Anglican Communion Network Partners with Anglicans for Life
Anglicans for Life has a new name, a new partnership and is starting a new decade, after 40 years of championing issues of the sanctity of life in the Episcopal Church. The Anglican Communion Network (ACN) has accepted Anglicans for Life as its first organizational affiliate.
“Partnering with the Network lends credibility to us as a team player among Anglicans,” said Georgette Forney, President of Anglicans for Life based in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. “We want to reclaim the Anglican Church as a pro-life church. Being part of the Network speaks volumes to people about how all biblical teachings on marriage, family and sanctity of life issues are connected and how important it is to work together to uphold them.”
Formerly known as “N.O.E.L., the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life Research and Education Foundations, Inc.,” Anglicans for Life was originally founded as “Episcopalians for Life” in 1966 by Bishop Joseph M. Harte of the Diocese of Arizona. “The name Anglicans for Life is more descriptive of the broader scope we now have in addressing life issues including abortion, stem cell research, euthanasia, abstinence, and adoption,” said Forney. “It also speaks of our new international reach as we respond to requests for help now coming in to us from countries like Kenya, Slovakia, Mexico, the UK and Australia.”
In the U.S., Anglicans for Life is working to establish regional coordinators in every Network diocese and convocation to help organize local events that help raise awareness on life issues. “If Network bishops and deans endorse us, it helps open the door where we do some sort of event to educate Anglicans in their parishes as well as the general public,” said Forney. “We are working on a Sunday School curriculum and other products to equip pastors and lay leaders to minister to those that come to them. We would like to see a Life Coordinator in every diocese and convocation, creating a network of trained life counselors across the country who are working with us.”
Campaigns like “Silent No More” and the “Anglican Angel Project” have helped Anglicans for Life double the size of its newsletter distribution to 31,200 and increase traffic to its website to 370,000 hits in 2006. The “Silent No More Awareness Campaign” now has 3,800 people registered who regret their abortions and want to find the healing and forgiveness that Christ offers. This campaign was co-founded in 2004 by Forney and Janet Morano, Associate Director for “Priests for Life, a Catholic pro-life organization.
The “Anglican Angel Project” is a support system for single moms based in the local parish which responds to God’s command to take care of widows and orphans. “We want to see signs in front of our churches saying, ‘If you are pregnant and scared, come inside and we can help,’” said Forney. “One has to earn the right to share the Gospel by being the Gospel. We need to come together on life issues in very practical ways. I don’t know anything that gives you more of a sense of joy than knowing that you helped to save the life of a baby, a baby that was on its way to abortion.”
The educational resources provided by Anglicans for Life help pastors to understand the issues faced by women who have had an abortion. Local life coordinators talk to community leaders, pastors, doctors and other health professionals in their areas as well as try to get pro-life information into the schools. Coordinators will often exhibit at local women’s expos, passing out 300–400 pieces of literature in a given day to help raise awareness. In addition, Anglicans for Life has other ambitious goals for the near future: “We are going to try to be a presence at the Lambeth Conference in 2008, and we want to work to ensure that the new Anglican Covenant is explicit in its support for the sanctity of all human life,” said Forney.
Anglicans for Life is the only Anglican organization in the U.S. providing resources on life issues today. “The Network is proud to partner in the work of Anglicans for Life,” said the Rev. Canon Daryl Fenton, Chief Operating Officer for the ACN. “We stand with Anglicans for Life in affirming its Declaration of Life Statement: God, and not man, is the creator of human life. Therefore, from conception to natural death, we will protect and respect the sanctity of every human life. Furthermore, we recognize that the unjustified taking of life is sinful, but God’s grace overflows to those who ask for His forgiveness.”
For more information on Anglicans for Life, call 1–800–707–6635, email Georgette@AnglicansforLife.org or go to www.anglicansforlife.org.
Posted on 2/06/07