Akinola's declaration of independence
A picture of the Archbishop Peter Akinola, the Anglican primate of Nigeria, and Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, taken in happier of times. Peter Akinola's decision and go ahead with the installation of Martyn Minns as "Missionary Bishop" of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (“CANA”) is tantamount to a declaration of independence. Akinola has described The Episcopal Church as a "cancerous rump" and he ragards this recent action as emergency surgery.
As Stephen Bates of the Guardian said on today's Sunday Sequence, Rowan Williams has never appeared weaker. His authority is hemorrhaging away as ghe curtain rises on every new scene in this ecclesiatical tragedy.
Meanwhile the new Church of Ireland primate, Archbishop Alan Harper, delivered his first presidential address to the Church of Ireland General Synod this week. This was not widely reported -- it was rather overshadowed by the historic events of Devolution Day in Northern Ireland. Archbishop Harper's considered mostly domestic Church of Ireland administrative affairs, but perhaps it's worth noting that he managed to get through his entire 13-page speech without recourse to the words "Anglican" or "communion". A portentous oversight?
Comments
Looks like the end game. Even Alan Harper looks like he's given up!
good move for the church of ireland to have their synod on the day devolution returns !
i hardly saw any news about the synod. They seem to have spent all their time talking about technical internal church issues. that's a bit strange, there's so much more for a church in ireland to be talking about today .
The Anglican Communion is over, done, deceased, no more. It's like a Monty Python parrot.
"he managed to get through his entire 13-page speech without recourse to the words "Anglican" or "communion"."
D'OH! (as the Archbishop was later reported to have said).
Worse still, some of us who were there never even noticed.
Furthermore, when the Archbishop invited comments on the current hoo-haa in the Anglican Communion...nobody got up to speak!! The bishop from the US Episcopal Church who was present at the time must have nearly fallen off his seat.
I don't think this is because we've given up on the Communion, rather that most CofI people are unaware that such a concept even exists.