Although TA reported promptly on the election of Martyn Minns as a Nigerian bishop, on 28 June, we failed to link to the Truro Church press statement, timestamped 1.00 pm the same day, and Vestry letter (PDF) dated the same day, and subsequently made available on the Truro website. The Vestry letter says in part:
We are writing to you, late at night, as we’ve just completed a special meeting of Truro’s vestry to hear about this development. At the close of this meeting the vestry unanimously agreed to give Martyn their vote of endorsement for him to accept this call.
But Martyn’s not going anywhere. The vestry also decided to give Martyn their unanimous endorsement to continue as rector of Truro until we have our next rector in place. As it so happens, CANA is a small enough organization that the requirements on Martyn will initially be relatively light. He will basically be functioning as a pastor to the CANA pastors. Our signatures below indicated that we completely support Martyn in all of these actions. Furthermore, all of this information, including our desire for Martyn to remain as rector until his successor is in place, has been communicated to Bishop Lee.
Then its Truro Church which should ‘go somewhere’. You can’t have a bishop of one church as a vicar within another, particularly when the reason for the bishopric is dislike of the other!
What part of this don’t they get?
Am I missing something or is this a matter of not realizing that they really don’t have the authority to do this?
Is it a violation of the C&C of TEC for Minns to be both? If so, who in TEC is going to take him to task for it and why shouldn’t he be deposed by +Peter Lee? When is 815 going to stop being so silent about all of this business? Hello, I don’t get it but then maybe I’m not supposed to.
I think I may have found my answer.
Note the similarity in snail mail adresses on these two web pages:
http://www.canaconvocation.org/contact/
http://www.trurochurch.org/content.asp?contentid=565
It seems that Truro Church is being set up to be +Minn’s cathedral.
This is just another example of the power of the creative imagination at work. If you don’t like the rules in force, simply act with great conviction as if things were otherwise. You may distract enough people so that they will believe your reworking of reality and you will get what you want. Among the mythical beings that have been conjured up in this way are the universal jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury and alternative primatial oversight. It’s really quite amazing how many people simply gloss over the fact that the emperor has no clothes and argue instead as… Read more »
Nick said ” If you don’t like the rules in force, simply act with great conviction as if things were otherwise. “
This technique was used at the time of the Philadelphia eleven. it was altogether predictable that this would return.
So here’s a guide to how to react when rules a broken:
“A prophetic action” means I agree with it.
“They should be deposed for breaking the canons” means I do not agree with this action
Nick Finke has said it better than I could: “It’s really quite amazing how many people simply gloss over the fact that the emperor has no clothes and argue instead as to how magnificent his robes are.” The ‘Bible-whacker’ folks have reduced episcopacy to the level of a ‘used car’ for which people shop around. Mynns, by his actions in Nigeria, has violated the discipline of TEC, which he vowed to uphold at ordination. Let him be deposed. Let PB Griswold declare in no uncertain terms that ++Rowan has no jurisdiction in the good old USA. ++Rowan is not a… Read more »
Is it a violation of the C&C of TEC for Minns to be both? If so, who in TEC is going to take him to task for it and why shouldn’t he be deposed by +Peter Lee? When is 815 going to stop being so silent about all of this business? Hello, I don’t get it but then maybe I’m not supposed to. Let’s assume that Bp. Lee deposed Minns. Let’s suppose further that the vestry of Truro parish told +Lee to go pound sand. What to do next? Apparently Bp. Lee has ruled out using the courts to get… Read more »
We should not jump to premature conclusions. +Lee and (then) Minns+ met on Saturday August 12 and agreed that a joint statement would be released before month’s end. For +Lee’s letter of August 13 see: http://www.thediocese.net/News_services/pressroom/newsrelease6.html
Obadiahslope quoted: “If you don’t like the rules in force, simply act with great conviction as if things were otherwise.” and said:
“This technique was used at the time of the Philadelphia eleven. it was altogether predictable that this would return.”
No it wasn’t used at Philadelphia. The Bishops at Philadelphia consciously did what was not permitted according to the Canons, because they knew it was right.
These people do what they know is wrong, claiming that it is according to the Canons.
If Minns was moved to accept his call as missionary bishop, surely it was because he felt pity on the Nigerian Christians stranded in a strange land, like sheep without a shepherd. That being the case, shouldn’t he immediately resign his comfortable and well-paid position at Truro and go where his flock is? And if he doesn’t, doesn’t that suggest that this was never about the flock at all? And what about Truro? If ever there was a church that needed an extended interim period in which to reflect on its own identity and needs — as distinct from those… Read more »
Congratulations, Steve Lusk, on your analysis of the situation in Truro, VA. It is all ‘smoke and mirrors’ about Mr. Minns’s alternative episcopal oversight of dramatized Nigerian Anglicans resident in the U.S.A. Why, then, doesn’t he give up the perks of the Truro rectorship? His congregants at Truro in transition to a new rector need space for their discernment under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t Mr. Minns believe in the power of the Holy Spirit guiding faithful Christians during an interim? Why does he have to quench the Spirit by his ‘controlling’ presence? Give them enough rope and… Read more »
So many who are responding to this information know nothing of the man. Martyn Minns is a man of deep conviction and wants only for the adherence to doctrine. If ever there was a man who was trying to further the word of Jesus Christ it is this fine individual. Please take the time to look deeper into this situation and you will come to understand this.
This is not really about doctrine or the Gospel. It stems from a simplistic and deeply divided American culture that wants on one side Washington styled answers (who sit in the pews of Truro and Falls Church for goodness sake: the state department and the pentagon) and those who trust in dialogue within the on-going evolution of revelation represented in both scripture and a living tradition. Frank Griswold’s call to “conversation” does not appeal to fundamentalists. Let them go — union with Rwanda and Nigeria is skin deep (pardon the irony). Do they want to move there, minister to the… Read more »