Updated Friday evening
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had this last night, and this morning has Episcopalians vote to oust Pittsburgh bishop by Ann Rodgers.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has Duncan out as bishop by Tony LaRussa.
The Associated Press has Breakaway Episcopal bishop ousted from ministry by Rachel Zoll.
Reuters has Episcopal church defrocks dissident bishop by Michael Conlon.
The Living Church has House of Bishops Deposes Bishop Robert Duncan.
Religious Intelligence has Bishop of Pittsburgh deposed by House of Bishops by George Conger.
Friday evening updates
The Times Ruth Gledhill Leading conservative bishop deposed in US
Telegraph Martin Beckford Bishop of Pittsburgh deposed by Episcopal Church for ‘abandoning communion’
About time. Now if someone can put me in touch with someone in Sydney who is not into repressing all forms of Christianity but those endorsed by some selfish priests and their sycophants, please use the hyperlinks to contact me. At least the US got a chance to defend “broad tent” theology before all the alternatives were suppressed out of public existence. Don’t mind sectarian puritans. Do mind them being seen as “legitimate” when they systemically sabotage diversity and global agendas to further their own ends. Jesus was annointed Messiah and Lord of all this Earth’s occupants. That includes souls… Read more »
Thanks be to God.
The conservatives will not hear the other side out. It is automatically wrong in their mind. I think that the Presiding Bishop has been more than lenient in this case, asking for + Duncan to prove to her otherwise. It seems the gauntlet was thrown down and now……
Bishop Spong can preach heresy after heresy, scores of bishops can deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and need I even mention the complete abandonment of Christian teaching when it comes to sexual behavior? And yet, in spites of all that, the most dangerous bishop in TEC is the one who – get this – BELIEVES it is permissible for a diocese to realign itself with another province. Hmmm…so much for the big tent of ideas!
Eric, you’ve spoken truth. The PB has bent over backwards to be fair and impartial. God truly blessed us when she was elected as the presiding bishop of the House of Bishops.
We are not a purity cult. We are the Body of Christ. Individual members, like Spong and Pike, can make their own journeys into understanding but the Church continues to proclaims the faith. Trying to rip away a part of the Body is a kind of crucifixion. Duncan was treated as a schismatic should be. He separated himself from the Body and yesterday the Body recognized the choice he made.
“Bishop Spong can preach heresy after heresy, scores of bishops can deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and need I even mention the complete abandonment of Christian teaching when it comes to sexual behavior?” I might say that Jensen and scores of others can preach heresy after heresy and no-one does anything. Scores of bishops denying the resurrection? Really? Seems like a few eccentrics to me, but hey, perhaps my “few” is your “scores”. And the “complete abandonment of Christian teaching with regard to sexual behaviour? What about remarriage after divorce, something most conservatives seem to have no problem with?… Read more »
Please remember that all is not well in Pittsburgh. We have a guarantee that Bishop Duncan will not continue to be the bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in The Episcopal Church. This does not mean that we will not have Bishop Duncan to kick around anymore. He will soon claim to be bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh in the Southern Cone. This “diocese” will, in the minds of Duncan and his lawyers, own all the asserts of the other (real) diocese. God help us! Pray for the real Episcopalians in Pittsburgh.
Prayers ascending, Lionel. Ora *ET* labora, for TEC in Pittsburgh.
May God bless Robert Duncan, and reconcile him to the Episcopal Church IN God’s Time. May the Prince of Peace grant a spirit of reconcilation to ALL.
Cheryl-
Might I suggest this link:
http://www.anglicanstogether.org/
“Anglicans Together is an organisation of Anglicans in the Diocese of Sydney which values an inclusive and diverse expression of Anglicanism…”
What Lionel says – I’ve got your back, Lionel, with my prayers, for what they’re worth, as imperfect as they are. And I know lots of others do, too.
Best of luck Lionel and thanks for your courageous witness – What fool’s we mortals be (with apologies to Wm. S) ettu
Let us be clear as progressive believers. Duncan is deposed, not for holding conservative (even fairly extremely conservative) believer views. He is deposed, mainly for being cagey and unfair to the extent that he thought he could disguise and spin doctor his own actions according to his own fairly self-serving small tent realignment agenda, quite beholden to USA Rightwing Dominionist presumptions about who gets the power, including all the gold lying about. In particular Duncan: A) bore consistent false witness against a variety of neighbors. Some local, some global. Some believers, some unbelievers. Some queer, of course. Duncan also bears… Read more »
“Bishop Spong can preach heresy after heresy, scores of bishops can deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and need I even mention the complete abandonment of Christian teaching when it comes to sexual behavior?” Yeesss, Bishop Spong. Why exactly was it that no one – including all the would-be Guardians of Orthodoxy in the HOB – ever tried to bring charges against him? Why was the only bishop brought up on charges of heresy was one who ordained a gay deacon? As for “scores,” well, words mean something. A score = 20. Just who are these more than forty bishops… Read more »
My last comment was unfair. Not all reasserters are drama queens. And not all drama queens are on the reasserter side of the aisle.
This Spong debate is getting tedious.
He denied a “literal” interpreation of the resurrection, that’s not the same thing as denying the whole concept of the resurrection. If literalism were the only standard only some evangelical fundies would remain.
And abandoning Christian teaching on sexual morality isn’t heresy because the term heresy does not apply to second order issues.
A sense of proportion would really be helpful!
“Why exactly was it that no one – including all the would-be Guardians of Orthodoxy in the HOB – ever tried to bring charges against him?” I never thought about this before. Just why is it that, despite calling him everything but a Christian, none of these people who think have made Spong the icon of apostacy ever bothered to try him for it? Why is it that, even while they scream against him, they never thought it necessary to “break communion” over him, to declare the “fabric of the communion” torn, but let one gay man admit to being… Read more »
Ford, I think you are right about our dramatic queens.
I will never forget seeing an interview on Anglican TV with a prominent “orthodox” bishop who will remain nameless here.
I swear, I thought he was going to throw on a feather boa and begin singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” My first thought was, “Hey, now I know why he’s always thinking about homosexuality!”
“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day”
(Grey’s elergy in a country churchyard)
Is this another case of : “Have mitre, will travel” ? Into the Cone of Silence?
“Ford, I think you are right about our dramatic queens” It makes some sense. Let’s say someone chose, years ago, out of fear and a desire for social advancement to suppress their sexuality and pretend to be straight. If that person was lucky enough to find(or, I guess you could say ‘if God provided’)a spouse who was smimlarly motivated/for whom sex was not a significant part of a relationship, etc., then that person could spend his/her entire life pretending to be straight, God knows millions have and still do. Such a person would likely have difficulty understanding why others wouldn’t… Read more »
“Jesus would do well to remember that his annointment did not come from humans, but from God, and God has ways of dealing with souls who deny and insult souls that help God’s annointed.” Dear Cheryl, on re-reading the comments on this thread I noted your sentence (above-quoted) which seems to imply that Jesus might not ‘remember that his anointing came from God’. This could be seen to mean that Jesus needs reminding of the fact that he was the Father’s Anointed Messiah. In the circumstances, he could hardly forget the context of his vocation. He was surely not being… Read more »
“Jesus would do well to remember that his annointment did not come from humans, but from God, and God has ways of dealing with souls who deny and insult souls that help God’s annointed.” Dear Cheryl, on re-reading the comments on this thread I noted your sentence (above-quoted) which seems to imply that Jesus might not ‘remember that his anointing came from God’. This could be seen to mean that Jesus needs reminding of the fact that he was the Father’s Anointed Messiah. In the circumstances, he could hardly forget the context of his vocation. He was surely not being… Read more »