"We're Anglican and you're not"

That was pretty much what the snide and graceless reaction of the Episcopal Church headquarters was to the announcement of the new Anglican Church in North America. "We will not predict what will or will not come out of this meeting, but simply continue to be clear that the Episcopal Church, along with the Anglican Church of Canada and La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico, comprise the official, recognized presence of the Anglican Communion in North America," said the Rev. Charles Robertson, canon to Presiding Bishop.

If 815 was so convinced of the insignificance of the undertaking, and wanted to use the opportunity to appear like the mature, established ecclesiastical presence they take such pride in purporting to be, the statement would have perhaps expressed regret, but at the same time noted the commonality of heritage and mission, and express hope for cooperation in the future as together with all of Christ's church they work for the spread of the Gospel.

That, of course, isn't possible, though, because the leadership of the Episcopal Church rejects that heritage, save in outward manifestations like buildings, frocks, and finery. And in no sense do the Episcopal Church's powers-that-be even understand what the Gospel is, or what mission is as Christ defined it to be.

So what else could they say, but "We're Anglican and they're not." It remains about the last distinctive the Episcopal Church has. And that does nothing to bring in new members, or these days even keep the old ones. It has no persuasive power to keep young people a part of the church. It's the ecclesiastical equivalent of the headstone inscription for a deceased motorist that reads, "He had the right of way"--although perhaps one day the claim of the Episcopal Church may be even less compelling. Though intended to denigrate the new undertaking it served in fact to do little more than point to the inherent weakness and shallowness of a church whose statistics released this week strongly suggest its demographic death is fast approaching.

Another wag, the Rev. Frederick Schmidt at SMU, raised the question of whether one can build a church around a negative. Good question, that, and fair warning to the new province. But in truth it is the Episcopal Church that is now a church existing on negative premises: that others are not Anglicans, that others are bigots, that others aren't as socially enlightened as they are; that others aren't sophisticated enough to stop having children; that others are "fundamentalists" that others haven't apologized for the sins of others as it has; and so forth. Very little the Episcopal Church does these days does not carry with it implicit condemnation of other Christians, past and present, so to build up its own pride, and perhaps convince itself that it is better than its empty pews would suggest.

Bishop Duncan volunteered in his press conference that of course the new province is not the official branch of Anglicanism in North America, and that the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church in Canada were. That is the nature of the undertaking: creating a new province that one day might be in position to be recognized. The Episcopal Church may succeed for many years, many decades even, in keeping the Anglican franchise, even well after a majority of the world's Anglicans recognize the new North American Church and its archbishop. But what Bishop Duncan was saying was that this is not everything, not now and not ever. Christ and his Gospel are everything. And therein is the crucial difference in perspectives.