The Lorna Ashworth Church of England Synod motion & ACNA Recognized in Spirited Debate by Church of England Synod
Question A:-
Compare and contrast the following two articles reporting on the Church of England’s Synod vote on the Anglican church in North America (ACNA). (50 Points)
BREAKING NEWS…ACNA Recognized in Spirited Debate by Church of England Synod
A spirited debate by the Church of England Synod saw the newly formed Anglican Church in North America recognized by all three houses – bishops, clergy and laity in an overwhelming vote.
The final vote was 309 in favor, 69 against and 17 recorded abstentions.
The following is the final draft of the resolution.
“That this Synod aware of the distress caused by recent divisions within the Anglican churches of the United States of America, recognize and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican church in North America (ACNA) to remain within the Anglican family; acknowledge that this aspiration, in respect both of relations with the Church of England and membership of the Anglican Communion, raises issues which the relevant authorities of each need to explore further; and invite the Archbishops to report further to the Synod in 2011.”
The original motion by Lorna Ashley, “that this Synod express the desire that the Church of England be in communion with the Anglican Church in North America,” was defeated. She expressed satisfaction with the final amended resolution.
The original motion went through several amendments, but the final vote after nearly three hours of debate made it clear that ACNA deserved to be recognized as Anglican but delegates needed a year to think and pray over it. Both the Archbishops of Canterbury and York voted for the final amended resolution.
On any kind of reading the passage of this resolution sends a signal to The Episcopal Church that they are not the only Anglican players in North America and the actions of TEC at GC2009 accelerated what took place here today.
Many will view this as a slap in the face at Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori and an affirmation of the ministry and ecclesiastical of ACNA Archbishop Robert Duncan.
One observer said this should have been a decade’s long process but it was clearly truncated and brought to a head by actions of the Episcopal Church over passage of two resolutions D025 and C056 last summer in Anaheim, California.
Motions to pass to next business and to adjourn the debate were lost.
The Lorna Ashworth Church of England Synod motion
Her original motion before the Church of England Synod was, “that this Synod express the desire that the Church of England be in communion with the Anglican Church in North America.” It was defeated and an amended version passed 309 to 69 with 17 abstentions.
That this Synod, aware of the distress cause by recent divisions within the Anglican churches of the United States of America and Canada,
(a) recognise and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family;
(b) acknowledge that this aspiration, in respect both of relations with the Church of England and membership of the Anglican Communion, raises issues which the relevant authorities of each need to explore further; and
(c) invite the Archbishops to report further to the Synod in 2011.Lorna Ashworth’s reason for bringing the motion to synod was to “send a strong message of encouragement to people who are practising Biblical historical Anglicanism” – that’s it. The motion was not that the CoE be in communion with the ACNA, only that the synod express the desire that it should be so.
But even that was too much for the synod, so the Anglican-bland amended motion was put forward stating the reverse of the original motion – the desire of the ACNA to be part of the Anglican Communion.
That this is typically Anglican is evidenced by the 1 year delay, the expectation of a report and the fact that it is sufficiently woolly that people on each side of the issue see support or lack thereof depending on what they had for breakfast.
Lorna Ashworth, before the synod debate, said the heart of her motion was that “we desire to be communion”; the heart was ripped out by the amendment.
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