In response to a number of inquiries and after consultation with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the secretary general of the Anglican Consultative Council issued a brief statement Dec. 15 clarifying the status of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) within the Anglican Communion.

“The Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) is, to my knowledge, a “mission” of the Church of Nigeria,” stated the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon. “It is not a branch of the Anglican Communion as such but an organisation which relates to single province of the Anglican Communion. CANA has not petitioned the Anglican Consultative Council for any official status within the Communion’s structures, nor has the Archbishop of Canterbury indicated any support for its establishment.”

On Dec. 17, eight congregations in the Diocese of Virginia will complete parish votes on whether to leave The Episcopal Church. Among those parishes is Truro Church in Fairfax where Bishop Martyn Minns serves as priest-in-charge under license until Jan. 1. On Aug. 20 in Abuja, Canon Minns (who had served as rector of Truro Church for the past nine years) was consecrated a missionary bishop for CANA by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola. It is expected that at least some of the Virginia parishes which vote to leave the diocese will become part of the Anglican District of Virginia in CANA.

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