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CANA split on issue of women priests
As it continues to develop into a formal body, the group of congregations that left the Episcopal Church not yet a year ago over the issue of homosexuality is now part of a split over the issue of women as priests.
CANA – the Convocation of Anglicans in North America – held a four-day convention in Oak Hill last week, culminating with the consecration of four new bishops on Sunday.
“We are thrilled to welcome these four new bishops to CANA. They will minister to our growing flock of orthodox Anglicans here in the U.S.,” said CANA Missionary Bishop Martyn Minns.
Minns, the former priest in charge of Truro Church in Fairfax City, was at the forefront of the split of 11 Virginia parishes last January, including the Church of the Epiphany in Oak Hill, where last week's convention was held.
The group, angered by the 2003 election of openly gay Episcopal Bishop Eugene Robinson in New Hampshire, left the Episcopal Church and formed the Anglican District of Virginia, which is CANA's first region within the U.S.
CANA, which originally stood for the Convocation of Nigerians in America, is still part of the Anglican Church of Nigeria and led by controversial Archbishop Peter J. Akinola who has openly called for outlawing same-sex relationships in his own country.
On Thursday, the first day of the convention, Minns gave a “state-of-the church” address.
He painted the “strange, motley crew named CANA” as a diverse grouping of churches with only a “commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior” in common.
He also demonstrated that the churches share another point in common: opposition to the 2003 adoption of an Episcopal resolution that, according to Minns, accepts “celebrating and blessing same-sex unions.”
“These specific actions revealed that those in control of the Episcopal church were ready to separate themselves from the 'faith once and for all delivered to the saints' and embrace innovations that were essentially a new religion,” Minns told the convention goers.
He added that “CANA has a passion for people – all people everywhere, black and white, rich and poor, single and married, young and old.”
But how that passion will relate to women's rights within the church remains to be seen.
Although Minns told those assembled that “there is no person outside the reach of God’s love,” he also informed them that, “At this time the Church of Nigeria, to which we owe canonical obedience, has no provision for the ordination of women, although there has been acceptance of women in the order of deacons.”
The Episcopal Church has allowed for the ordination of women since its 1976 General Convention but Minns said that CANA, which currently numbers about 60 congregations with over 100 clergy in 20 states with a total average Sunday attendance of approximately 8,600 – larger than 70 percent of the dioceses in the Episcopal Church – is currently split on the issue.
The four new bishops consecrated on Sunday were all male.
“I am fully aware that this is a topic of concern for many clergy and congregations throughout CANA and one that produces intense reactions,” Minns said Thursday.
He informed the audience that he has appointed a task force to address the two “integrities” of the issue – those who believe women should not be ordained and those who feel women can serve in some yet undefined capacity, perhaps including priesthood, congregational oversight and serving as bishops, or perhaps not.
“We will keep our promise to honor both integrities within CANA and fulfill our commitment to the full participation of women, in the life and leadership of the church. We will do so in such a manner that both those who are unable to support the ordination of women and those who embrace it will know that their position has been honored,” he stated.
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