So we are seeing the greatest shaking of Anglicanism possibly ever and I want to know what everyone thinks about it or give some thoughts about what may happen with it.

I find Gafcon leading it's self into a hole which will cause it to fall apart in future years because it has alienated the Anglo-Catholic wing of the church. One large part of this is points 3,4,6,7, and 8 in the Jerusalem declaration.

3. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

4. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.

6.We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.

7.We recognize that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.

8.We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.

The first problem I see is that there are seven Ecumenical councils not four. This I find to be a great problem because we find that these bishops are claiming more right, authority, and orthodoxy then The Church when she was all together. The arrogance is mind boggling to me because all the church can do now is hold to what was given because the church as a whole can not come together to make a statement in council anymore. ( by The Church I mean Anglicans, Eastern orthodox and Roman Catholics) So to pick and chose what you want to call "catholic" and "true" is a very protestant action. When the church as a whole agreed on the seven councils and what they say. I find this point needing work to open up to those who hold to seven councils so they have an equal right to speak because if there is only four recognized they are shut out.

The second problem is that the 39 articles are a formulary not a creedal doctrine and those in Gafcon seem to be moving in that direction. Now as a Anglo-Catholic Faithful to the Oxford movement and the historical church of the apostles I view the articles in a greatly different way then "low church" Anglicans. So I think these elements need to be more opened to Anglo-Catholics.

The third problem is the 1662 prayer book as stated by

The Most Reverend Mark Haverland, Ph.D.

Archbishop and Acting Primate of the

Anglican Catholic Church

( http://www.anglicancatholic.org/gafcon.html)

while the 1662 Prayer Book has many strengths, it also has some notable weaknesses, including a truncated Eucharistic Canon, which the 1928 American, 1954 South African, and other later Prayer Books have corrected. We by no means assert the invalidity of any form in the 1662 book, but neither can we accept that 1662 is the central or best model for Anglican liturgy.

The fourth problem is that in point seven Gafcon did not state the Holy orders as being only male and that true apostolic succession can only be passed on in you have: 1. The proper minister (bishops in valid orders) 2. The proper Subject (A baptized Christian male That has gone through the previous orders) 3. The proper rite or ceremony of ordination (For the ordination of a bishop you historically need three bishops)4. The time ( dates that have been set for the candidates ordination) 5. The Place ( The ordination is to be done in The church)

The fifth problem I see is that the point on marriage should have shown it to be a sacramental action of the church and to be something that can only be broke upon death or in extreme cases that are deiced by the church.

The last problem I will bring up is the Catholic belief of seven sacraments not 2 greater and 5 lesser sacraments.

I think Gafcon needs to fix it's stance in the declaration to allow Anglo-Catholics a place within the newly forming province lest they are forced to form something of their own and none of us want that.

Written by:

Allen Bailey: aspirant of the Anglican province of America