We in the Continuing Anglican Movement have had our ups and downs. Our whole movement began with a shaky start, and immediately fell into disunity. It has been our greatest weakness. What I intend to do with this little blog is promote the unity that is much needed amongst us. Not just among a few of the bodies, such as the Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Province of Christ the King, and the United Episcopal Church of North America. The aim of his blog goes much deeper than that. My aim in establishing this blog is to get people talking. To get them moving in the direction of unity.
The Continuing Anglican Movement began in the 60's when a much flawed, and opinionated Priest from Statesville, North Carolina left the PECUSA. It culminated in the Congress of St. Louis (which, incidentally, ignored and completely slighted the earlier movement which began in teh 60's), which eventually brought about the creation of the Anglican Catholic Church. Unfortunately, it also brought about quite a few other churches as well. Why? The unity wasn't there. Everyone had their own ideas about how things were going to work, and politics and ambition got in the way.
Now here we are 30 years later, and we are still as fragmented as we have always been. Precious few take us seriously because of it. There is a whole new movement of people out of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, and because we are fragmented, we are not part of that. In fact, quite early on, we lost the one symbol of unity that Anglicans have had for centuries... the Archbishop of Canturbury. We have never replaced him with another symbol of unity. We have never done what has been needed.
I know a man who has a pretty good idea about this. He's in my own parish. He says that we need to get all of these Bishops together, lock them in a room, and not open the doors until they have hashed everything out. Well, I think that's a good idea. The Roman Catholics call that a Conclave, and its how they elect a new Pope. I think it is way past time that we call another Congress of St. Louis. A new Congress to push for unity. And I think EVERYONE should be brought to the table, whether it is believed their orders are valid or not (that can be very easily taken care of). One of the goals of this new Congress of St. Louis should be the establishment of a See of St. Louis. Put all of the Bishops together in one room, and don't let them out until they have decided on a new Archbishop of St. Louis, whose sole job it will be to promote unity among the Continuing Anglican Churches. Any other ecclesiastical authority could be decided upon at a later date. The initial intent of creating the position is to provide a mouthpeice for the movement, and an arbiter of disputes. This is something that might have saved the movement from splintering in the first place back in the 70's, but no one had the forethought to do it.
That is my intentions in creating this blog. To bring together people of like mind, who can work together to bring this unity about, and maybe even to eventually call that new Congress of St. Louis. 30 years is too long to hold to these petty differences, when they can be solved with a little effort and a lot of repentance and humility.
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