Brothers+

Has anyone any feeling about the accuracy of the numbers of which the 
ACNS speaks in the article below?

Charles+
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Subject: Anglican Communion Network tops 1,000 clergy, 800 congregations

Anglican Communion Network tops 1,000 clergy, 800 congregations: 
More than 60 Episcopal dioceses home to Network affiliates

ACN NEWS RELEASE

WASHINGTON, DC (9/21/2004)--Orthodox Anglicans from all over the United
States are affiliating with the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses
and Parishes at an increasing rate.

According to figures updated in early September, well over 1,000 clergy
and 800 parishes are now either affiliated, provisionally affiliated, or
in the process of affiliating with the Network.

"The Anglican Communion Network exists to provide a united voice for
orthodox Anglicans in North America as well as a connection to the vast
majority of the global Anglican Communion who have rejected last
summer's unity-destroying actions of our Episcopal Church," said Bishop
Robert Duncan, moderator of the Network, "It's wonderful to see so many
faithful Episcopalians and other members of our Anglican family standing
up to be counted."

Many of parishes and clergy connected to the Anglican Communion Network
are affiliated through nine Episcopal Dioceses: Albany, Central Florida,
Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy, Rio Grande, San Joaquin, South Carolina
and Springfield. Two other dioceses, Dallas and Western Kansas, are
provisionally affiliated until they have an opportunity to consider
formal affiliation at their diocesan conventions this autumn. Individual
parishes or clergy in affiliated dioceses do not separately apply to
affiliate with the Network. Instead their diocese's decision connects
them.

Scores of parishes and clergy outside of Anglican Communion Network
dioceses are also joining in. According to recent figures, a total of
240 churches with their clergy or individual clergy not in an affiliated
diocese or parish have become part of the Anglican Communion Network's
six convocations. Five of the convocations are regional groupings of
parishes and individual clergy that link together those not in Anglican
Communion Network dioceses. Forward in Faith North America also has a
convocation. Together, affiliates come from more than 60 Episcopal
Church dioceses, more than half the total number of dioceses in the
Episcopal Church.

Anglican Communion Network churches include congregations like Church of
the Redeemer, an Episcopal parish in Jacksonville, Florida that is part
of the South East Convocation. "Being in the Network has enabled many of
us to be patient with the process of discernment that the Anglican
Communion is going through and strengthen our relationships both
nationally and internationally," said the Rev. Neil Lebhar, rector.
Network affiliation, he added, has also given Church of the Redeemer a
broad circle of faithful Anglican friends and ministries. "It reminds us
that we're not alone in our desire to be an orthodox parish connected
with the majority of the Anglican Communion," he added.

Also included in the Anglican Communion Network is a small but growing
group of non-Episcopal Anglican congregations. "The vast majority of our
affiliates are part of the Episcopal Church and remain under the
constitutional and canonical structures," said Bishop Duncan. At the
same time, he added, the Network is committed in its charter to building
the greatest possible unity among orthodox Anglicans in the United
States. With that in mind, the Network is welcoming in those parishes
and clergy within the U.S. that come under the jurisdictional leadership
of an overseas Anglican bishop.

In its effort to broaden the foundation of support for Anglican
orthodoxy in the U.S., the Network is also working with others in the
Anglican tradition. That group includes the Reformed Episcopal Church,
the Anglican Province in America and the Anglican Mission in America.
All three groups, who count around 40,000 members between them, joined
with the Network in pledging "common cause" for orthodox Anglicanism in
the U.S in a letter that was sent to Rowan Williams, Archbishop of
Canterbury, this June.

"Even in the midst of much uncertainty, both in the Episcopal Church and
the Anglican Communion as a whole, we're hopeful as we look forward,"
said Bishop Duncan. "The Network continues to gather together
Episcopalians and other American Anglicans in unprecedented numbers. We
have the good news of Jesus Christ to share with those around us. The
rest we trust to God."

END

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