Akinola Defies Anglican Communion and US Episcopal Church

The Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria has defied requests from the leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion and US Episcopal Church by going ahead with the installation of Bishop Martyn Minns of Virginia as the head of a new diocese for congregations wanting to leave the US Church.

Presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, previously expressed her opposition to the installation, while the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, made an eleventh hour petition to Archbishop Peter Akinola late last week asking him not to go ahead with the controversial ceremony.

Hundreds watched, however, as Archbishop Akinola installed Bishop Minns as the "missionary bishop" of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America - the US missionary branch of the Anglican Church of Nigeria - on a stage lined with large purple and yellow banners embellished with the word CANA.

The powerful Archbishop Akinola has become the mouthpiece of a conservative movement within the Anglican Communion defiant in its opposition to homosexuality and divorced clergy.

A number of conservative dioceses in the US, meanwhile, have felt increasingly disenfranchised within the US Church as it persists in pursuing an increasingly liberal path that is rejected by large parts of the Anglican Communion. CANA will now provide spiritual leadership for those orthodox Anglicans who have left the US Episcopal Church.

"Our name is now synonymous with discontent," said Bishop Minns. "It is a disaster, but it's not the end of the story. God wants to transform this into a celebration, and CANA is a gift."

A number of churchmen from Canada, England, the US, Nigeria and Uganda were seated on the stage during the ceremony.

The Rev David Banting, the chair of Reform and a trustee of Anglican Mainstream, was at the ceremony to represent both networks and two Church of England bishops have already welcomed Bishop Minns to his new post.

Gerald O'Brien, a lay representative from the Diocese of Rochester on General Synod, attended the ceremony and offered the greetings of almost 30 General Synod members, including the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali and Bishop George Cassidy of Southwell and Nottingham - the diocese from which Bishop Minns hails.

The greetings praised Archbishop Akinola and Bishop Minns for going ahead with the ceremony.

"Their clear witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, as revealed in the scriptures, over every area of life in their culture is an important contribution to the life of the Anglican Communion and to the witness of the Anglican Church in western society," the greetings read.

"We pray and hope that ways will be found to bring all those who wish to remain faithful orthodox Anglicans in North America into one united fellowship with the rest of the communion."

The US-based Institute on Religion and Democracy also came out in support of the installation.

In a statement released the day before, the IRD's Director of Anglican Action, Ralph Webb, said: "Bishop Minns has served faithfully as an Anglican rector in many different types of parishes. His strong leadership qualities, unwavering commitment to orthodox theology and social witness, pastoral heart, and great concern for the poor are but four of many traits that will serve him well in his CANA responsibilities."

Webb added, however, that IRD would continue to support those Orthodox Anglicans who had decided to remain in the US Episcopal Church and reaffirmed his hope for a "healed" Anglican Communion.

Bishop Minns, rector of Truro Church in Fairfax, shot to prominence last December when he led 11 Virginian churches in a breakaway from the US Episcopal Church.