AP analysis: Anglicans already breaking up

This Washington Post article illustrates in part what I've been feeling - the inherent weakness of Protestantism is the inclination to fracture the Body of Christ again and again and again. We've seen that with Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, etc.

And that is what has been happening to the Anglican Communion, with a fast-track trajectory over the past few years. My background is French Huguenot - those who left their country, France, in the 1600's because they could not be Roman Catholics and were willing to start over in a new land in order to practice their faith as they saw fit. For all you history majors, remember the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) signed by Louis XIV? Didn't think you did, but I've heard about it since I was born.

Here are just two sections:

IV. We enjoin all ministers of the said R.P.R. [Religion prétendue réformée -- "the religion called the Reformed"], who do not choose to become converts and to embrace the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman religion, to leave our kingdom and the territories subject to us within a fortnight of the publication of our present edict, without leave to reside therein beyond that period, or, during the said fortnight, to engage in any (290) preaching, exhortation, or any other function, on pain of being sent to the galleys. . . .

X. We repeat our most express prohibition to all our subjects of the said R.P.R., together with their wives and children, against leaving our kingdom, lands, and territories subject to us, or transporting their goods and effects therefrom under penalty, as respects the men, of being sent to the galleys, and as respects the women, of imprisonment and confiscation.

Once my family landed in Charleston, we became Anglicans and we've stayed there (at St. Philip's, or the "mother church" as my father called it) ever since (except for me - hey, I'm now in California, so I can't make it back every week).

But now I have to ask, for what? To drift along with cultural relativity and in cultural arrogance? And so where can I go as my church dissolves around me? We will all be scattered even if we remain Anglican, for there will no longer be an "Anglican Communion," only a collection of churches that worship in an Anglican style, but not retaining an Anglican substance.

If the Anglican Communion fractures, it seems to me that I should either look to an earlier church (Orthodox or Roman Catholic) or to a local church that doesn't even pretend to be part of something organizationally or globally greater than herself, other than to proclaim that she is a part of the Body of Christ. To join another Protestant church is to have to go through this all over again in a body that doesn't even pretend to be part of the church catholic.

While I disagree with the first part of the first sentence of this analysis, the second part of the first sentence (and much of the rest of the article) rings very true:

As Episcopal leaders consider barring more gays from becoming bishops to prevent an Anglican schism, the world Anglican family is already dying by a thousand cuts.

Theological conflict over the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, is draining the Anglican Communion of its global influence.

Episcopal and Anglican conservatives who have been trying to maneuver collectively have instead been scattering in different directions, adding to a sense of chaos.

And while the number of Episcopal parishes that have broken with the national church is relatively small, observers say there's another threat that's harder to measure: that some parishioners upset by how leaders have handled the crisis are falling away from the church.

"It's turning people off," said David Hein, a religion professor at Hood College in Maryland who specializes in Episcopal and Anglican history. "They never endorsed gay marriage. They never said ordaining gay bishops was all right. They just did this as an ad hoc thing."

The 77-million-member Anglican Communion is a fellowship of churches that trace their roots to the Church of England. It is the third-largest Christian body in the world, behind the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, and is represented in the U.S. by the Episcopal Church.

After four years of emergency summits and failed talks over Robinson's consecration, Episcopal bishops are meeting here under enormous pressure to roll back their support for gays.

Anglican leaders, called primates, have set a Sept. 30 deadline for the Americans to pledge unequivocally not to consecrate another gay bishop or approve an official prayer service for same-gender couples. Episcopal bishops have dedicated their meeting here to crafting a response.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, has tried to play down the significance of the date, saying "there is no ultimatum involved." However, he took the unusual step of attending the meeting on its first two days, warning Episcopal leaders behind closed doors that they must make concessions to keep the communion together.

No one expects the Americans to completely reverse course. Many Episcopal leaders believe biblical teachings on justice and acceptance are paramount. They celebrated Robinson's election. That means that the damage already done to the communion by all sides in the conflict likely won't be repaired anytime soon. . .

. . . Theological conservatives aren't in much better shape.

Breakaway Episcopal parishes are joining a patchwork of separate U.S.-based networks with leadership from all over the Anglican world, including Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya, where theological conservatives are the majority.

About 60 of the more than 7,000 Episcopal parishes have either split off or suffered serious membership losses, according to the national church.

At least three dioceses _ Pittsburgh, Quincy, Ill. and San Joaquin in California _ have taken the first steps toward breaking from the national church.

Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh is convening a meeting next week called "Common Cause Partners" to unite Episcopal conservatives. But even conservatives doubt its viability.

On Monday, conservative Bishop Jeffrey N. Steenson of the Diocese of the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, N.M., plans to announce that he's resigning and joining the Catholic Church.

"The movement is in danger of fragmenting into so many pieces," said Canon Kendall Harmon, a leading conservative thinker from the Diocese of South Carolina. "We look like American Protestantism already and we've only been essentially at this, depending on whose measuring stick you want to use, three to five years."

If Anglicanism continues on the path of slow but steady splintering, it will effectively do as much harm as a formal schism. Anglicans in Africa, who derive much of their stature from their global ties, will become just another church. The 2.2 million-member Episcopal Church, which has played such a central role in U.S. history, will also be marginalized.

"If that happens, people will say, `This wasn't much of a church anyway,'" said Ephraim Radner, an evangelical Anglican and a theology professor at Wycliffe College in Toronto. "The results will be the disappearance and dissolution of Anglicans as a whole in North America."

Read it all.
H/t TitusOneNine.