A REPORT FROM THE ACNA CONFERENCE IN BIRMINGHAM

On 25-26 September, Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama, hosted a conference entitled "What is Anglicanism?" I did not attend. Joe Gilliland, of Birmingham, did attend and kindly and generously offered this informative report of the meeting. I relay it here:

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BEESON DIVINITY SCHOOL CONFERENCE

by Joe Gilliland

What is Anglicanism? More than 200 registrants, some of them from abroad, engaged this question Sept. 25-26 at a conference conducted by Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.

It was a special event sponsored by the divinity school's Institute of Anglican Studies, which started activities five years ago. Beeson officials said this year's gathering was the first of other such conferences it plans to hold annually. Programs have already been scheduled in September of 2019, 2020, and 2021.

It would not be inaccurate for an observer to conclude that the answer to the question, "What is Anglicanims?" propounded in the title of the conference is that there is more than what the program showed.

The reason is that the conference as a whole was clearly dominated by the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), a denomination formed in 2010 by disaffected clergy and laity unhappy with some policies and actions of traditional mainline Anglican bodies. Two years ago, the ACNA-Beeson connection was strengthened further when ACNA formally approved Beeson as one of three non-Anglican seminaries in North America acceptable for training its clergy.

Thus, it is not surprising that the conference had just a token Episcopal Church presence, and, willingly or otherwise, gave ACNA a platform for asserting that its rather fundamentalist philosophy in time will overcome revisionist heresy in The Episcopal Church and other mainline Anglican bodies. Despite its name, ACNA is not part of the Anglican Communion headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, but is steadily working toward that recognition.

ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach delivered what was, in effect, the conference keynote address. Although the speech was not the first agenda item at the conference, its prominence was obvious. Officially, it was the sermon for a service of Morning Prayer (from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer) that took place during the hour before the initial day's lunch break. His sermon title: "The Rise of Neo-Pagan Anglicanism."

"Neo-paganism" is the label Beach uses to describe what he considers to be heretical practices being employed by liberals in control of The Episcopal Church, as well as by the Church of England, Scottish Episcopal Church, Anglican Church of Canada, and the Anglican Church in Brazil. These are some of the examples he listed:

---Recent moves in the Diocese of Washington DC and elsewhere to use inclusive, or feminine pronouns, for the name of God.

---A recent instance he heard about in which "Our Mother" was used in the Lord's Prayer instead of "Our Father" in an Episcopal parish. (The concept of a male deity, he said, is God's preference").

---Same-sex marriages in American churches in both the U.S. and U.K.

---The consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003 and subsequent approval of a lesbian as suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles.

---A parish (unnamed) which sponsored a "gay pride" evensong the same weekend as community "Gay Pride" celebrations.

Furthermore, said Beach, in addition to their rampant heresy in the U.S., sinful churches are "funding paganism overseas," sending aid to needy Anglican bodies abroad, and, in the process, forcing them to adopt objectionable practices that prevail in the U.S. He called this a "Trojan horse" approach. The epistle reading for the service was the entire single chapter of Jude, which contains a warning against false teachers.

Beach is scheduled next year to become head of the Global Anglican Fellowship Conference (GAFCON), an international conservative group at odds with the worldwide Anglican Communion. He was selected in June at the most recent GAFCON meeting in Jerusalem.

OPENING PANEL

Before the Morning Prayer service, three panelists presented brief talks: (1) Archbishop Emeritus Eliud Wabukala, Anglican Church of Kenya; (2) Archbishop Mouneer Anis of the Diocese of Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and Primate of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East; and (3) Dr. Ephraim Radner, professor of historical theology at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto in Canada.

Archbishop Wabukala was speaking when I arrived. He appeared to be reviewing the role and influence by Global South Anglican churches in resisting what these conservative bodies consider unbiblical innovations by Anglican leaders in England and elsewhere which once exercised colonial influence in Africa and the Middle East.

Archbishop Anis, considered a strong ally of the Global South movement, was relatively non-confrontational as he told of Anglicanism's role (in which he played a central part) in arriving at some peaceful accommodations with Muslims. He said Anglicanism could continue to do so in other parts of the world, adding that this work could assure a more positive role for Anglican bodies than many might expect.

Dr. Radner, however, showed a less optimistic view. Calling his words an "assessment" rather than a prediction, he said Anglicanism appears to him to be a "dying entity." And he suggested that the Christian religion in the U.S. may eventually wind up consisting of small, relatively independent congregations.

One piece of evidence Dr. Radner cited as a sign of Antglicanism's revisionist tendencies was that there are now Episcopal churches in which no creed is recited during services. He did not identify these congregations by name or location, but he seemed to consider the omission of a creed to be a lack of faithfulness. Apparently, it did not occur to him that Baptist congregations have never used a creed but have flourished nevertheless.

Dr. Stephen Noll, a prolific author and prominent intellectual figure in conservative Anglican circles, also participated in questioning and discussion with panel members.

He reviewed the sometimes contentious international meetings involving both Global South and western Anglicans, including the controversy over adoption of Resolution 1.10 at the 1998 Lambeth Conference. That resolution declared homosexuality inconsistent with Christianity, but has not been endorsed by the whole Anglican Communion, including the Episcopal Church.

Dr. Noll questioned whether Resolution 1.10, among other issues backed by the "orthodox" bloc, would get favorable consideration at the next Lambeth Conference scheduled in 2020.

Dr. Radner---who minutes before had pronounced Anglicanism not long for this world---nevertheless said things look somewhat hopeful because younger Anglicans who are becoming more influential in the Global South may press the conservative agenda more forcefully within the foreseeable future.

Panelists seemed generally cool to endorsing one option suggested by the GARCON closing communiqué in June, that Global South bishops consider boycotting the 2020 Lambeth meeting. Archbishop Anis cautioned against endorsing such action, saying that everyone should trust in the word sof Jesus that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against" his church (Matthew 16:18 KJV).

One of the conference speakers was the Very Rev. Andrew C. Pearson, dean of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham. Dean Pearson's rather bombastic speech was punctuated by one-liners he seemed to be using to highlight himself as one of the main warriors in the battle for orthodoxy.

Early in his talk, he took a verbal shot at The Episcopal Church's former Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, recalling that he had "a lot of fun" being one of the S.C. diocesan clergy who taunted her during a discussion in Charleston a few years ago [2008]. He asserted that "hearing the gospel" is the most important part of worship, as compared with participating in the liturgy, whenever able, with both sight and voice.

Also, he told of his practice in interviewing applicants for clergy jobs at the cathedral. He said he asks every applicant to define the gospel, and if the candidate replies with what he considers an incomplete or inaccurate answer, "he's out the door."

One of the reforms Dean Pearson advocates is a thorough revamping of religious instruction for both children and adults. Confirmation in The Episcopal Church, he said, "has become nothing more than a gentile Bar Mitzvah." He charged that, unlike most other churches, The Episcopal Church sends no missionaries to other countries (which is untrue) and he seemed to consider it misleading or sinister that the church's legal name is The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.

CONCLUSIONS

---ACNA unquestionably achieved a significant coup in the agreement signed in May 2016 that names Samford's Beeson Divinity School as one of only three non-Anglican institutions recognized to train its clergy. Beeson officials, of course, see the deal as a boost for their Institute for Anglican Studies, but the university's prestige has given a major boost to the ACNA's effort to be recognized as a part of the Anglican Communion and as the only "legitimate" Anglican body in the U.S.

---The conference was almost totally dominated by ACNA participation, with The Episcopal Church being something less than an afterthought. From Archbishop Beach's accusatory sermon to the threat of hell just before adjournment, the ACNA's influence was omnipresent.

---Episcopal Church recognition was truly at a bare minimum. The sole activity of Alabama bishop John McKee Sloan---whose office at the Cathedral of the Advent is about a 10-minute drive from the Samford campus---was to deliver the opening prayer, lasting about five minutes, for the conference's second day. Four other Episcopalians participating were also Cathedral-related---Dean Andrew Pearson, who rough-edged speech on preaching drew applause a couple of times; the Rev. Mark S. Gignilliat, a Beeson professor who is the cathedral's canon theologian and who led the congregational hymn before the bishop's prayer; Charles Kennedy, cathedral organist, who played for the Morning Prayer service the first day; and Zac Hicks, liturgy and worship canon at the Advent, who led the congregational singing. (Of course, it should be remembered that Professor Bray is a Church of England priest.)

---One can hope that Bishop Sloan will, at last, point out to Beeson officials that the design and conduct of this conference entitled "What is Anglicanism?" hardly began to answer that question and, in fact, seriously distorted the Anglican movement. I have thought that, if there had been a stronger Episcopal presence with speakers advancing the church's philosophy and mission, some bitter arguments and denunciations could have occurred. During his remarks, Professor Bray said he at times wanted to shout, "No! No! No!" when he heard speakers make historical errors, "but that wouldn't have been very nice."

---I was surprised to hear some of the questions asked of the speakers by the audience filled largely by men in clerical garb, nearly all of whom obviously were ACNA-related. I would have thought all of them already knew about such things as Anglican origins or details about the Articles of Religion. Of course, Dean Pearson's crack about confirmation being a "gentile Bar Mitzvah" revealed more ignorance than wit.

---I realize the Episcopal Church has faced challenges over the years from schism, financial problems, politics and crackpots, but it is hard to be optimistic after thinking about the implications of an experience like the two-day conference I just attended. It always worries me when individuals and organizations exploit the fears of faithful people and condemn them for their beliefs.

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A big "thank you" to Joe Gilliland to this perceptive and full report. 

As Gilliland pointed out, the conference was overwhelmingly a collection of white men. In fact, only one woman was on the program. While ACNA and its GAFCON sponsor are well-known to be homophobic, they are also sexist. Women are treated as second-class citizens unworthy of authority or leadership. In fact, no woman can be elected a bishop in ACNA. ACNA is a top-heavy institution in which power rests among the all-male bishops.

ACNA's homophobia and male chauvinism lead us back to the big picture, the culture war. The schismatic movement in the Episcopal Church is part of a reactionary backlash against the democratic reforms adopted by the Church from the 1950's to the present, particularly for equality and inclusion of African Americans, women, homosexuals, and transgendered. The anti-human rights reactionaries call themselves "orthodox" although they are not orthodox at all in terms of classical Anglicanism. 

Apparently nothing much came out of the Sept. 25-26 ACNA conference in Birmingham. Perhaps the biggest news was the division among the bishops about boycotting the 2020 Lambeth Conference, something the equatorial African bishops in GAFCON are demanding. The meeting was a rally to reinforce preconceived anti-Episcopal Church notions among a group devoted to the destruction, or at least serious diminution, of the Episcopal Church and its replacement in the Anglican Communion as the legitimate Anglican province in the U.S. 

As the schismatic movement in the Episcopal Church has lost steam, so has any idea that ACNA will ever be part of the Anglican Communion, let alone replace TEC as the Anglican province in America. This reality is something no pep-rally conference can obscure.

Although schism is on the decline in the Episcopal Church, the threat is still alive. Episcopal bishops would be wise to recognize this. The culture war is far from over, both on the national scene (the Trump presidency) and in the Episcopal Church.

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Meanwhile......in the garden, autumn has arrived bringing with it cool(er) and drier air. It is a good thing too because I have many garden chores to do that I have been putting off as summer lingered. Asters and fall-blooming camellias are the stars of my garden this week.