Fort Worth, July 13-17,
2015
Three hundred and fifty
clergy and laity from around the world met at the Hilton in Fort Worth, Texas,
on July 13-17, 2015, to attend the first International Catholic Congress for
Anglicans (ICCA), entitled One Church, One Faith, One Lord.
Primarily sponsored by
Forward in Faith North America, and based on the Anglo-Catholic Congresses of
the first half of the 20th Century, the Fort Worth event aimed to recall
traditional Anglicans to a renewed sense of the catholic nature of the Church
and her mission.
“We look back to the
previous Catholic Congresses not with nostalgia, but with a resolve to live out
the implications of their prayers, with gratitude for their vision,” stated
Forward in Faith North America’s President, Bishop Keith Ackerman.
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali,
former Bishop of Rochester, and Congress Co-Patron with Ackerman, expressed
hope that the Congress would give Catholic Anglicans a greater voice in
orthodox Anglican gatherings, and send out a positive message about the Church:
“This Congress is a
splendid opportunity not only for their (Catholic Anglicans) voice to be heard
but for a message to be sent out about the nature and calling of the of
Christ’s Church and of the Anglican place in it.”
The international scope
of the Congress was reflected in its speakers, who included Bishop Keith
Ackerman, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, Archbishop Valentino Mokiwa, of
Tanzania, Archbishop Stephen Than Myint Oo, of Myanmar, Bishop John Hind,
retired Bishop of Chichester, and Bishop Ray Sutton, of the Reformed Episcopal
Church’s Diocese of Mid-America.
Keynote addresses were
given on a wide range of subjects, such as, “Frank Weston and the Foundations
for Revival,” the “Theology of the Real Presence,” “The Nature of the Church:
Apostolic, Conciliar and Concrete,” and, “The Necessity of Unity in Truth for
the Church’s Mission.”
Breakout sessions focused
on marriage, pro-life ministry, the challenge of Islam, catholic devotional
societies, theological education, icons, SOMA missionary work, church planting,
and more.
Daily worship, consisting
of Morning Prayer, Choral Evensong and the Mass, took place at St. Andrew’s, in
downtown Fort Worth. Preachers included, Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican
Church in North America (ACNA), retired ACNA Archbishop, Robert Duncan,
Archbishop Mark Haverland of the Anglican Catholic Church, the Bishop of
Northern Malawi, Fanuel Magangani, Bishop Paul Hewett of the Diocese of the
Holy Cross, and Bishop Chad Jones of the Anglican Province of America.
While the mood of the
Congress was upbeat and positive, participants were aware of the challenges
they faced in recalling Anglicanism to catholic Faith and Order. In the words
of Fr. Stephen Keeble, of St. George’s, Headstone, U.K.:
“We’re gathered at a time
of crisis and because of a crisis. We stand for the Faith and Order of the
undivided Church, yet we have a proliferation of jurisdictions. The overriding
purpose, the imperative of our meeting, is to address our ecclesial deficit.”
Keeble continued, “In
doing so, and when we’re done, would to God that Betjeman’s words might be
extended to this Anglo-Catholic Congress: ‘Those were the waking days, when
Faith was taught and fanned to a golden age.”
This sentiment was echoed
by Congress organizers, who hope that a broad coalition of orthodox,
catholic-minded Anglicans will emerge from the event.
“What we’ve seen at this
Congress are bishops, priests and people from multiple jurisdictions beginning
to work together towards a common, catholic vision of the church,” said Bishop
Keith Ackerman, “My prayer is that Forward in Faith North America will be part
of an emerging orthodox coalition that reclaims our catholicity as part of
God’s Holy Church.”
Forward in Faith North
America, and its partners from the International Congress of Catholic Anglicans
are committed to this vision of a renewed Anglican Church that is authentically
One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.
********
Bishop Keith Ackerman
announced his retirement as President of Forward in Faith North America at the
Congress on Wednesday, July 15. He is succeeded by Fr. Larry Bausch, Rector of
Holy Trinity, Ocean Beach (ACNA). Ackerman will continue serving Forward in
Faith North America, with the title Ambassador for Foreign and Ecumenical
relations.
STATEMENT OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC CONGRESS OF ANGLICANS
Dear Brothers and Sisters
of the Anglican Family, the Global South, the Global Anglican Future Conference
(GAFCON) movement, and all the faithful seeking a conciliar Church:
The International
Catholic Congress of Anglicans, held July 13-17, 2015, at St. Andrew’s parish
of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, of the Anglican Church in North America,
gathered to reaffirm a catholic and conciliar doctrine of the Church. The Great
Commission of our Lord directs the Church to make faithful disciples, calling
them out of the nations of the world to be holy to the Lord. This statement
seeks to sketch out the way forward in fulfilling our Lord’s call to make
faithful disciples in the context of a properly conciliar church.
SALVATION, CRISIS, AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
The Greek word for
church, ekklesia, identifies these disciples corporately as “the called
One.” The Gospel of our Lord therefore identifies this one holy people, the
Church, as integral to salvation for all, so that the Church Fathers and the
Reformers of the 16th century, echo the great African Bishop, Saint Cyprian,
who said: “outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation,” and, “no
one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as mother.” God calls
out a people, rescuing them from sin and death, assuring them that they will
participate in Christ’s reign, the Kingdom of God. Indeed, it is impossible to
know the Lord, who calls out of darkness and into His marvelous light, without
being joined to His one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Through
preaching, the sacraments, catechesis, and spiritual formation, worshiping in
Spirit and in truth, the Church is able to make disciples by being faithful to
the Apostles’ teaching, the breaking of bread, the prayers, and the fellowship.
As
the body has no life apart from the head, so the Church has no life apart from
Christ, whose Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life. However, churches and the
culture in the West are in crisis. Secularism pervades both. In many places,
Islam seeks to replace the Church and radical Islam persecutes her. Unprincipled
egalitarianism eviscerates language, liturgy, life, faith, and orders of a
divided Christendom. A culture of death is evident in abortion and euthanasia,
and a tragic and unnecessary sexual confusion shapes the paradigms of young and
old. What does the Church say? Where does she stand, and with whom? A deficient
and aberrant ecclesiology is not simply a result of the present crisis in
Church and culture, but is rather a primary cause for the current crisis, and
deserves the attention of all catholic Christians.
A HOLY SYNOD AND A CONCILIAR CHURCH
For the Church (the
ekklesia) to act, she must know who she is: what is she called out to be?
The Church is called into synodality—to come together, to worship, to live in
communion with the Holy Trinity, and to mirror the life of the Holy Trinity.
This implies the conciliarity of the whole people of God, responsive to the
Blessed Trinity, and participating in God’s “heavenly synod” as the Church
Catholic gathered around God’s authoritative Holy Scriptures and the Apostolic
Tradition. In this, she is to be the Church on earth as she is in heaven.
Perhaps the clearest example of this is the First Ecumenical Council (A.D.
325). The Bishops encircle the emperor’s throne with the copy of God’s Holy
Word on it, seeking the mind of Christ, searching the Scriptures daily by the
power of the Holy Spirit. This perfectly expresses both the authority of the
Word of God written and the authority of the Church.
As the “called out ones,”
the Church consists of parts and individuals, made into a whole. This is the
meaning of the Greek word “catholic” (kata holon “according to the
whole”). It speaks of wholeness and integrity. The people of God are to live,
be, and function as the whole Church Catholic of all ages in true worship,
living out the Gospel in apostolic doctrine and communion.
Continuity with the whole
Church of heaven and earth for all ages (by the expression of the Incarnation
of Jesus Christ in worship, witness, belief, and behavior) marks and identifies
this conciliar life in synodality. For Anglicans, this continuity is expressed
in the common confession of the Catholic Creeds and Ecumenical Councils at
which they were formed and clarified.
St. Vincent of Lérins describes this in the true,
Christ-centered, biblical, confessing, and conciliar sense when he says that
the Church upholds “what has been believed by all, everywhere, and at all
times.” This is the essence of kata holon, “according to the whole.”
When the Church is healthy she is able to come together in the Great Tradition
of Eucharistic-centered worship around God’s heavenly throne that touches
earth. As the Church is at holy rest in God’s presence in worship, it becomes a
holy people following the unchangeable teachings of Scripture as understood by
the Church of all ages and as bearing on the urgent issues facing the world
today. Worship as communion with the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church
of all ages then erupts into the world with one voice, bearing witness to the
Good News of Jesus Christ’s glorious Gospel.
However, when the Church
drifts from historic faith, order, and morals, the opposite is true. Indeed, is
this not what has happened in the Anglican Communion? There is an inability
even to gather the historic Lambeth Conference due to this brokenness.
Sinfulness has impeded the ability to convene in Holy Synod. The time has come
for faithful Anglicans to reclaim the apostolic and Scriptural catholicity,
conciliarity, and will, and to come together as a globally obedient witness in
Holy Synod, where bishops, clergy, religious and laity can meet together to
consult and decide important matters, with each exercising the role proper to
them.
In a Conciliar Church,
bishops hold a place of primacy as servants of the servants of God in succession
from the Apostles, who were consecrated by Christ Himself to lead the Church
into the Truth of the Holy Scriptures by the power of the Holy Spirit. “Where
the bishop is, there is the Church,” and “wherever the bishop shall appear,
there let the multitude also be” (Saint Ignatius). At the Council of Jerusalem
(Acts 15) the Apostles, in consultation with the presbyters and through prayer
in the power of the Holy Spirit, resolve a great doctrinal and practical
problem through synodal action. The whole Church, clergy and laity, decide how
the decision is to be communicated to churches and Christians around the world.
Thus bishops, clergy, and laity all participate in the Church’s synodality,
which is effected through the gifts and work of all.
Mutual synodality,
however, does not allow the Church “to ordain any thing that is contrary to
God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it
be repugnant to another” (Articles of Religion, XX). The ancient Church Fathers
and Councils considered apostolic and biblical order, faith, and morals by
definition to be unchangeable. Thus, when the people of God gather in synod,
they do so in order to receive, discern and follow “the Faith once for all
delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), in communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Such Councils find the mind of Christ that has been and always will be. The
realized goal of conciliarity is that the Church speak in true, orthodox unity
to the world with the mind of Christ. As Jesus prayed just before entering the
Garden of Gethsemane, this oneness that He has with the Father, and seeks to
have with His Church, brings true belief, obedience, mission, and spiritual
awakening to the world (John 17).
A CATHOLIC CONGRESS FOR AN ANGLICAN
COMMUNION
Thus, the International
Catholic Congress of Anglicans met to address and to model a global, realigned,
and fully orthodox doctrine of the Church. This Congress is committed to walk
in conciliarity with all Christians who embrace the Catholic Faith—and who
allow the Faith to embrace them. A conciliar model of the Church is essential
to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. The ancient sees of Rome,
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, and the faithful in
communion with them, along with Anglicans, Lutherans, and various expressions
of Protestantism, each have God-given charisms to be given and received by
all—uniting them in ultimate synodality for the discipleship of all the nations
of the world to Jesus.
Only an Apostolic and
conciliar Church can properly allow for such giving and receiving of gifts for
the people of God and for the salvation of the world. Indeed, no one part of
the Church can stand firm against the world, the flesh and the devil without
the other parts. Because of her core ecclesial difficulties, the Church
has insufficiently addressed other causes of further demise both within culture
and the Church. There are assaults from without such as virile secularism,
militant Islamic persecution, sexual confusion, and the redefinition of
matrimony from God’s created order upheld by Christ as a lifelong sacramental
union between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6; Mark
10:6-9). From within there are departures from a Biblical, Catholic faith and
order, heresy, liturgical chaos, and failure to call for repentance from sin.
These subsidiary crises,
allowed to proliferate through ecclesial lapses, have further fragmented
Anglicans globally. Some of the faithful have hoped for the best in the church
homes of their youth, others have formed the “Continuing Churches,” or have
maintained the Faith in particular jurisdictions. Primates, bishops, clergy,
and laity in each of these have struggled valiantly to maintain the historic
Church, but the fragmentation continued, and distance between the faithful
increased.
God has, however, been
moving among Anglicans in an extraordinary way; recent years have seen
significant realignment emanating, for example, from GAFCON and the Global
South. Yet only with a healthy conciliar ecclesiology will there be movement
toward one another in true unity. This Congress recognizes that a proper
doctrine of the Church is critical, requiring the attention of all faithful
Anglicans.
Now therefore, to fulfill
the Great Commission—and to realize further ecumenical relationships within the
one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church—true unity must surpass mere
federations and coalitions. This International Congress invites all Anglicans
throughout the world (a) to a reexamination of the doctrine of the Church and
(b) to a further consideration of areas of continuing ecclesial contention, for
instance, the ordination of women, deemed by some to be a first order issue.
This is necessary so that there may be a revival of Catholic Faith and Order,
and a return to a biblical, credal, and conciliar fidelity. Only through honest
discussion, ongoing prayer, and ultimate agreement will faithful Anglicans
discern fully what God is doing in the great realignment taking place globally.
This International Congress prays also that in God’s good providence there will
be a truly Ecumenical Council of the whole Church to address contentious issues
facing Christians and churches and to strengthen the faith of the Church.
