Matt Kennedy, blogging on Stand Firm questions whether the Archbishop of Canterbury will ever come round to recognize the new Orthodox Anglican Province of North America (The Anglican Church in North America). His assessment, while depressingly pessimistic is utterly realistic."Rowan Williams is not about to recognize the ACNA nor will he accept dioceses apart from their provinces. He is not now nor has he ever been a friend of orthodox Anglicanism. His task has been to maintain Communion unity through manipulative and deceptive private gestures and ambiguous public statements designed to give hope at just the right moments and then, later, to take it away.His apologists are even now no doubt concocting some sort of exculpatory explanation for this latest betrayal…but make no mistake this is a betrayal. Recall the Archbishop’s letter to Bishop Howe dated October 14th, 2007:
"I would repeat what I’ve said several times before – that any Diocese compliant with Windsor remains clearly in communion with Canterbury and the mainstream of the Communion, whatever may be the longer-term result for others in The Episcopal Church. The organ of union with the wider Church is the Bishop and the Diocese rather than the Provincial structure as such."Of course that was then…a whole 2 years ago…but this is now, 2009, and times have changed and the Archbishop with them.
In fact, throughout this mess there has been only one constant, the untrustworthy character of Rowan Williams."
The longer the Archbishop leaves it to recognise the ACNA, the less likely he will be seen as an instrument of unity. Why? Because there will be fewer and fewer Provinces or Dioceses still in communion with his friends in the Episcopal Church. Like a slow meandering river gradually silting up, the See of Canterbury is in danger of becoming a backwater (or worse, an Oxbow Lake) cut off from the vital life of Word and Spirit flowing freely in the wider Anglican Communion.
