GAFCON has issued a communiqué: The Future Has Arrived
Some initial reports and responses:
Church Times: Gafcon letter declares that it is the Communion now, minus Canterbury and all related ‘Instruments’
The Living Church: Analysis: GAFCON Creates Global Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion Office: A Pastoral Letter from the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion
Andrew McGowan: NO, THE “GLOBAL SOUTH” HAS NOT LEFT THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION
Anglican Church of Canada: Pastoral statement from the Primate and Metropolitans of the Anglican Church of Canada concerning the Anglican Communion
As I have always understood it as a former Anglican now a Roman Catholic, Anglican Identity and Authority rested as set out in the 16th Century by Richard Hooker on the threefold Authority of Scripture, Tradition and Reason, and not on Sola Scriptora alone, so it makes the position of Gafcon quite un Anglican and if that exalt the Bible as the Supreme and only Source of Authority and lay aside Tradition and Reason can they still be called Anglicans? or have they departed from Anglicanism and become full blooded Protestants? Jonathan
Thanks to the coverage.
Meanwhile, this is not new. +Sarah choice for AbC was just the right excuse to make what has been in the writing since 2008 at least.
Time will tell the effect on CofE, even though I believe most of the conservatives still inside CofE will simply to quietly depart like they’ve been doing since the early 10’s. There will not to be a big schism by itself. The mainline Anglican Communion will effectively to be smaller, but that would to be expected ou of this all.
This may not be the most insightful comment, but I can’t help but wonder why or how this statement really changes things. The GAFCON churches (or whatever they call themselves) have either said these things before or have behaved as if they were already in effect. There is no end to things they disagree with or in which want their own way and appeasing them is impossible. Even where such efforts have been made, they don’t seem to matter. And declaring that Anglicans believe-and are required-to believe in Biblical inerrancy is not Anglican in the least. Then there is the… Read more »