At the heart of the crisis in the Anglican Communion are the "decisions, actions, defiance and continuing intransigence of the Episcopal Church," Archbishop Akinola pointed out. Controversy within the Communion heightened when the Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay bishop in 2003. Conservative Anglicans leaving the US church body said the Episcopal Church's departure from Christian orthodoxy was the reason for their split.
Archbishop Akinola told CANA members on Saturday during the ceremony that the conservative group was there to provide a "spiritual home" for God's people. Bishop Minns said CANA was for those who want to remain "faithful members of the Anglican Communion" but cannot do so in "good conscience" in the Episcopal Church.
A February communiqué drafted by the Primates said that such interventions as the Church of Nigeria's missionary initiative in the US were exacerbating the fragile situation in the Anglican Communion. But the communiqué also recognised that those Primates who have intervened do not feel it is right to end those interventions until it becomes clear that sufficient provision has been made for the life of those persons and until there is change in the Episcopal Church.
Archbishop Akinola assured Dr Williams that CANA was established "for the Communion" and that they have no desire to cling to it.
"We are more than happy to surrender it [CANA] to the Communion once the conditions that prompted our division have been overturned," he wrote. He initially made that pledge in February during the Primates' meeting and made it again to CANA members on Saturday.
While the Church of Nigeria tried delaying the election of their first CANA bishop and the election of additional suffragan bishops for the conservative US group, Archbishop Akinola said the Episcopal Church has not embraced the Primates' recommendations that the US Anglican arm not authorise same-sex blessings and confirm another openly gay bishop.
"They are determined to pursue their own unbiblical agenda and exacerbate our current divisions," Archbishop Akinola stated.
The Episcopal House of Bishops recently passed resolutions affirming gays and lesbians as "full and equal participants" in the church and rejecting the Primates' plan for leaders outside the US Anglican body to oversee the conservative dioceses in the US that disagree with the Episcopal Church.
Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori also recently told The Boston Globe that the Episcopal Church was not likely to move "backward" on its 2003 decision to elect Bishop Gene Robinson, a gay man living in a same-sex relationship. She called the 2003 consecration "a great blessing".
"It is imperative that we continue to protect those at most risk while we seek a way forward that will offer hope for the future of our beleaguered Communion," wrote Archbishop Akinola. "It is to this vision that we in the Church of Nigeria and CANA remain committed."
