BY THE RT. REV. DAVID C. ANDERSON SR.,
AAC PRESIDENT & CEO

(*Correction: Dean Jeffrey John was just one of the possible nominees to be Bishop of Reading. There were other candidates for the position. An earlier version of this article was unclear on this fact.)

There is much positive progress to report in the Anglican realignment, with the orthodox Anglicans coming together and becoming stronger. The maturing of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is proceeding apace and showing that it has real staying power. At our recent meeting in Amesbury, Massachusetts, the ACNA gathering took part in the installation of Bishop Bill Murdoch as the diocesan in his new pro-cathedral. The feeling as the service progressed was "this is us"-this is the ACNA growing and expanding, and now the New England area has a cathedral and a settled bishop.

Additionally the ACNA approved and welcomed two applicant dioceses, the Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes (ADGL) and the Anglican Diocese of the South (ADOTS). These dioceses have the potential of having some churches fully seated as members, and other churches maintaining ties to another ACNA judicatory for the time being-having dual citizenship if you will. In ADOTS, some of the churches that I have covered as a CANA bishop are maintaining ties to CANA, but are also partner parishes with the new diocese. This allows a transition time that avoids abrupt endings of established relationships.

The episcopal ministry that the various judicatories have been providing to their churches has shown that where possible, it is very advantageous to have geographical affiliations that provide for local clergy to know each other and their bishop more easily and make it possible for more localized diocesan ministry and mission. In other cases where certain concerns prevail, non-geographic dioceses will best minister.

The Rt. Rev. Roger Ames, an AAC board of trustees member and CANA bishop suffragan, was confirmed as the new bishop of the Great Lakes diocese, and the Rev. Dr. Foley Beach was confirmed as bishop-elect for the Anglican Diocese of the South and will be consecrated in early October.

As the ACNA grows, the expanding numbers of churches and clergy have needs that the AAC is trying to identify and minister to. Based on the results of a survey we recently conducted, we have teamed up with Acts 29 Ministries and Dr. Alan Hansen to develop curricula for a program called "Sure Foundation." Canon Phil Ashey and Dr. Hansen will collaborate in the presentation of these programs designed to assist congregations and clergy in some of their pressing needs, such as how to help congregations grow numerically, and addressing issues that hinder church growth (see www.americananglican.org/surefoundation).

Internationally we note that the Archbishop of Canterbury has advised several TEC leaders that they can't function in their international ecumenical roles previously held because of TEC's theological and organizational stubbornness and arrogance in disregarding the mind of the Anglican Communion on same-sex marriages and the consecration of non-celibate homosexuals to be bishops. To Dr. Rowan Williams we say, well done, but perhaps a tad overdue. Still, it is a step in the right direction, and we want to applaud that.

TEC's Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, has recently returned to the U.S. after a world tour boosting her version of the Anglican Communion. It would appear that she is attempting to form a TEC-based, Jefferts Schori-led Anglican Communion and leave Dr. Williams wondering where his Anglican Communion went. She went to preach and celebrate at the Southwark Cathedral, and Lambeth Palace said she should not function as a bishop, meaning no cope and mitre and no crozier. She complied by carrying her bishop's mitre in her hand, so technically she wasn't wearing it. She also dressed so that one could see her red-purple bishop's shirt at the neck, just to show Rowan that she could comply with the letter of the ruling, but avoid the spirit of it entirely.

Shortly after she left the Southwark Cathedral, it became known somehow that the gay dean, Jeffrey John, whose previous attempt to be a bishop in Reading had been scuttled at the last moment, was on the short list of the Crown Nomination Commission for Southwark Diocese as bishop. The resulting exposure did result in the withdrawal of his name from the short list. In American baseball he would have one more try, but this is England, and I'm not sure how cricket works, let alone how the Church of England really selects bishops. It is a mystery! Here again, the liberal revisionist agenda failed to advance, and for that we are doubly thankful.

May God bless you and watch over you all of your days. †