The future of the new branch of the Anglican Communion remains unclear after the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office warned that it would be years before it gained official recognition.
“This is not being put on hold while we wait for a committee in England to tell us which form to fill out,” the Rev Peter Frank, a spokesman for the Bishop of Pittsburgh, told the New York Times.
The Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt Rev Robert Duncan, was ousted from TEC after he led his diocese in realigning with the Province of the Southern Cone. He will head up the new Anglican Church in North America, which includes four Episcopal dioceses and numbers around 100,000 conservative Anglicans.
Its formation was announced on Wednesday by conservative Anglicans meeting in Wheaton, Illinois, as a response to unresolved differences with TEC over core Christian doctrine, including attitudes to homosexuality, the authority of Scripture, and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
The office of the Archbishop of Canterbury urged the breakaway Anglicans to follow the “clear guidelines” on creating new provinces set out in the Anglican Consultative Council Reports.
