Akinola explained that the Nigerian convocation in America is patterned after the Church of England's convocation in Europe, as well as ECUSA's convocation in Europe -- where there is already an Anglican presence in some countries.

The convocation will operate as a companion to the Anglican Network of Anglican Communion Diocese and Parishes. Its exact relationship to the Network is not yet defined, noted Fr. Martyn Minns, rector of Truro Church, who was present at the briefing.

Akinola said the convocation will have a bishop -- as yet unnamed -- and will have as its chief focus providing pastoral care to Anglican Nigerian expatriates in the United States and Canada who do not feel at home in the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA) or the Anglican Church of Canada.

Thus, it will be a parallel jurisdiction to ECUSA and the Anglican Church in Canada, said Akinola, who is Primate of the Anglican Church in Nigeria and Chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA)

Akinola estimates there are 5 million Nigerians in the United States and estimates that at least 5 percent of those -- 250,000 -- are Anglicans. "That's a lot of people," he said.

"Most of these people no longer find ECUSA a home with which to identify because of the decision made by General Convention" in August 2003 to support the election Gene Robinson to be Bishop of New Hampshire, said Akinola.

Akinola recounted that during his visit to All Saints Chevy Chase, Maryland the prior evening he was approached by a Nigerian expatriate and mother with children living at home. "We are in trouble because of our problem. I no longer go to church. My children no longer to go church" because they cannot accept what ECUSA has become, Akinola said.

Akinola said the he now wishes he had taken this stop two years ago so that a structure would already be in place to meet the urgent need of expatriate Nigerian Anglicans.

Recalling that he originally opposed setting up the Anglican Mission in America -- sponsored by the Provinces of Rowanda and Southeast Asia -- Akinola now says that action was an early but appropriate response to what has been happening in North America.

ECUSA revisionists have set up "a new religion that says what God says is sin is no longer sin, a religion that doesn't take Scriptures seriously," Akinola said.

At one point he blasted Pennsylvania Bishop Charles Bennison as an example of what is wrong with ECUSA. "He said that we wrote the Scriptures and we can rewrite them," Akinola said.

The convocation will both set up new parishes and will also will accept ECUSA parishioners that have a large number of Nigerians that wish to join it, Akinola says.

Akinola says that expatriate Anglican Nigerians will not not be told they are required to attend a church in the Nigerian convocation, but are merely given the opportunity. Others in North America who are not happy with ECUSA or the Anglican Church in Canada are also free to join the church in the Nigerian convocation, Akinola said.

The Diocese of Washington is likely to be one of the places where a congregation will be set up to be part of the Nigerian convocation -- a development that is likely to be met with stiff opposition by Bishop John Chane, who earlier this year earned international notice in the Anglican Communion by blessing the same-sex union of a local priest and his homosexual partner.

Diocesan spokesman Jim Naughton says there are two parishes in the diocese that now have significant numbers of Nigerians -- St. John's in Mt. Rainier, Md., and St. Michael and All Angels, in Adelphi, Md.

Naughton, who was present for the press briefing, afterward dismissed the move by Akinola as "just politics" and not based on a rela need. He pointed out that neither of the two parishes in the diocese had complained as a congregation to diocesan officials -- or expressed the need for alternative Episcopal oversight.

Naughton did concede, however, that individuals from the two parishes had complained to Bishop John Chane about his support of the consecration of Bishop Robinson, as well as his support of blessing same-sex unions, when the bishop visited the two congregations on his regular Episcopal visits.

Akinola estimates there are 100,000 Nigerians in the Washington, D.C. area, but did not have a precise estimate of how many are Anglicans.

END