Giles Fraser says that conservative Anglo-Catholics will find no refuge in GAFCON.
To think that GAFCON is a safe haven for traditionalist Anglo-Catholics is like believing in fairies. Whereas Forward in Faith sees Rome as the “rock from which we are hewn”, and that working towards unity with the See of Peter is essential to its very being, conservative Evangelicals still denounce Romanism as an ecclesiological sin at every turn.
Again, the Thirty-Nine Articles: “the Romish Doctrine” concerning icons and saints, for instance, is “repugnant to the Word of God”. Conservative Evangelicals stick by all this. They believe the Church to be only half reformed, and are itching to finish the job.
Leviticus 19.19 tells us not to wear a garment made of two types of material. Perhaps the problem is that once the garment is washed or distressed in some way, it will tear and begin to fall apart. I have never seen the sense in this passage from scripture until now.
Many traditional Catholics are feeling unloved by the C of E. I wish it were not so. But to believe that Catholic sacramental theology is safe with GAFCON is a self-deception.
And, as if on cue, GAFCONites are beginning to tear each other apart on theological grounds using the 39 Articles against each other.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. John H. Rodgers criticized Ian Ernest, chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) when he addressed the Primate of the Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean and Bishop of Mauritius.
So what did Ernest do to earn Rodgers ire? According to Anglican Mainstream,
Ernest wrote that CAPA bishops should eschew a political solution to the divisions over doctrine and discipline and focus instead on church transformation through Christian witness. CAPA must resist becoming one interest group among many within the Anglican Communion, he said.
Rodgers says Ernest misunderstands the nature of the Church failing to see the difference between the Church Visible and the Church Invisible. But the real problem is that so many CAPA bishops attended Lambeth and appear to value Anglicanism as a Communion.
Read Giles Fraser in The Church Times: A garment that will tear apart.
See also Anglican Mainstream South Africa: AMiA Theologian Challenges CAPA Chairman Over Nature of the Church
Regarding the crazy quilt: Forward in Faith “regrets the recent decision of the Synod of the diocese of Sydney with regard to lay and diaconal presidency at the Eucharist, both of which are clearly contrary to the foundational documents of Anglicanism.”