Conservative Anglicans applaud recognition of Free Church orders: Anglican Ink, February 1, 2013 February 1, 2013
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Ink, Church of England, Reformed Episcopal Church.Tags: Free Church of England, Gerald Bray, Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967, Phil Ashey
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Conservative Anglican leaders have welcomed the Church of England’s decision to recognize the validity of the orders of the Free Church of England. The 28 Jan 2013 announcement allows the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to license clergy from the Free Church for service in the Church of England without first re-ordaining them.
The recognition follows three years of contact between the bishops of the Free Church, the Council for Christian Unity and the Faith and Order Commission of the Church of England. Upon the recommendation of the Faith and Order Commission, the Standing Committee of the House of Bishops endorsed the recommendation leading to this week’s announcement the Archbishops of Canterbury and York had recognized the Free Church orders under the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967. The Measure gives the Archbishops authority to determine whether the Orders of any Church are ‘recognised and accepted’ by the Church of England.
The Times of London reported that women clergy activists denounced the move calling it a step backwards as the calvinistic Free Church does not ordain women to the ministry.
However, Dr. Gerald Bray of the Latimer Trust in Cambridge told Anglican Ink …
Read it all in Anglican Ink.
REC proclaims second cathedral for Diocese of Mid America: Anglican Ink, December 11, 2012 December 12, 2012
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of North America, Anglican Ink, Reformed Episcopal Church.Tags: Diocese of Mid America, Ray Sutton, Royal Grote
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The Reformed Episcopal Church has proclaimed its second cathedral for the Diocese of Mid America. At an evensong service on 2 Dec 2012, Bishop Royal Grote announced that the Church of the Holy Communion in Dallas, Texas had been named a pro cathedral for the diocese which covers 18 central and mid-western states.
In his address, Bishop Grote recognized the significant role of leadership that Holy Communion and its rector, the Rt. Rev. Ray Sutton – the bishop coadjutor of the diocese, had played in the development of the Diocese.
Read it all in Anglican Ink.
Row over ‘unAnglican’ confirmation service: CEN 5.20.04 May 20, 2004
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pittsburgh, Reformed Episcopal Church.comments closed
An American bishop is under fire for authorising a bishop of an Anglican Church not in Communion with Canterbury to take a confirmation service on his behalf.A liberal advocacy group, Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh (PEP), complained to Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold on May 13 urging that he discipline the Bishop
of Pittsburgh, the Rt Rev Robert Duncan for the action.
Bishop Duncan licensed the Rt Rev Daniel G Cox, a retired bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC), to celebrate the Eucharist and confirm 13 adults at a church in Pennsylvania on May 9.
Formed in 1873 after Evangelicals split in a dispute over ritual and theological disagreements with the High Church party, the 14,000-member Reformed Episcopal Church, like the Church of England in South Africa, is an “Anglican”
Church outside the Anglican Communion.
PEP President Lionel Deimel wrote to Bishop Duncan accusing him of breaching Church law. “We believe that your actions demonstrate a pattern of continuing indifference to the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church, and that your support of others showing similar disrespect for the order of the church are unworthy of a bishop or other minister.”
The Rt Rev Walter Righter, retired Bishop of Iowa and former assistant to Bishop Jack Spong of Newark, told The Church of England Newspaper, “It seems to me it does not matter what Bishop Duncan thinks about whether he is in communion with the REC Bishop or not. The church called ECUSA has not decided that. So is Bishop Duncan free to make that decision when the church which gave him his orders has not done so?”
The Rt. Rev. Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church’s ecumenical and interfaith officer, also objected telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “We are certainly not in full communion with the [REC] and so I do not believe it is appropriate for one of their bishops to confirm.”
The permission given to Bishop Cox to officiate by Bishop Duncan, who was in Jordan on the day in question, was “faithful to a decades-long effort by Episcopalians and members of the Reformed Episcopal Church to heal a 131-year old breach in the Anglican family.”
The two Churches, Bishop Duncan argued, “share the same foundations of Anglican Christianity – the 39 Articles, the Book of Common Prayer, and the succession of bishops from the apostles.”
“As to the constitutional and canonical questions that have been raised,” Bishop Duncan stated that he had acted with the guidance of the diocesan legal officers.
“No provisions of the constitution or the canons had been broken in the authorisation for a reformed Episcopal bishop to act.”
“Confirmation”, wrote Bishop Duncan, “is primarily a sign of an adult individual’s relationship with the whole Christian church, not just a particular portion of it.”
Episcopalians, he argued, “have acknowledged this for decades by not requiring individuals confirmed in other denominations to be reconfirmed when they enter
the Episcopal Church.”
Whether any charges will be proffered against Bishop Duncan lies with Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, who, as of our going to press, has not responded to our queries on this matter.
Conger 