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Arlie Coles Profile picture
Arlie Coles
@ArlieColes
Deep NLP/ASR researcher, linguist, musician, ecclesiological enthusiast, documentation zealot. MSc '20 @Mila_Quebec. 🇺🇲🇨🇦
Nov 10 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
@vermeerlight @AcnaTruth @ACNAtoo Good questions; short 🧵incoming. Here is the canon on inhibition of the archbishop. Note two things:
1) The Dean (Bp Ray Sutton) is the one who decides to inhibit; and
2) He would also need the additional consent of 4/5 of the seniormost bishops in the College. Image @vermeerlight @AcnaTruth @ACNAtoo Here's the canon regulating all inhibitions (including of the archbishop). A cleric can be inhibited at any time if the inhibiter "believes, on reasonable grounds," that the cleric has committed presentable behavior & that the inhibition is in the best interests of the church. 2/ Image
Nov 4 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
The ACNA released an FAQ on Abp. Steve Wood's leave: "While our canons do not establish limits on how long investigative and disciplinary proceedings last, we expect that the relevant church bodies ... will make every effort to resolve these matters as quickly as possible". 🧵 Image "The Dean [Ray Sutton] is a senior bishop whose character is known and well respected. ... Bishop Julian Dobbs is one of the most senior active diocesan Bishops in the College with a strong reputation for advancing misison." Image
Oct 28 • 17 tweets • 5 min read
Bp. Julian Dobbs of ACNA's Anglican Diocese of the Living Word spoke at a Q&A at an episcopal visit, calling the Wood matter "a very difficult situation for everyone involved. It’s unfortunate and regrettable that it’s played itself out in the media." 🧵 for the full transcript: Image "I think it’s demonstrably unnecessary and inappropriate that those making the allegations against the archbishop first went to the Washington Post before they went to the archbishop."
Oct 18 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
Bp Derek Jones submitted an affidavit alongside this reply that contains many separate ecclesiastical claims. Here's my attempt to thread through them. 🧵

Jones claims that the Jurisdiction was never part of ACNA, & that he wasn't subject to ACNA's archbishop, but to Nigeria's. Image He claims the Jurisdiction's link to ACNA was an "informal affiliation," but that it was leaning on rights of ACNA dioceses to disaffiliate when it did so. Image
Aug 8 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
The Standing Committee of ACNA's Diocese of South Carolina has announced:
1) Bp. Edgar has suspended episcopal visits by suffragan Bp. David Bryan, Court president in the trial of Bp. Stewart Ruch.
2) They request an independent investigation into ACNA's handling of the trial. Image mailchi.mp/9692eb7e0ad3/a…
Jul 30 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
In case you missed it: yesterday, Bp. Chip Edgar of the ACNA's Diocese of South Carolina issued a statement saying he himself objected to yesterday's College of Bishops statement of confidence in the Court, claiming it was not unanimous. 🧵 Image He declined to impugn Alan Runyan, the former prosecutor who resigned over a Court member who allegedly improperly sought and used evidence at trial that a Court order had itself excluded; and Bp. David Bryan, the president of the Court. Both are in his diocese.
Jul 28 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Tomorrow, July 29, the ACNA will "roll out" a new draft of reformed Title IV disciplinary canons, to be revised over a year and approved at next year's Provincial Council.

Those following the current trial of a bishop may find descriptions of the current process interesting: 🧵 Image "Short and flexible" has a cost: Image
Jul 23 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Many have asked if the prosecutor was able to, or did, raise an objection during the allegedly improper questioning conducted by a member of the ACNA's Court for the Trial of a Bishop. A new document from the Court today claims that the prosecutor had the opportunity but did not. Image
Image anglicanchurch.net/wp-content/upl…
Jul 17 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
On the 4th day of @The_ACNA Bishop Ruch's trial, while there has been no update on the trial itself, the Province has posted a new document on its trial webpage.

"A bishop's job is to lead the clergy of the diocese, not to oversee the activity of individual churches," it says. Image "If any lay leader is accused of misconduct, it is the responsibility of the parish priest to investigate and discipline the lay leader according to the local constitution and canons, alerting local authorities in cases of sexual and physical abuse, neglect, or exploitation." Image
Jun 28 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
I could not more strongly encourage taking @hlgriffin's words here to heart:

"Laity within Anglicanism... have a unique responsibility, because the clergy take vows of obedience. The priests and pastors are not the next line of defense if the bishops fail. The laity are." 🧵 "But in the ACNA... the laity are not educated on their polity. So it allows bishops to manage the image and narrative of what's going on, and laity largely stay in the dark."
Jun 24 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
For those wondering whether public accessibility of Anglican councils, synods, and the like is really a narrow-horizoned American expectation, here is the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, available for livestream by all, beginning now. Image It is reasonable for members of a church to expect that its synods be public and publicly accounted for -- it is your government:
gs2025.anglican.ca/live/
Feb 5 • 20 tweets • 7 min read
.@monkofjustice nails something important for both TEC and ACNA in this great article by @kathrynmaepost. Things go wrong when handling of accusation, prosecution, judgment, and sentence on misbehaving clergy depends on one interested individual. 🧵 Image Right now, the provincial canons of ACNA require the bishop to
- Receive charges
- Decide if they're credible, to send for preliminary investigation
- Decide if the matter should go to trial
- Sentence after trial.
The only place they have no official role is on the court itself. Image
Jan 16 • 29 tweets • 6 min read
What is the process for reporting priest/deacon misconduct in ACNA? How did the ACNA framers modify the TEC process, and what are the effects? 🧵

A key theme of ACNA’s canonical philosophy is subsidiarity, but its provincial canons still stipulate these elements of the process. Image First: WHO can bring a charge of misconduct against a priest or deacon? TEC’s canons explicitly expanded in 1994 to enumerate the various groups with standing to bring a charge (including all the way down to a single person when alleging crime, immorality, or conduct unbecoming). Image
Sep 14, 2024 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
For those who would like to see this case finally tried, see this very complex, very very tough to understand diagram to see where things could go off track after a lengthy discovery period. A schedule for possible motions for summary judgment is not included in today's order.
Image (In case my tone isn't detectable: You don't have to be a lawyer to know the basic shape of a civil suit, & obfuscating documentation in a church context to suggest it's too complicated to concern others, while conspicuously leaving off basics, serves a particular interest only.)
Aug 31, 2024 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
A bit of history for those interested. The main program was called 40 Days of Discernment ™ and was put together mainly by the Falls Church & Truro Church with contributions from others. The idea was, you'd guide the congregation through 40 days of deciding whether to leave TEC.

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Image 40 Days of Discernment ™ grew into a well-resourced program in the Diocese of Virginia, including powerpoints, flyers, directions for workshop facilitators, etc. and this guidebook. Take a look at the shape of the program (and hey, there's Yates).
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Aug 30, 2024 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
Moreover, this timeline about Minns' consecration "in or around June 2006" is still incorrect. This is not ancient history and the dates can be easily verified.

News of Minns' *election* as a Church of Nigeria bishop came on June 29, 2006:
web.archive.org/web/2006082907…

Image Minns' *consecration* came August 20, 2006:


web.archive.org/web/2007060920…
web.archive.org/web/2007060920…
web.archive.org/web/2007060920…Image
Image
Image
Aug 30, 2024 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Just looking through this, but the fact that the first report let this slide without comment is stunning - a complete failure to look at events known to anyone with even passing knowledge of the Episcopal schism in Virginia. Of course there was a bishop; that's why CANA existed.
Image The below is incredible. Minns and Yates were rectors of two of the most important Episcopal departing churches in the country (Truro & Falls Church) which worked hand in hand to develop PR programs and strategies for departing that several others in the diocese followed. Image
Aug 28, 2024 • 22 tweets • 5 min read
The claim that @PostCnsumrChris was creating a conflict of interest for those involved in hearing Bp. Ruch's case is remarkable, and is a great example of muddled views on how similar an ecclesiastical trial and a secular criminal trial are or can be. Warning: commentary. 🧵 First of all, it should go without saying that we do not live in Inquisition times and an ecclesiastical trial is not the same as a secular criminal trial. (Not least because in Inquisition times, you don't sue anyone - you get the church/govt to open an inquisition for you.)
Aug 28, 2024 • 36 tweets • 7 min read
Just tweeting this out. Mandatory listening for anyone interested in church governance & use of power. 🧵

"In early June, I first received news from my bishop, Alberto Morales, followed by a letter from him attached to an email, that people at the provincial level in the ACNA... "are calling for the podcast to be eliminated immediately. In this letter, he himself said, quote, 'by the virtue of the vow of obedience that you made the day of your ordination to your bishop,' that I am to pause the podcast.
Jun 24, 2024 • 17 tweets • 7 min read
While TEC just wrapped its second day of legislation at General Convention today, ACNA begins its Provincial Council session tomorrow, with Provincial Assembly meeting in days after. What are these groups? If you are used to following TEC politics, these will look different.🧵 Image Getting a change to the canons passed in ACNA means passing through two bodies:
1. Provincial Council, who must adopt by majority;
2. Provincial Assembly, who must then ratify (C&C do not specify by what proportion).
Failure to ratify by PA means the matter returns to PC. Image
Jun 17, 2024 • 20 tweets • 8 min read
I was hesitating on whether to try to write about TEC vs ACNA Title IV before General Convention/Provincial Council+Assembly, since both bodies are due to make changes.

ACNA's proposed changes are now available, so I'll hold off on a blog post & hit some of them quickly here: 🧵 Image First, recall that canonical changes originate neither in the Provincial Council nor the Provincial Assembly but in the Governance Task Force. A change must be adopted by 1/2 of PC, then ratified by 1/2 of PA, to become effective. For a refresher, see:
detestableenormities.substack.com/p/church-civic…
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