Exclusives : CENTRAL FLORIDA: Bishop Pulls out of Anglican Communion Network
Posted by David Virtue on 2008/7/13 20:00:00 (4931 reads)
CENTRAL FLORIDA: Bishop Pulls out of Anglican Communion Network
Diocese will redirect support to Anglican Communion Institute
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
7/13/2008
Saying that he wants to stay in The Episcopal Church and in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Bishop of Central Florida, the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe has dropped his support of the Anglican Communion Network led by Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan and thrown in his lot with the Anglican Communion Institute, (ACI) a group that wants to stay and fight for change in The Episcopal Church.
The bishop announced this change in the July 2008 "Central Florida Episcopalian", which caught a number of conservatives in the diocese by surprise. "We didn't see it coming," said one evangelical priest who asked not to be named.
In his letter to the diocesan family, Howe said, "In my opinion, the Anglican Communion Institute has inherited the original vision of the Network: to work to promote orthodoxy within The Episcopal Church, and to maintain our relationships with the broader Anglican Communion."
Howe has grown increasingly disenchanted with the direction of the Network over the years and said, "The Network is now made up of far more people who have left The Episcopal Church than those who remain inside it. Scores of parishes have experienced the same kinds of splits and 'disaffiliation' of some of their clergy and parishioners that we have experienced here."
Howe cited the Diocese of San Joaquin in California which voted to secede from The Episcopal Church and join the Southern Cone of America! Several others are in various stages of attempting to do the same thing, he said.
Howe was critical of Bishop Robert Duncan, Network Moderator, saying that he was clearly committed to forming "a new ecclesial structure" in North America, hoping to draw together such groups as the Anglican Mission in the Americas (Rwanda), the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (Nigeria), the Reformed Episcopal Church and various other groups associated with African or South American jurisdictions.
"I respect those efforts, and I do pray for a coming together of the splintered fragments of Anglican Christianity. But, as I outlined in my Pastoral Letter, I remain committed to working as faithfully as possible from within The Episcopal Church and in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury."
Howe said he expressed his "discomfort" to his Diocesan Board with over "the secessionist direction of the Network" and he asked the Finance Committee to reexamine the whole matrix of our "alternative giving"- how the monies are directed that might otherwise have gone to The Episcopal Church."
"At a board meeting on June 19, the Finance Committee unanimously recommended, and the Board unanimously approved, the redirection of our support from the Anglican Communion Network to a similarly names organization, the Anglican Communion Institute."
Howe described the Institute as "a resource for the furtherance of the Anglican Communion, through consultation, theological education, and international collaboration." He said its Board is comprised of Primates, Bishops, theological educators, rectors, and dedicated leaders including Dr. Chris Seitz, professor of Old Testament at Wycliffe College, Toronto, the former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies. Howe says he now sits on the board.
"In my opinion, the Anglican Communion Institute has inherited the original vision of the Network: to work to promote orthodoxy within The Episcopal Church, and to maintain our relationships with the broader Anglican Communion."
Howe said the Institute has sponsored several meetings of "Camp Allen Bishops" which produced the "Camp Allen Principles" that were referred to in the Primates' Communique from Dar es Salaam in February 2007.
Howe said the ACI is sponsoring a series of conferences on the theme "'Anglicanism - A Gift in Christ"'.
Central Florida has seen a number of orthodox parishes defect from the diocese (without litigation) prompting Howe to say that he sees the ACI as the "brightest spot on the Anglican horizon at this moment." He is delighted to share it "as we move into the building and rebuilding of this Diocese."
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