Anglican Mainstream

By Steve Waring, The Living Church

By David W Virtue, VirtueonLine

The Executive Council of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth has recommended that Bishop Jack Leo Iker and Standing Committee affiliate with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone as a member diocese, on a temporary, pastoral basis, until such time as an orthodox Province of the Anglican Communion can be established in North America.

A news announcement from the diocese states the recommendation (with only one dissenting vote) will be presented to clergy and delegates at the upcoming 26th Annual Convention for consideration on Nov. 14 & 15, 2008.

This action constitutes the third report made in response to Resolution 2 of the 25th Annual Convention of the diocese which requested "that the Bishop and Standing Committee prepare a report for this diocese on the constitutional and canonical implications and means" of becoming a member diocese of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Two preliminary reports were made – one on January 9, 2008, and another on February 12, 2008 — as an integral part of the recommendation for the 26th Annual Diocesan Convention.

"After months of prayerful discernment and extensive consultation with others, both within our own diocese and beyond, we have come to the following conclusion. We recommend that this Diocese affiliate with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone as a member diocese, on a temporary, pastoral basis, until such time as an orthodox Province of the Anglican Communion can be established in North America," said the Executive Council.

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By Stuart Laidlaw, Toronto Star

The head of the Anglican Church of Canada wants a face-to-face meeting with his South American counterpart, who earlier this year claimed jurisdiction over 10 Canadian congregations in a growing split over same-sex marriage blessings.

"What I would hope is that we could hear one another," Fred Hiltz, primate of the Canadian church, told the Anglican Journal.

"What would I say in that meeting?" Hiltz said. "Let me try and hear why it is you feel you need to continue to work to intervene in the life of the Anglican Church of Canada."

Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, however, says he would find it "difficult" to attend such a meeting.

"We had been talking about a private meeting, and it rather surprises me that it is now public," Venables told the Star in an interview from Buenos Aires.

"This makes it even more difficult for me to attend."

Venables said he would make his formal response about the proposed meeting to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the Anglican church, who was asked by Hiltz to organize the meeting.

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From Episcopal Life Online

[Episcopal News Service] Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has asked Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to facilitate a meeting between him, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil Archbishop Mauricio de Andrade and Anglican Province of the Southern Cone Archbishop Gregory Venables to discuss cross-border interventions.

The Anglican Journal of Canada reported Hiltz’s request on September 10.

Hiltz, Andrade and Jefferts Schori have repeatedly asked Venables to stop intervening in the internal affairs of their provinces. Venables has, on his own accord, been providing episcopal oversight to churches that are in serious theological dispute with their respective provinces over the issue of sexuality.

The Southern Cone has about 22,000 members and encompasses Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Its provincial synod, meeting in Valpariso, Chile, November 5-7, 2007, agreed to welcome into the province "on an emergency and pastoral basis" Episcopal Church dioceses "taking appropriate action to separate from The Episcopal Church."

The former leadership of the Diocese of San Joaquin accepted that offer in December. Conventions in the dioceses of Fort Worth and Pittsburgh are scheduled to consider the offer in the next two months.

Venables had visited San Joaquin prior to the convention vote December 8. Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker invited him to meet with diocesan convention delegates in May, although Jefferts Schori has told Venables that his visit "with the expressed purpose of describing removal to the Province of the Southern Cone is an unwarranted invasion of, and meddling in, the internal affairs of this Province."

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By Anne Fletcher, Anglican Journal

The South American primate who has welcomed dissenting Canadian Anglican parishes into his province says he sees the beginning of the end of the world-wide Anglican Communion.

“I believe we’re in the early stages of divorce,” Archbishop Gregory Venables, presiding (national) bishop of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, told a news conference during a meeting of the Anglican Network in Canada from April 25 to 26.

“I think there comes a point when a marriage is no longer a marriage and you have to recognize it,” he said. But Archbishop Venables suggested that Anglican churches could still stay together in some form. “Maybe we can have an Anglican federation,” he said.

In an interview with the Anglican Journal, Archbishop Venables noted that air travel and the Internet have re-structured international networks.

“We’re no longer living in a world where everything is done locally,” Archbishop Venables said. “The church is a little late in coming to that.” Instead of insisting on geographical church provinces, “hopefully, this will be resolved so we can realign or restructure so everyone can follow their concerns.”

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From Virtueonline

Episcopal News Service
April 09, 2008

The bishops of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil issued an open statement April 9 expressing their "strong repudiation" of a recent unauthorized visit by Southern Cone Archbishop Gregory Venables to Recife "where he took part in and celebrated at official occasions outside his Province without the knowledge and consent of the Archbishop of the Province of Brazil and this House of Bishops."

The full text of the statement, dated April 3 and released on April 9, follows.

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil gathered in Curitiba unanimously express their strong repudiation of the recent visit by the Archbishop of the Southern Cone to the city of Recife, where he took part in and celebrated at official occasions outside his Province without the knowledge and consent of the Archbishop of the Province of Brazil and this House of Bishops.

This disrespectful and arrogant attitude against the Province of Brazil, is another element of discord caused by the Archbishop of the Province of the Southern Cone since the ecclesiastical court hearing and deposition of Robinson Cavalcanti. As it is known by all the Anglican Communion, Mr. Cavalcanti was deposed through a lawful and canonical process due to his breaking of ordination vows.

The action of the Primate of the Southern Cone represents an attack on the pillars of the Anglican tradition, which include respect to Provincial autonomy and collegiality among the Primates of the Communion. Equally, this attitude, unheard of in the Communion, clearly contradicts the Windsor Report and the resolution by the last Primates meeting in Tanzania in February 2007.

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Archbishop Greg and Mrs Sylvia Venables visited Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti and  his people at the end of March. They were accompanied by Bishop Bill Atwood who brought Archbishop Venables’ licences in October 2005.  

View pictures here

Bishop Gregory J. Venables, Primate of the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone is in Brazil on a pastoral visit to the Diocese of Recife, accompanied
by his wife Sylvia and Bishop Bill Atwood, missionary Suffragon of the Anglican Church of Kenya in the United States.  

Bishop Gregory, was born in England, but has been based for many years in Latin America, where he worked as a missionary in Paraguay. Currently he is the Diocesan bishop of Argentina and leader of this Province of the Anglican Communion whose territories also include Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Bolivia. He is one of the leaders of the Global South Movement that encompasses orthodox Anglican Provinces in the less developed world.

After the ex-communication of the Diocese of Recife from the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil (IEAB), in 2005, Bishop Gregory, in his role as Primate, recognised the Orders and Ministries of the Bishop and Clergy of that diocese, brining it under his authority and protection. In its last General Synod meeting, the Church of the Southern Cone authorized the House of Bishops and the Executive Council to facilitate the inclusion of the Diocese of Recife in the Province on a permanent basis.  For its part the synod of the Diocese of Recife deliberated, unanimously, to seek full affiliation to the Province of the Southern Cone, which already has Dioceses and Parishes in the USA and Canada within its jurisdiction.

During his time in Recife, the Primate of the Southern Cone will visit Parishes and social outreach projects. He will also meet with Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti and the diocesan leadership for a formal synod session in the Cathedral of the Good Samaritan in the district of Boa Viagem.

By George Conger, CEN, 19 March 2008

The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops has deposed the Bishop of San Joaquin and the retired suffragan Bishop of Maryland for “abandonment of the Communion” of the Episcopal Church following a closed trial in Texas on March 12. However, a joint investigation by The Church of England Newspaper and The Living Church magazine has revealed procedural and legal inconsistencies that may render the vote a nullity.

The ecclesiastical trial of Bishop John-David Schofield was a necessary part of the Episcopal Church’s legal strategy to secure the property of the Diocese of San Joaquin, US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said on March 12. However, the flawed trial has created a legal anomaly leaving Bishop Schofield in place as Episcopal bishop of San Joaquin, when neither he, nor Bishop Schori, want him to hold that post.

“The current public dispute over the canonical legality of the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops’ recent vote to depose Bishops Schofield and Cox amounts at best to a severe embarrassment to the Presiding Bishop, her advisors, and the House itself; at worst, it exposes a travesty of Christian justice and prudence,” the Anglican Communion Institute noted.

“The result of this dispute and the failures of good order leading up to it will inevitably be the further erosion of [the Episcopal Church’s] standing in the public’s eye and in the Communion’s councils,” it said.

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Delegates and observers from the 44 territorial and extra-territorial communities (parishes, church plant and missions points) which comprises the diocese (over 4.000 members) passed unanimously with a standing ovation the following motion: “In gratitude to God, and to our brothers and sisters in that Province, we deliberate to join, officially, the Church of the Southern Cone, as an extra-territorial diocese, subject to its Authority, Constitution and Canons, and hereby request its acceptance”. The house reflected favorable on the last two years in which the diocese has been under the supervision of Primate Gregory J. Venables.

In his message to Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti, the clergy and the people of the Diocese of Recife, the Primate of the Southern Cone commended the diocese for standing firm in the Gospel in the face of unfair treatment, declaring that “Our Synod resolved with great support to commission our house of bishops and diocesan council to find the language necessary to bring the diocese of Recife into formal relations with the Southern Cone”. In other words,  from just a protection into one more normal provincial life. “Please be assured of our united support and prayers for you and particularly for my deep sense of privilege as your brother and Primate, affirmed Archbishop Venables.

The XXVII Synod of the Diocese of Recife voted canonical amendments consonant with the Constitution and Canons of the Southern Cone, concluded with a Eucaristic Service, with the ordination of three deacons. Bishop Peter Beckwith of the companion diocese of Springfield (TEC) preached and co-celebrated

(Diocesan Communication Secretary).

Grace and Peace!  

As the Diocese of Recife is convening its XXVII annual Synod, starting today and going until Saturday evening with three deacons ordinations in the closing eucharistic service, it became impossible for me to be personally present in your episcopal consecration.   I am sending my personal and diocesan congratulations and a sincere prayer for your new ministry.   We are companions of the same pilgrimage and the same martyrdom, but of the same convictions and the same hope. I am convinced of the important role you are going to continue to perform in North-American sick Anglicanism and worldwide. The reunion of our loneliness forms the army of the weak under the Lord of  History and the Lord of all things.   My dear prophets, receive a brazilian brotherly “abraço”.  

Yours in Christ,   Rt Revd Robinson Cavalcanti, Bishop of Recife- Brazil

Read greetings from leaders in the Church of England below

In leading the Anglican Network in Canada into the Southern Cone, Bishop Harvey told me this afternoon that he is hoping to provide a ’safe haven’ for Anglicans who want to remain in their communion but not in their own province.

The last straw for many of the 250 attending a Network conference in Canada today, where the announcement is to be made shortly and will include the name of another retired bishop who is following Bishop Harvey into the network, has been the support by the Niagara diocese for same-sex blessings.

Bishop Harvey said: ‘We have been leading up to this for a year or so. I have been received into the Southern Cone and today we are putting out for people a safety net, so when they feel they can no longer remain faithful to the Anglican Church of Canada in the direction it seems to be going, they will have an alternative to go to rather than leave the Church that has been their heritage for so long.

‘We will try to provide for them, through the Southern Cone, a viable alternative which will leave them connected to the Communion. We are crossing the Red Sea. We will beging with a variety of orthodox-minded Anglicans from all across Canada in what will be a rather loose structure to start with. To quote TS Eliot, in order to get better, our sickness must first get worse.’

The long-term goal, he said, was the establishment of another North American province running in parallel jurisdiction to the existing US and Canada provinces. The ultimate vision is for two, one in each country, but that is a little while off at present. Canada is a whole represents a tiny one per cent of the 75 million-strong Communion, so numerically Bishop Harvey’s followers are a tiny fraction. If allied with the US traditionalists under Bishop Venables, however, they begin to become something stronger.

And Bishop Venables is quietly growing his new jurisdiction, let’s not forget Bishop Cavalcanti, who Venables took under his wing a while ago. Harvey preached at Cavalcanti’s 25th diocesan anniversary, and Cavalcanti sent the newcomers a message today: ‘Our mind and our prayers have been also of solidarity to your cause. Your problems are our problems, your adversaries are our adversaries, but, for the other side, your solutions area our solutions.

‘Two years ago we received a public letter of recognition of order and ministry from Primate Gregory Venables puting us under his primatial authority and protection. It was a corageous and historical gesture. Now is a time for you to take a corageous and historical step.

‘We would like to welcome you in the elarged Southern Cone family, in this new “Pan-American Anglican Union”. May the Holy Spirit give to you the wisdom and a fearless sentiment.

‘With Him, united, in the midst of all pain, we will write a new chapter in the history of the Anglican Communion and of Christianity.

Your brother in Christ,

+ Rt Revd Robinson Cavalcanti,ose
Bishop of Recife – Brazil’

Read here

Over the coming days Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti will be ordaining new ministers in the Diocese of Recife. A pediatrician will be priested, while a barrister, an engineer, a policeman and a government official will be ordained as deacons.It’s an interesting fact that 80% of Recife’s clergy are professional holding down secular jobs, thus facilitating Christian witness in various sectors of society. The Diocese of Recife, under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Gregory J Venables (Province of the Southern Cone) is marked by its dynamic evangelistic expansion, by its social projects and by its defense of human rights. State recognized, ecumenically active and in partnership with orthodox Anglicans throughout Brazil, today the diocese comprises a vibrant community of more than 4000 people, with 32 congregations, around 50 clergy, two theological seminaries and several exemplary works among the poor. In conjunction with the Anglican Communion Network it maintains an Archdeanery in the US.

The Diocese do Recife under the Primatial authority of the Primate of the Southern Cone, and the leadership of Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti is currently made up of:

ü (33) Communities: 18 Parishes, 06 Missions and 09 Mission Points;
ü 47 Clergy: 38 Active Priests, 09 Deacons (05 Permanent), 01 Retired Priest, 03 Licentiate Priests, along with Lay Readers, Evangelists and Acolytes;
ü 05 Ordination Candidates and 11 Postulants;
ü (05) communities and 17 Ministers (Priests and Deacons) form our North American Arch deanery;
ü (02) Seminaries (SAT-PB e SAT-PE).

The whole community – in all its diverse categories of members – totals 4.264 persons: 2.791 Confirmed Communicants and 1.473 Congregates (children and baptized adults, regular church-goers, but not Confirmed). In 2006 313 people were confirmed.

Among the social foci of the diocese are child day care centres, pre-schools, medical centres, care for the elderly, food aid distribution initiatives and others, some in partnership with public and/or private entities.

Diocesan Secretary for Social Communication

The Archbishop of Canterbury sent two bishops to investigate the situation in Recife and Brazil over the summer. He has yet to issue his report on the situation. Meanwhile TEC (USA) has by the presence of bishops and its report fully endorsed the IEAB Bishop at his investiture attended by 400 people including his 14 clergy. The Diocese of Recife with Bishop Cavalcanti has 32 clergy and one congregation alone 1000 people. There is a clear division and overlap here between a self-styled “liberation theology” diocese and a charismatic and evangelical diocese who hosted an international SOMA conference in 2005.

[Read here->http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_78841_ENG_HTM.htm?menu=undefined]

by Ruth Gledhill

This is a picture of the deposed Bishop of Recife in Brazil, Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti, outside Lambeth Palace on the evening of Tuesday October 4 2005. He arrived just as the House of Bishops meeting was ending and was invited to join the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and other bishops for evening prayer in the Chapel. Afterwards he had a half hour private talk with Archbishop Williams who also met the ‘other’ Bishop Robinson at around the same time last year. So it was with a sense of amazed disbelief that I read in the minutes of a recent meeting that Archbishop Williams had with the Brazilian bishops that Archbishop Williams was reported to have stated he “did not receive” the deposed Recifian after all. The meeting between the Archbishop and the Brazilians took place during the recent World Council of Churches meeting in Brazil in February.

[Read more->http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2006/03/now_you_recife_.html#more]

[History of Recife Diocese, Thousands of faithful Anglicans->history-of-recife-diocese-thousands-of-faithful-anglicans]

HOLY SPIRIT ANGLICAN PARISH RECEIVES AWARD

The Holy Spirit Anglican Parish, from Jaboatão dos Guararapes City, State of Pernambuco, Diocese of Recife, whose Rector is the Ven. Archdeacon Revd. Miguel Uchoa, just received the national award “Healthy Church”, out of 1.000 other ecclesiastical communities that develops this vision of a Holistic Mission (Worship, Service, Fellowship, Evangelism and Discipleship). For the first time the award comes to an Anglican and Northeastern parish. The award will be received next April 21st in the Brazilian Congress of Purpose Driven Churches. Congratulations! May God continue to bless our Parish, Ministers and People!

The Bishop or Recife Rt. Revd. Robinson Cavalcanti received a phone call and a letter from the Rt. Revd. Maternus Kapinga, Bishop of the Diocese of Ruvuma, Tanzania, expressing his support and solidarity. Says Bishop Kapinga: ” Dear In Christ, Bishop Cavalcanti, Peace be with you! What a blessing it has been to speak to you a short while ago! I have read about your labours for the Gospel of Salvation and I bless the Name of the Lord for your witness to the Faith of the Church once delivered to the Saints.

[Read more->recognition-of-diocese-of-recife-from-tanzania]

[See Diocese of Recife, Southern Cone Home Page->http://www.dar.org.br/index_home.htm]

Masindi-Kitara Diocese which is the youngest in the Church of the Province of Uganda has had the blessing of hosting Archbishop Greg Venables of the Southern Cone (South America) for three days.

[Read more->http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/Feb06/venablesvisit.html]