Seven parishes, comprising almost 10 percent of the active communicants of the Diocese of Virginia, announced Dec. 17 they were leaving the diocese and placing themselves under the oversight of the Church of Nigeria’s Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). The announcement came after congregational votes.

The Church of the Apostles, Fairfax; Church of the Word, Gainesville; Potomac Falls Episcopal Church, Sterling; St. Margaret’s, Woodbridge; St. Stephen’s, Heathsville; The Falls Church, Falls Church; and Truro Church, Fairfax, announced their withdrawal at a news conference at Truro following Sunday services. St. Paul’s, Haymarket, is expected to release the results of its voting early this week.

Communicants at the eight parishes were asked to vote on two resolutions. In the first, voters were asked whether the congregation “shall sever its denominational ties with The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia and affiliate with the Anglican District of Virginia, an association of churches under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a branch of the Anglican Communion.”

If the parish endorsed the first resolution and if it held title to its property a second resolution asked whether the “real and personal property of [the parish] should be retained by the majority of the congregation.”

In each case the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of secession and for keeping its property, the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, rector of Truro and Bishop of CANA, reported. The lowest margin in favor of withdrawal came at St Stephen’s with 75 percent favoring withdrawal. At Truro the vote in favor of secession was 1,010 in favor, 85 opposed, while at The Falls Church the result was 1,228 in favor, 127 opposed.

Jim Oakes, senior warden at Truro, believed the results signified a desire by the congregations to move forward, “to enable us to expand our ministry, mission and outreach in ways we have never been able to do.”

“This whole situation isn’t about us. It’s about the next generation and the next and the next,” the Rev. John Yates, rector of The Falls Church, told his congregation. “For the sake of the children, we must be faithful to Christ.”

The vote would “in no way exclude” diocesan loyalists from the ministries of the parish, Fr. Yates said, as they remained “well-loved” members of the congregation.

Five other Virginia congregations have previously voted to withdraw from the diocese. All Saints’, Woodbridge; Christ Our Lord Anglican Church, Lake Ridge; Church of the Holy Spirit, Ashburn; and South Riding Episcopal Church, Fairfax, have affiliated with the Church of Uganda, while Christ the Redeemer Church, Centreville, which voted in September to withdraw from the diocese, voted Sunday to join CANA.

Two other congregations have announced plans to hold parish votes on withdrawing from the diocese: Church of the Epiphany, Herndon, and Our Saviour, Oatlands.

Bishop Minns told the Truro press conference that it was CANA’s desire to “stay close and work it out” with Bishop Peter J. Lee of Virginia, and avoid protracted litigation. He also differentiated CANA from the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA), which in 2000 received a number of congregations and clergy from The Episcopal Church under the oversight of the Province of Rwanda.

CANA had been “established very publicly as an action in response” to the actions of The Episcopal Church over the past few years and had a “different kind of DNA” than the AMiA. “We see ourselves as a building block,” Bishop Minns said, for “what the primates and the Global South have identified as a new need to build a new structure in the U.S.”

He noted that following Sunday’s vote, CANA now comprised some “25 to 30 congregations and 45 to 50 clergy.” While these numbers might seem small, Bishop Minns noted, CANA’s average Sunday attendance was larger than 50 U.S. Episcopal dioceses.

In a statement released after the vote, Bishop Lee said he was “saddened by this development.”

He said the diocese had “labored for three years to seek another course that would have maintained the integrity of the church and the spirit of inclusiveness that has been a hallmark of the diocese.” Sunday’s votes “have compromised these discussions and have created Nigerian congregations occupying Episcopal churches.”

Bishop Lee announced a special meeting of the diocesan executive board and standing committee for Tuesday, Dec. 18 to “consider the full range of pastoral, canonical and legal obligations of the Church.” The diocese, he added, would vigorously defend its “canonical and legal rights” over the departing parishes’ properties.

(The Rev.) George Conger

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