Updated twice Thursday
The legal process of discovery in the continuing dispute between Calvary Church Pittsburgh and the Diocese of Pittsburgh has lead to the publication of this document. Warning: 1.4 Mbyte PDF
The background to this event and the pertinent content of that document is summarised in this post by Mark Harris: The Network, the WB’s and the Pledge to the “Leader.”
Update And also in this further post: More on the Pledge to the Leader.
Also read the comments on that post and on this one at daily episcopalian.
That content is:
“Private and Confidential Westfields Response to the Global South Steering Committee
November 16,2006 Chantilly, VirginiaThe undersigned, having convened with the Global South Steering Committee in Chantilly, Virginia, on November 15-17, 2006, declare:
ARTICLE I: We are firmly committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the authority of holy Scripture and historic Anglican faith and practice.
ARTICLE II: We have chosen the Rt. Rev. Robert W. Duncan as our leader and hereby submit to his leadership without reservation in building unity among us and as our representative for the present in the councils of the Anglican Communion.
ARTICLE III: We pledge to lay aside all obstacles, which may prevent us from achieving our common purpose.
ARTICLE IV: We solemnly pledge not to withdraw from these commitments.”
Now the question is simply this: did the other “Network” bishops present sign this document?
The record revealed to the court shows only that Robert W Duncan and two of his diocesan officials signed.
Update Thursday morning Episcopal Majority has a “photocopy” of what this page really looks like. So also does Anglican Centrist who has some harsh words for Bishop Duncan and his friends.
I wonder if this article in the Los Angeles Times which I just found on Venomonline, hasn’t got something quite relevant to say about this:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-prothero14mar14,0,6805754.story?track=mostviewed-homepage
“We have chosen the Rt. Rev. Robert W. Duncan as our leader”
I can’t help but giggle at that.
It’s a bit… ‘Lord of the Flies’, isn’t it?
“and hereby submit to his leadership without reservation”
Spooky.
Please note that the photocopies posted on both sites mentioned in this post failed to include the signatures of the Duncan and the President of the Standing Committee which are at the bottom of the page. What signatures were between the top and bottom signatures???
Lord of the Flies ? — and Wagner’s Ring ! … Intellectually closed and spiritually annealed groups, invariably seek ‘strong leadership’, and that usually translates into a ‘strong leader’ who will think and act instead of us. There are always some dissenters to be expelled or liquidated. Look at the history of Russia and Germany. Further possible literary parallels / amplifications : Animal Farm; & 1984 Journey through the Wilderness (Moris Farhi) Woman on the Edge of Time (Marge Piercy) HOWEVER, I think Der Ring is the unparalleled epic of what happens when strong leaders attempt to rectify and control… Read more »
Gives ‘Windsor compliant’ a whole new meaning !
I suppose I’m baffled here as to how this adds up. Is Martyn Minns going to be under Bob Duncan then? Are we in an odd phase of emergence of something else? I think it is important when someone in the pew doesn’t understand to ask.
Er, anyway, that Anglican Centrist diatribe against Elaine Pagels and John Spong misunderstands that if one side walks the other side does not. One side may be walking backwards but the other side just publishes words.
you can snigger – but that is the new “Primatial Vicar” i.e. the new leader of the AC in the USA
Pluralist – It depends on what the “common purpose” was of those who signed the document. If it was to establish an alternative province of the AC, then quite possibly yes Minns and the others would be under Duncan, and he would function as their primate. The document is sufficiently oblique (indicating the word of lawyer) to reflect the commitment needed by the GS to proceed. But not so clear to provide a basis for presentments based on the document alone.
Pluralist’s questions go to the heart of the matter. If there are other signatures on the document, they should be made public immediately. TEC has an obligation to find out who all the puppets are that “speak” whenever +Duncan moves his lips. It will be very interesting to see if Nigerian Bishop Minns has sworn allegiance to Pittsburgh. My bet is that Minns’ ego was too big for him to do that. After all, Minns has a direct line of communication to and from Abuja, the purported alternate capital of the Anglican Communion. Why go via Pittsburgh when you have… Read more »
Pluralist’s questions go to the heart of the matter. If there are other signatures on the document, they should be made public immediately. TEC has an obligation to find out who all the puppets are that “speak” whenever +Duncan moves his lips. It will be very interesting to see if Nigerian Bishop Minns has sworn allegiance to Pittsburgh. My bet is that Minns’ ego was too big for him to do that. After all, Minns has a direct line of communication to and from Abuja, the purported alternate capital of the Anglican Communion. Why go via Pittsburgh when you have… Read more »
Two things from Pittsburgh. On another posting someone said how the Right use the term “unprecedented.” The religious right/orthodox evangelicals are reactionary folks much like Prince Metternich and his Holy Alliance worked after the Napoleonic wars. Put all those ills back in the box Pandora! Everything is new if you bury your head in the sand and one day finally have to take it out. Hope that made sense. I like the Lord of the Flies analogy. This whole thing reminds me of a tee shirt I saw “The Episcopal Church, Thinking is Encouraged.” The Episcopal Church has always prided… Read more »
Fr. Jones in his blog has a serious geographical mistake. The Diocese of Newark is the northern half of New Jersey. The southern half is the Diocese of Trenton, which has suffered from a decline in attendance as well, due to a political scandal involving a bishop there around five years ago.
I feel badly for Father Jones, the Anglican Centrist. He writes: “What can be said for certain these days about some of the extremists on the right is that a schismatic future is already being built. And it’s not being built on the whole truth, or the good old Good News of God’s love in Christ. “In fact, it’s already being built on paper […] with a history of furtive meetings, half-truths, obfuscations, and sheer politicking.” Did he only now discover that backstairs intrigue, mendacity, and deception are the hallmarks of the extremist Anglican Right? That in fact is why… Read more »
NP is quite right. I seriously doubt whether Duncan would settle for anything less than PV and is rather hoping he will be installed as PB of the new province, instead. That’s why this whole “season of fasting” is an futile exercise, that will change very little.
Thanks for those replies. Sort of “both and” then, very Anglican. I’m not sniggering: no but yeah but the Primatial wotsit is under the Presiding wotsit and under the communion wotsit too that does not want another provincial thing – and what would make it really another is the Nigeria connection which isn’t Duncan, is (or isn’t) it? But Duncan, who could be this primatial thingy, isn’t yet, but manouvres, and yet says he wants to be cut off, whilst the tanks from Nigeria (that are really cut off already) are parked on the grass with soldiers polishing the gun… Read more »
Pluralist – You said it about right. But Duncan does not want it to be clear what he is up to. He’s got a lawsuit against him that is claiming that he is trying to leave TEC and take TEC property – so he doesn’t want to give credibility to that action. As a result he speaks in code. He comes right up to the line saying things like I’m “within” TEC, but not “under” TEC. Which on the surface make no sense, but communicates with his base that – “I’m playing the game ya’all, stick with me and when… Read more »