The GAFCON Primates council has issued a statement of ‘dismay’ at the Episcopal Church action against the Bishop of Pittsburgh, Bob Duncan, saying it is convinced “the faithful Anglicans of North America need to have their own Province recognised by the Communion as a whole”.

Bishop Duncan was deposed by a U.S. House of Bishops vote in September for alleged abandonment of the communion of the American Episcopal Church.

He has been in conflict with TEC leadership over scriptural authority, particularly in relation to the teaching on human sexuality.

In a firm statement, the primates say Bishop Duncan “is a Bishop in good standing in the Anglican Communion, and is guilty only of guarding his people from false teaching and corrupt behaviour as he promised to do. Once more the upholders of the orthodox faith are made to suffer at the hands of those who have introduced new teachings”.

The GAFCON primates go on to say that the move by US Presiding Bishop Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori has had a ‘clarifying’ effect.

“It is now impossible to believe that the exhortations of the Lambeth Conference and the Windsor Continuation Group will be heeded. No Pastoral Forum has been established. We remain convinced that the faithful Anglicans of North America need to have their own Province recognised by the Communion as a whole. We are determined to stand with Bishop Duncan and those who, like him, have protested in the name of God against the unscriptural innovations which have caused such divisions amongst us.”

The council also gives its support to Archbishop Greg Venables for receiving Bishop Duncan as a Bishop in good standing in the Province of the Southern Cone.

Meantime, the Diocese of Pittsburgh will vote on whether or not to leave The Episcopal Church in order to join another church of the Anglican Communion on Saturday, October 4.