Ship of Fools: The future of womens ordination in the ACNA

Thread: The future of womens ordination in the ACNA Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Amanda in the South Bay (# 18185) on :

Not sure if this is the correct forum, feel free to move it if needed.

There's an ACNA parish in my neck of the woods (no, I'm not even remotely tempted to attend a church where the guiding theology is hatred (in a theologically 'sophisticated' way) of bashing queer people) with a couple of female clergy, and it got me wondering. What is the future of WO in the ACNA? What about the current female clergy?

The ACNA seems to be mostly Anglo Catholics and southern white male calvinist Episcopalians ('Foley Beach' just screams southern good old boy), with only a small number who want to keep the ECUSA status quo immediately prior to VGR. I can't imagine that banning WO would prompt too many defections, though even grandfathering the current female clergy in...I can't imagine they'd be very comfortable in their ministries.

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

hosting/

Hello Amanda in the South Bay.

This thread belongs firmly on our Dead Horses board. Don't be put off by the name!

I shall now send it thither.

/hosting

Posted by seekingsister (# 17707) on :

I know someone who worships at ECUSA one town over from Falls Church VA, where a breakaway group ended up in court over trying to take the building with them into ACNA.

She told me that it was 100% over LGBT issues and nothing to do with OOW. In her words "They're conservatives but they got over women clergy a long time ago."

I've just looked at this particular church's website - The Falls Church (Anglican) - and they have three ordained women on staff, so that does line up.

Posted by Fr Weber (# 13472) on :

My impression of ACNA in general is that they want to turn the clock back to 5 minutes before Gene Robinson's consecration.

The majority of the jurisdiction seems to want to phase out WO, but if it comes to action there is going to be a fight. The catholic sympathies of some ACNA prelates (+Scofield, +Iker) have been widely advertised, but I struggle to understand how catholic ecclesiology is compatible with the attitude of "well, it's not happening in *my* diocese, so why leave my nice building and endowment?". If they really had the courage of their convictions, they would have left in 1978.

Posted by Beeswax Altar (# 11644) on :

But the bishops can phase it out even without officially saying that women can't be ordained. The ACNA may allow for the ordination of women. The individual bishops don't have to ordain a single woman. Even permitting a woman to enter the discernment process is no guarantee that she will be ordained.

I do wonder what become of ACNA in the next couple of decades. One part of me thinks it will shrivel up and die. Another part of me thinks it will surpass TEC in membership. I don't know.

Posted by Amanda in the South Bay (# 18185) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Beeswax Altar:
But the bishops can phase it out even without officially saying that women can't be ordained. The ACNA may allow for the ordination of women. The individual bishops don't have to ordain a single woman. Even permitting a woman to enter the discernment process is no guarantee that she will be ordained.

I do wonder what become of ACNA in the next couple of decades. One part of me thinks it will shrivel up and die. Another part of me thinks it will surpass TEC in membership. I don't know.

I don't think the individual elements of the ACNA federation, prior to the creation of the ACNA, were growing at a clip to outplace ECUSA.

Posted by Amanda in the South Bay (# 18185) on :

This is the nearby parish I noticed that has female clergy in the ACNA
St James San Jose

Like Fr Weber, I think that Iker, Ackerman, et al who are Anglo Catholics in the ACNA, haven't much of a leg to stand on with regards to catholicity. They spent 30 years in ECUSA with female clergy, to come out against it now reeks of "we got our parishes and buildings, so now we can speak out." Likewise, if ACNA stops the ordination of women, what does it say about Catholic sacrementality that the current ordained women basically wouldn't have priestly functions outside their current parishes?

Posted by Try (# 4951) on :

The new ACNA archbishop ordains women to the vocational diaconate but not to the priesthood or the transitional diaconate. My guess is that is where ACNA as a whole will end up in regards to the ordination of women, simply because they want a uniform policy, and ordaining women only to the diaconate is an obvious compromise. One can also argue that this is the "biblical" position, and ACNA is largely an Evangelical shop. For the traditional AC wing of ACNA it will reassure them that if traveling they can take Communion in any ACNA church without worrying about a female celebrant. As for women who are already ordained to the priesthood, I'm not sure if they'll be grandfathered in with full rights, grandfathered into their current ministries only, or asked to function only as deacons effective immediately. Obviously some people will go back to TEC when the change happens- the less gracious ACNA is to their current women priests the more will leave.

Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on :

Thanks for that, Try.

It gave me a chance to check up on this crowd, read their new catechism, and learn that the Jerusalem Declaration is one of the "Classic Texts" of Anglicanism.

Posted by Charles Read (# 3963) on :

I have a friend who is a female priest in ACNA - she is finding it tough. They want to adopt the kind of two integrities stuff which the Church of England has (they think) had. (Actually we haven't - we have said we'll respect the integrity of both those in favour and those against OW).

I also met a possible (female) ordinand from ACNA who contemplated training in England where she thought she would be welcomed at an evangelical Anglican college (well some anyway...).

Posted by LQ (# 11596) on :

When "ACNA 2.0" started up, one of the then-bishops of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (now a priest of the ordinariate Deanery of St John the Baptist) took them to task in the Post for creating simply another "cafeteria":

quote:
If it is permissible, based on sociological obfuscation, to alter the nature of one Sacrament (Holy Orders) and invent women priests, then why should it not be equally permissible for another (Holy Matrimony) and invent same-sex marriage?

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