By Robin G. Jordan
A catechism, like the fundamental declarations, canons, rites, and services of an Anglican ecclesial body, is a statement of the official doctrine of that ecclesial body. Congregations and clergy in the ecclesial body are expected to conform to its teaching. Conformity to its teaching may be required as a condition for admission as a candidate for ordination and for ordination itself. Conformity to its teaching may also be required as a condition for licensing as a minister in the ecclesial body and/or its subdivisions (e.g., dioceses, networks). Failure to conform to its teaching may be used to deny posts to clergy, remove them from posts, to suspend or revoke their license to minister, and to otherwise penalize them. It may prevent their nomination for the office of bishop, their selection as a bishop, or the confirmation of their election as a bishop.
As we have seen so far in the article series, “The New ACNA Catechism – A Closer Look,” the catechism teaches a synergistic Arminian view of God and salvation. Before a sinner may experience regeneration and the new birth, he must first believe. Prevenient grace brings the sinner to a point where he is able to believe. This grace is extended to all sinners. All sinners are capable of repentance and faith and therefore may be saved.
The new ACNA catechism contains hints that those who compiled it have an elevated view of church tradition, a view that is not shared by all Anglicans. It takes the Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic position that Christians cannot understand or interpret the Scriptures by themselves. They must rely on the Church and the clergy to explain the meaning of the Scriptures to them.
The new ACNA catechism allows ACNA clergy to teach the Eastern Orthodox doctrine that the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone. The Son is an agent only in the procession of the Spirit, the Father sending the Spirit at the intercession of the Son. The catechism teaches the Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic doctrine that the Holy Spirit indwells new believers from their baptism on, regenerating them and giving them new birth. It allows ACNA clergy to teach the Eastern Orthodox doctrine that the Holy Spirit is given by chrismation at baptism.
As we shall see in upcoming articles, the new ACNA catechism teaches Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic doctrine that confirmation, penance, ordination, matrimony, and unction are sacraments and confer sacramental grace. It countenances the practice of auricular confession and the Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic doctrine of absolution. It also teaches a synergistic Arminian view of sanctification.
From our examination of the new ACNA catechism to date, it is clear that those who compiled the new catechism had no intention of producing a set of questions and answers that is compatible with and acceptable to all recognized Anglican schools of thought. Rather the new ACNA catechism gives the appearance of having been intended to secure approval of the teaching of one school of thought as the official teaching of the Anglican Church in North America and to ensure that all existing members of the ACNA as well as all newcomers, are indoctrinated in its teaching. Those who are instructed with the new ACNA catechism will be indoctrinated in the beliefs of a theological strand within the Anglican Church, which does not fully accept the authority of the Bible and the Anglican formularies.
The ACNA College of Bishops’ unanimous approval of the new ACNA catechism represents a major coup for the school of thought that the catechism favors. It imposes the beliefs of that school of thought upon the whole Anglican Church in North America. Since the ACNA College of Bishops is promoting the use of the catechism in other Anglican churches as well as the ACNA, it also represents an important step in fulfilling the aspirations of members of that school of thought to export their brand of theology to the global Anglican community and move it in the direction of unreformed Catholicism.
We can anticipate that the new ACNA catechism will be a part of the ACNA Prayer Book when it is finally published. Under the provisions of the existing ACNA canons ACNA congregations and clergy will no longer be able to use other Anglican service books with its publication. Just as An Outline of the Faith, or Catechism, in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer has been proven useful to liberals in the Episcopal Church in promoting their theological views, the new ACNA catechism will provide similar leverage to the school of thought, whose teaching the catechism favors.
We can also anticipate that the baptism and confirmation rites in the ACNA Prayer Book will reflect the teaching of the new ACNA catechism as will its pastoral services—marriage service, funeral service, ministry with the sick, ministry with the dying, and reconciliation of a penitent. We do not need to wait for these pieces of the puzzle to be put into place to see the complete picture. The critical pieces are already in place.
The highly partisan doctrinal views stated or inferred in the new ACNA catechism should be a serious cause for concern for Reformed Evangelicals and other Anglicans who are committed to the teaching of the Scriptures and the doctrine of the Anglican formularies. If they are currently a part of the Anglican Church in North America, the College of Bishop’s adoption of the catechism conveys a very clear message that the ACNA is not willing to make room for them and their beliefs. They are not welcome in the Anglican Church in North America. If they are not part of the ACNA, it sends an equally clear message that the ACNA in its unwillingness to allow or accept their beliefs and its determination to convert the global Anglican community to its own beliefs represents a threat to what they believe. They need to reconsider their support of the ACNA.
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