Two of the eight Common Cause partners are based in Canada. The 650,000 Canadian Anglicans have been embroiled in much the same crisis as The Episcopal Church (TEC) over the past several decades. The crisis intensified in Canada after the diocese of New Westminster voted in 2002 to bless same-sex unions and the General Synod of the Anglican Church in Canada voted in 2004 to affirm “the integrity and sanctity of committed adult same-sex relationships.”
Anglican Essentials Canada (AEC), a Common Cause Partner, was launched at “The Way Forward” conference in Ottawa in August 2004 after the actions of the Canadian General Synod in June 2004 further damaged its relationship with the rest of the Anglican Communion. The Essentials Council, a coalition of the Prayer Book Society of Canada, Barnabas Anglican Ministries and Anglican Renewal Ministries, laid the groundwork for the official formation of AEC.
AEC is comprised of a board with an equal number of members from the leadership of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) and the Essentials Federation, each of which have separate membership processes. The two groups have different but complementary responses to the current crisis. Through AEC, they come together to develop initiatives for common mission and ministry and to speak with one voice where possible.
The Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), which functions much like the Anglican Communion Network (ACN) in the U.S., is building an ecclesial body for those biblically-faithful Canadian Anglicans who wish to remain part of the Anglican Communion if the Anglican Church of Canada “walks apart.” In the meantime, ANiC is also there to support orthodox Anglicans in Canada who are in serious theological dispute with their bishop, diocese or province and require Adequate Episcopal Oversight.
The Essentials Federation plans to be a strong voice and presence at General Synod 2007, making every effort to persuade the Anglican Church in Canada to repent and choose to return to full membership in the global Communion. In the next year, the Federation will develop print and electronic materials such as conference DVDs, lectures, reports and teaching packages to foster members’ awareness and understanding of developments in their dioceses, the national church and global Anglicanism. “We’ve partnered with a national Christian TV station to develop these resources with excellence, on topics like scriptural authority, to distribute to the people who need them,” said Michael Daley, Communications Officer for Anglican Essentials Canada.
Daley was part of the ACN’s press team and an observer at TEC’s General Convention in Columbus in June. The Primates asked the Anglican Church of Canada, just as they did TEC, to voluntarily withdraw from participation in the Communion bodies until 2008 while they respond to the recommendations in the Windsor Report. This request was supported by the Anglican Consultative Council in June 2005. Daley said, “We are two entirely different provinces and Canada may not respond in the same fashion as TEC, but many Canadian Anglicans believe the Canadian church will follow in the footsteps of TEC. Others are hopeful that the Canadian Church will turn back from the course we are on. However, we need to be prepared for the possibility that the Anglican Church of Canada may not come out of this intact.”
AEC is also preparing for the election of a successor to the current Primate, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, which will occur at the General Synod in 2007. “We will have a conservative coalition at our General Synod,” continued Daley, “I have learned a lot from the Anglican Communion Network in watching how they partnered with other conservative orthodox groups at General Convention. The strength of the friendships we have established with our Common Cause partners in the last couple of years and during General Convention, speaks volumes about our future relationship. We are very encouraged by the work being done on both sides of the border to maintain and promote unity among orthodox Anglicans in North America. We are particularly grateful for the work of the ACN in taking the initiative to lead the Common Cause movement in these difficult times.”