Over the last several years, courts in the United States and Canada have faced numerous lawsuits involving congregations and dioceses that have broken away from the Episcopal Church or the Anglican Church of Canada. The break-away congregations are more conservative and take issue with the parent Churches' policies on issues such as same-sex marriage, ordination of women and ordination of gay clergy. Yesterday these conservatives announced the formation of the Anglican Church in North America, a competing national Province still claiming to be part of the Anglican Communion. Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle, reporting on developments, says that it is unprecedented for an Anglican national Province to be created where any other such national church already exists. However the new Province has the support of archbishops in three African countries and Argentina. The new Anglican Church in North America must still adopt a constitution and elect leaders. A Provisional Constitution and Provisional Canons have been published.
UPDATE: Episcopal News Service reported Thursday on a statement from the London office of the Archbishop of Canterbury on the proposed new Anglican province in North America. It said in part: "There are clear guidelines..., notably [Anglican Consultative Council] resolution 12, detailing the steps necessary for ... the creation of new provinces.... Once begun, any of these processes will take years to complete. In relation to the recent announcement from the meeting of the Common Cause Partnership in Chicago, the process has not yet begun."
