Talk:Anglican Communion

I have reincluded the Anglican Church in North America. There is a dispute in the Anglican Communion about whether the ACNA is a province or not, with some primates giving recognition and others not. There also exists conflicting evidence of recognition from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Because the issue at hand is not a simple yes-or-no, and largely depends on which faction in the Anglican Communion one belongs to, I believe that the best way to give accurate information is to include it as a province, with a note on the dispute that includes citations. This seems more accurate than simply not including it on the page whatsoever. Similar to the recognition of countries as sovereign states, where not all UN member states give recognition, I believe this is the best approach for a listing of provinces within the Anglican Communion. See List of states with limited recognition.Afuller2028 (talk) 21:32, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

No.

The ACNA is not a province of the Anglican Communion. First and foremost, including the ACNA on the list of provinces here contradicts what is stated on the ACNA article: "Unlike the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, the ACNA is not a member province of the Anglican Communion." along with four different citations to independent sources supporting that fact. One of those sources is the Anglican Communion's website itself listing the thirty-nine provinces of the Anglican Communion—and the ACNA is not listed as one of those thirty-nine provinces. In addition, as recent as September, the secretary general of the Anglican Communion has stated in no uncertain terms that the ACNA is not a province.

This actually is a very simple yes-or-no. — D. Wo. 17:24, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

All due respect, but quite frankly, I'm simply trying to display the most accurate information as possible on this page. Here are the facts as best as I can sort them out:

• 1789: The Episcopal Church officially established and separated from the Church of England after its leading clergy are consecrated as bishops (Samuel Seabury by bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church including the Primus of Scotland; William White and Samuel Provoost by bishops of the Church of England including the Archbishop of Canterbury—making them, in the words of scholar Arthur Carl Piepkorn, "the first Anglican bishop(s) appointed to minister outside the British Isles".^[1]
• 1874: By the middle of the 19th century, evangelical Episcopalians disturbed by High Church Tractarianism, while continuing to work in interdenominational agencies, formed their own voluntary societies, and eventually, in 1874, a faction objecting to the revival of ritual practices established the Reformed Episcopal Church.^[2]
• 2004: In June 2004, the leaders of six conservative Anglican organizations — the Anglican Communion Network, the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Anglican Mission in America, Forward in Faith North America, the Anglican Province of America, and the American Anglican Council —sent a public letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, pledging "to make common cause for the gospel of Jesus Christ and common cause for a united, missionary and orthodox Anglicanism in North America".^[3] They called their alliance the Common Cause Partnership and drafted a theological statement in 2006.^[4]
• 2006: In 2006, the General Convention elected Katharine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop. She is the first and, currently, the only woman to become a primate in the Anglican Communion. Schori's election was controversial in the wider Anglican Communion because not all of the communion recognizes the ordination of women.^[5]
• 2007: In September 2007, fifty-one bishops met in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to discern direction and to bind themselves constitutionally, saying they intended to found an "Anglican union". Some of the bishops present were foreign bishops, including a retired archbishop.^[6][7] Features of note from the result of the initial meeting include a broad sharing of clergy between the varied groups, an intention to be a "missionary" or church-planting entity,^[8] and an intention, after a brief time, to seek international organizational recognition.^[9]
• 2008: In December 2008, the Partnership met at Wheaton, Illinois, as a constitutional convention to form a "separate ecclesiastical structure in North America" for Anglican faithful distinct from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.^[10][11] There the Partnership's executive committee approved a constitution and canons for the new Church which were to be submitted for formal adoption at the new Church's first Provincial Assembly.^[10][12] The ACNA's constitution expresses the goal to seek recognition as a province of the Anglican Communion.^[13] A total of nine Anglican provinces sent formal delegations to the inaugural assembly.^[14]
• 2009: On June 22, 2009, delegates of the ACNA's founding bodies met at St. Vincent's Cathedral in Bedford, Texas, for an inaugural provincial assembly to ratify its constitution and canons.^[15] At this meeting a number of major steps were taken to officially establish the new province, including the election of Robert Duncan, bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, as archbishop.^[16][17][18]Rick Warren, a leading American evangelical, and Metropolitan Jonah Paffhausen, leader of the Orthodox Church in America, addressed the audience. There were nine provinces in the Anglican Communion which sent official representatives to the assembly, namely the Church of the Province of West Africa, the Church of Nigeria, the Church of Uganda, the Anglican Church of Kenya, represented by Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, including Archbishop Gregory Venables, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Church of the Province of Myanmar, the Church of the Province of South East Asia and the Church of the Province of Rwanda.^[16] Other ecumenical observers included Bishop Walter Grundorf of the Anglican Province of America, Samuel Nafzger of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, and Bishop Kevin Vann of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth. Leaders from three Anglican provinces, the Most Reverend John Chew of the Church of the Province of South East Asia, Archbishop Peter Jensen of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and Mouneer Anis, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, formally announced support for the ACNA.^[14] From England, Bishop Wallace Benn and Archdeacon Michael Lawson sent greetings from the Church of England Evangelical Council.^[14] The members of the Common Cause Partnership at the founding of the ACNA were: The American Anglican Council, The Anglican Coalition in Canada, The Anglican Communion Network, The Anglican Mission in the Americas, The Anglican Network in Canada, The Convocation of Anglicans in North America, Forward in Faith North America, The Missionary Convocation of Kenya, The Missionary Convocation of the Southern Cone, The Missionary Convocation of Uganda, The Reformed Episcopal Church, and The Reformed Communion.^[19]
• 2010: The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans primates' council has said that the new church is "fully Anglican" and called for its recognition by existing provinces of the Anglican Communion.^[20] Archbishop Robert Duncan was present at the Global South Fourth Encounter that took place in Singapore, from 19 to 23 April 2010, where he presided at the Eucharist and met primates and representatives from 20 Anglican provinces. The Global South Encounter final statement declared: "We are grateful that the recently formed Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a faithful expression of Anglicanism. We welcomed them as partners in the Gospel and our hope is that all provinces will be in full communion with the clergy and people of the ACNA and the Communion Partners."^[21] Also in 2010, the General Synod of the Church of England affirmed "the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family" and called upon the archbishops of Canterbury and York to report back to the synod after further study in 2011.^[22][23] Published in December 2011, the archbishops' follow up report recommended "an open-ended engagement with ACNA on the part of the Church of England and the Communion" but also stated that a definitive outcome would be unclear for sometime.^[24][25]
• 2014: In October 2014 the Diocese of North West Australia passed a motion recognizing the ACNA as a "member church of the Anglican Communion".^[26] On 9 October 2014, following the ceremony of investiture of Foley Beach as archbishop and primate of ACNA, an official statement, which recognized Beach as "a fellow Primate of the Anglican Communion", was signed by the seven Anglican archbishops present: Mouneer Anis of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Eliud Wabukala of Kenya, Nicholas Okoh of Nigeria, Stanley Ntagali of Uganda, Onesphore Rwaje of Rwanda, Stephen Than Myint Oo of Myanmar, and Héctor "Tito" Zavala of the Southern Cone of America.^[27][28]
• 2015: At a meeting of the Anglican Primates of the Global South (a coalition representing the majority of the world's Anglicans) on 14–16 October 2015 in Cairo, Egypt, ACNA was declared to be an official partner province of the Global South by representatives of 12 churches, with Archbishop Beach being seated as a member of the Global South Primates Council with voice and vote.^[29]
• 2016: Despite the ACNA not being recognized as a province on the Anglican Communion website, Welby invited Beach to attend a gathering of primates in the communion in January 2016.^[30][31][32] The prospect of the ACNA joining the communion was discussed and it was recognized that if the ACNA were to apply for admission to membership in the communion, the consideration of their application would be within the purview of the Anglican Consultative Council.^[31][30]In January 2016, the Anglican Primates Meeting at Canterbury decided that in response to the "distance" caused by what it called "unilateral action on matters of doctrine without Catholic unity", "for a period of three years, The Episcopal Church [would neither] represent [the Communion] on ecumenical and interfaith bodies… [nor] take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity."^[33] On February 2016, Archbishop Foley Beach signed an instrument declaring ACNA to be in full communion with the Free Church of England, an independent conservative Anglican church. Archbishop Beach's declaration was ratified by the Provincial Council of the ACNA in June 2016. The Reformed Episcopal Church, a founding member of the denomination, was already in that status with the FCE since 1927. Foley Beach and Ray Sutton, Presiding Bishop of REC, participated at the celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the communion between FCE and REC, which took place at Wallasey, England, on 10 June 2017.^[34]
• 2017: The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and John Sentamu, recognized ACNA's religious orders under the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967, as it was announced on 10 February 2017.^[35] After a meeting between Archbishop Foley Beach of ACNA and the Moderator/Primate of the Church of Bangladesh, Paul Sarker, on 13–15 May 2017, at Holy Cross Anglican Cathedral in Loganville, Georgia, they signed a statement affirming and celebrating the communion between both provinces thereby causing ACNA to enter into full communion with the Church of Bangladesh.^[36] Fulfilling what Archbishop Foley Beach had already announced on 8 June 2017 on the same day that the Scottish Episcopal Church voted to approve same-sex marriage,^[37] Rev. Canon Andy Lines was consecrated Missionary Bishop to Europe at ACNA's Third Provincial Assembly meeting in Wheaton, Illinois on 30 June 2017, on behalf of GAFCON.^[38] The consecration was attended by 1,400 Anglican representatives from all over the world, including 11 Primates, 3 Archbishops and 13 Bishops.^[39] The Primates who attended were Nicholas Okoh, from the Church of Nigeria, Stanley Ntagali, from the Church of Uganda, Daniel Deng Bul, from the Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan, Jacob Chimeledya, from the Anglican Church of Tanzania, Jackson Ole Sapit, from the Anglican Church of Kenya, Onesphore Rwaje, from the Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, Masimango Katanda, from the Province of the Anglican Church of the Congo, Daniel Sarfo, from the Church of the Province of West Africa, Gregory Venables, from the Anglican Church of South America, Ng Moon Hing, from the Church of the Province of South East Asia, and Mouneer Anis, retired Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East. This was the largest gathering of worldwide Anglicans that ever participated at a Provincial Assembly of the ACNA.^[40] On 13 December 2017, the Anglican Global South, a grouping of 25 of the 39 provinces of the Anglican Communion with ACNA as its 26th member, reaffirmed full communion with the Anglican Church in North America.^[41]

Therefore, I simply disagree with your premise because of a number of factors:

1. The Anglican Global South, a grouping of 25 of the 39 provinces, has recognized the ACNA as a province of the Anglican Communion;
2. The ACNA's primate, Archbishop Foley Beach, was enthroned by seven Anglican archbishops, who afterwards recognized him as a fellow primate and archbishop of the Anglican Communion;
3. During a meeting of the Anglican Primates of the Global South, a coalition representing the majority of the world's Anglicans, from October 14–16, 2015 in Cairo, Egypt, Beach was seated as a member of the Global South Primates Council with voice and vote;
4. Beach was invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to the Anglican Communion primates' gathering that took place on January 11–15, 2016;
5. During the same primates' gathering, the primates decided that in response to the "distance" caused by what it called "unilateral action on matters of doctrine without Catholic unity", "for a period of three years, The Episcopal Church [would neither] represent [the Communion] on ecumenical and interfaith bodies… [nor] take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity";
6. Many of the provinces of the Anglican Communion have declared that they are no longer in communion or relationship with The Episcopal Church, nor the Anglican Church in Canada;
7. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and John Sentamu, recognized ACNA's religious orders under the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967, as it was announced on 10 February 2017. This indicates at the very least a recognition of the ACNA's validity by the Archbishop of Canterbury, a prerequisite to be included on this list.

Due to these, I believe that my proposed edit is the most neutral and accurate to this page. It is not a simple yes-or-no. I propose including the Anglican Church in North America as a province with a note regarding the dispute and conflict; I also propose that this clarification is edited on other pages regarding the Anglican Communion and the ACNA. Similar to many secular nation-states that are not unanimously recognized by other nation-states, we give accurate information by including them as nation-states, but note the disputed recognition. This also seems to be the most judicial and diplomatic way to proceed. — Afuller2028 (talk) 21:04, 31 December 2017 (UTC)

Butler, Diana Hochstedt (1995). Standing Against the Whirlwind: Evangelical Episcopalians in Nineteenth-Century America. Religion in America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-508542-6.

Piepkorn, Arthur Carl (1977). Profiles in Belief: The Religious Bodies of the United States and Canada. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-066580-7.