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Network of orthodox Episcopalians and Anglicans gets attention
No doubt the creation of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes is a significant development in the battle for the soul of the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Communion worldwide. Dozens of articles on the subject are running in today's newspapers, and the orthodox Anglican web sites are cranking on all cylinders. But what does its creation, along with its founding charter and theological charter, really mean? There's little agreement.

Some news articles emphasize that this news is "not a harbinger of schism," and that the main point of the network is to "bring hope" and to be "a place to reconnect" for orthodox Episcopalians upset with the denominational leadership.

Other news articles say that those at the launching meeting in Plano, Texas, "hope [the network] will eventually replace the [Episcopal Church USA] as the authentic representative of the faith in the U.S."

Then there's the muddled middle analysis: "Rather than create a 'replacement' church in the United States, the delegates said they seek to convince the archbishop of Canterbury and 38 primates that head the 77-million member worldwide Anglican Communion that the new movement is the true Episcopal Church USA."

And the difference is? Ryan Reed, a delegate of the Ft. Worth diocese, explained to the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram that the network "allows us to be a part of the Anglican Communion in the long run. If the Episcopal Church continues to be removed from the Anglican Church, we will probably be recognized by the Anglican Communion."

But network moderator Robert Duncan, bishop of the Pittsburgh diocese, says that the delegates "did not discuss, at all, replacement." However, he said, "That is certainly one of the things that Anglicans around the world are suggesting as they look at what's happened here."

Jan Nunley, the Episcopal Church USA's deputy news director, told the Chicago Tribune that the network has no chance of replacing ECUSA. "I don't understand how they can say if the Anglican Communion is mad at the [U.S.] church, the church doesn't exist," Nunley said.

One of the reasons that "talk of schism was downplayed during the two-day meeting … is that parishes would likely be forced to surrender their properties to the denomination if they leave," reports the Associated Press.

"I think the ECUSA is beyond redemption and I would like to see Anglican conservatives touch not the unclean thing," blogger Christopher S. Johnson wrote. "However, I can understand the [network's] position. Simply walking away from all these buildings really wouldn't hurt the ECUSA that much. The ECUSA would either sell the properties and pocket the profits or plant new reliably-liberal groups in formerly-conservative parishes. Either way, American conservative Anglican witness would be even less visible than it is now."

Upcoming battles between the network and the ECUSA leadership will no doubt focus on the network's plans to circumvent official ECUSA agencies in redistributing money to missions and in organizing "alternative episcopal oversight" to conservative parishes in liberal dioceses. But the network will have its own internal battles: its charter notes that "the affiliates of the Network hold differing positions regarding the ordination of women and pledge that we shall recognize and honor the positions and practices on this issue of others in the Network." But that hardly seems a long-term solution to the issue.

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January (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48