Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria wrote a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury after the installation of the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as Missionary Bishop to CANA claiming that his action in the United States Saturday was “for the Communion” and was a result of the actions of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church.
Akinola reiterated his claim that CANA by being an extension of the Church of Nigeria is a bona-fide member of the Anglican Communion. He says that once conditions are right, he would be happy to surrender CANA to the Communion. The letter does not state he means by that or what those conditions might be. Nor did he address the claims on real property of the Episcopal Church that most CANA parishes have made.
He called the response of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church disrespectful towards Akinola and the rest of the Anglican Communion Primates and reiterated previous claims that the Episcopal Church is undertaking “their own unbiblical agenda (which) exacerbate our current divisions.”
Saying that “the Lord’s name has been dishonoured,” Akinola says that to not act would imperil “thousands of souls” and that therefore the establishment of a missionary diocese overlapping the Episcopal Church offers “hope for the future of our beleaguered Communion.”
The letter is posted on the Church of Nigeria website.