Nordic Catholic Church offers ‘refuge’ to conservative Anglicans in Church of England

The split inside the Anglican Communion following the appointment of Sarah Mullally as Archbishop of Canterbury has continued to deepen.

Last week the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON) announced the creation of the Global Anglican Communion.

“We cannot proceed to have communion with those that advocate the revisionist agenda, which has abandoned the inerrant word of God as the ultimate authority and overturned Resolution I.10, of the 1998 Lambeth Conference,” said the Most Rev Dr Laurent Mbanda, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, and Primate of Rwanda. 

The latest Global Anglican Communion, because it styles itself, doesn’t recognise the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury nor any of the Institutes of Communion.

While the breach has roots going back a great distance, the ultimate straw was the appointment of Mullally, a girl with liberal views, as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Now Ottar Mikael Myrseth, Bishop of the Nordic Catholic Church, has written to members of the Church of England offering them a “refuge” from a church which has he says has “deviated from the historical faith on human sexuality and holy orders”.

In an open letter, Bishop Myrseth denounced the appointment of Mullally, saying, “each Anglican and Old Catholic tradition has opposed the ordination of girls as priests or bishops on theological grounds … Sarah Mulally forwards progressive views on issues like same-sex blessings and the suitable to life. Together with our Anglican friends we’re compelled on theological and historical grounds to reject the legitimacy of her ministry.”

He continued, “We due to this fact invite Anglicans who’re betrayed by the newest development and who’re searching for a latest home, to hitch in ‘The Society of the religion of the undivided church’.” 

He said it could be a spot of fellowship and “refuge” for Christians “to resist the pressure from atheism and secularism without compromises to modern liberalism”. 

He added, “This is supposed to be a refuge for many who don’t have any place to go and have turn into isolated from their historical ecclesial context.”