Virginia bishop calls Nigerian election an 'affront'

[Episcopal News Service] Virginia Bishop Peter Lee has written to his diocese to say that the June 28 election of the Rev. Martyn Minns, rector of Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia, as a bishop of the Church of Nigeria with oversight of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America is "an affront to the traditional, orthodox understanding of Anglican Provincial Autonomy."

"Archbishop Akinola acknowledges as much in his letter to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams," Lee wrote.

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola founded the convocation (CANA) in April 2005 to, he said, minister to "all those who can no longer find their spiritual home" in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.

Lee wrote that it is impossible to honor Akinola's request that Minns remain rector of Truro Church while serving as a Nigerian bishop.

In the letter posted on the diocesan website, Lee also wrote that a June 29 news article in the Washington Times was wrong to report that Minns and the leaders of The Falls Church, Falls Church, Virginia, want to lead members out of the diocese.

The full text of Lee's letter is available at http://www.thediocese.net/press/pressroom.shtml