First, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued this reflection “For the People of the Episcopal Church”: In this season: Christ in the stranger’s guise. In part it reads:
As the primates of the Anglican Communion prepare to gather next week in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, I ask your prayers for all of us, and for our time together. I especially ask you to remember the mission that is our reason for being as the Anglican Communion — God’s mission to heal this broken world. The primates gather for fellowship, study, and conversation at these meetings, begun less than thirty years ago. The ability to know each other and understand our various contexts is the foundation of shared mission. We cannot easily be partners with strangers.
That meeting ends just as Lent begins, and as we approach this season, I would suggest three particularly appropriate attitudes. Traditionally the season has been one in which candidates prepared for baptism through prayer, fasting, and acts of mercy. This year, we might all constructively pray for greater awareness and understanding of the strangers around us, particularly those strangers whom we are not yet ready or able to call friends. That awareness can only come with our own greater investment in discovering the image of God in those strangers. It will require an attitude of humility, recognizing that we can not possibly know the fullness of God if we are unable to recognize his hand at work in unlikely persons or contexts. We might constructively fast from a desire to make assumptions about the motives of those strangers not yet become friends. And finally, we might constructively focus our passions on those in whom Christ is most evident — the suffering, those on the margins, the forgotten, ignored, and overlooked of our world. And as we seek to serve that suffering servant made evident in our midst, we might reflect on what Jesus himself called us — friends (John 15:15)…
Second the American newspaper USA Today carried this interview with Bishop Katharine recently:Episcopal church’s new dawn. Some quotes from it:
“…It’s no longer the social norm to be a Christian,” Jefferts Schori says. Her answer isn’t to ramp up on orthodoxy but to reach out to all ages and cultures with Christlike social action.
Critics say she equivocates on essential doctrine — the necessity for atonement and the exclusivity of salvation through Christ. They cite interviews in which she has said living like Jesus in this world was a more urgent task than worrying about the next world.
“It’s not my job to pick” who is saved. “It’s God’s job,” she tells USA TODAY.
Yes, sin “is pervasive, part of human nature,” but “it’s not the centerpiece of the Christian message. If we spend our time talking about sin and depravity, it is all we see in the world,” she says…
…Indeed, asked about her critics, Jefferts Schori doesn’t blink. She leans in, drops her voice even lower and cuts to the chase.
She sees two strands of faith: One is “most concerned with atonement, that Jesus died for our sins and our most important task is to repent.” But the other is “the more gracious strand,” says the bishop who dresses like a sunrise.
“It is to talk about life, to claim the joy and the blessings for good that it offers, to look forward.
“God became human in order that we may become divine. That’s our task.”
Anglican Scotist rebutted some of the unwarranted attacks on her a month ago in PB Schori and Right Belief. And Jim Naughton had this piece on the same day.
28 CommentsThe Living Church has an interview with Bishop Martyn Minns: Bishop Minns: CANA No Different Than Diocese of Virginia.
The document filed by the diocese in the case of Truro Church can be found here.
An amazing collection of links relating to this legal dispute can be found here (hat tip titusonenine).
The Church Times this week published a whole series of articles about Virginia, most of which are not available on the web. This one, by Paul Handley, is: Virginia tells secessionists: see you in court.
6 CommentsProgressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh has issued a press release, Revised Appeal Reveals Coup Plans against Episcopal Church which starts:
The release, on January 29, 2007, of the text of a third version of the request for alternative primatial oversight (APO) advanced by the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh should dispel any doubts about the goals and strategy of its leaders. The Rt. Rev Robert Duncan is clearly attempting an ecclesiastical coup against both The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion…
The text to which reference is made can be found here. Links to the earlier versions are in the press release.
35 CommentsUpdated Thursday morning
ENS reports Virginia diocese files suits against property claims of separated congregations.
This ENS article also includes a second story Province III bishops issue statement in support of diocesan leadership. You can read about the latter in more detail at daily episcopalian: More support for Bishop Lee. And the text of the main diocesan press release is available there also: Virginia goes to court.
The Living Church report is headed Diocese of Virginia Files Suit Against Departing Congregations.
Updates
Washington Post Diocese Sues 11 Seceding Congregations Over Property Ownership
Richmond Times-Dispatch Episcopal leaders eye title to property
Washington Times Episcopal diocese sues breakaways for property
Falls Church News-Press Episcopalian Diocese Files in Court for Removal of Defectors from F.C. Site and Editorial: The Real Falls Church.
Updated Saturday morning
Previous report here.
Earlier this week, Bishop James Lee took action against all the clergy of his diocese who participated in recent secessionist actions.
Diocesan press release: Bishop Inhibits Clergy; Diocese Responds to Filings by Separated Churches
ENS Bishop inhibits clergy; diocese responds to filings by separated churches
Living Church Bishop Lee Inhibits 21 Priests.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Episcopal Church bars 21 clergy from duties
Washington Times Breakaway Episcopal priests face defrocking
Today, Bishop Martyn Minns has responded to this action.
Bishop Minns responds to Bishop Lee’s premature and punitive actions against 27 clergy. (PDF)
For an html copy of the letter see here.
Today also, the diocese elected a new bishop coadjutor (suffragan with right of succession). For details of Shannon S. Johnston and his election see here, here, and here.
And the Falls Church News-Press reports that F.C. Episcopal Non-Defectors Gather Off-Site; Bishop May Defrock Yates. This report notes that The Falls Church formerly claimed 2800 members, but less than half this number had voted to secede.
Updates
Living Church Three Start-over Congregations Send Delegates to Virginia Annual Council by Doug LeBlanc
…Many of the 1,000 delegates and visitors present gave a standing ovation when the Rt. Rev. Peter Lee announced that both the standing committee and the executive board of the diocese voted unanimously to take legal action over property ownership in the departing parishes.
They applauded vigorously when the Rt. Rev. John Paterson, Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand, said, “If the Episcopal Church needs a strong and united Diocese of Virginia, it is no less true that the Anglican Communion needs a strong and united Episcopal Church, and The Episcopal Church needs the Anglican Communion.”
They gave a standing ovation when the Rt. Rev. David C. Jones, bishop suffragan, read a statement of unqualified support for Bishop Lee by nearly all the active and retired bishops in Province III of The Episcopal Church (with the notable exception of Pittsburgh’s bishops).
Bishop Jones said the departing congregations had shifted their emphasis “from belonging to Christ through baptism” to “adhering to one point of view.” When he added, “That is not an Anglican development,” delegates rose again, applauding and cheering….
Richmond Times-Dispatch Miss. priest next Va. bishop
Washington Times Bishop voted in as Lee’s successor
Updated again Saturday morning
The Diocese of Virginia has just issued this: Diocesan Leadership Declares Church Property ‘Abandoned’
and
A Letter to The Diocese of Virginia from the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Bishop
Please read both documents in full.
Friday morning
Episcopal News Service Virginia leadership declares church property ‘abandoned’
Living Church Diocese Declares Departing Virginia Church Properties Abandoned
Richmond Times-Dispatch Diocese moves to recover breakaway churches’ land
Associated Press via Washington Post Episcopalians Readying Legal Challenge
Washington Times Church dispute headed to court
Friday evening
Episcopal News Service Presiding Bishop affirms Church’s ‘fiduciary and moral duty’ to preserve property
From the CANA website:
On January 12, Bishop Martyn Minns of CANA received the following letter from the leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia (the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee). Bishop Minns’s response is also pasted below. CANA regrets that given the Episcopal Church’s more recent public polemical statements, that we are forced to make these two private letters part of the public record. In the past, the headquarters of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia has endorsed the principles of civility and grace (e.g., “The Grace and Power of Civility” by David Abshire). But their recent unilateral actions of (1) denying their own Protocol’s access to amicable separation, of (2) breaking off the negotiation process, of (3) driving a wedge into CANA congregations, of (4) denying senior priests access to COBRA health care extensions — all of these seem to prove that the Episcopal Church is more interested in posturing than people. CANA continues to pray for a peaceful resolution and that the Episcopal Church leaders will not initiate litigation.
» January 10, 2007 – Letter from the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee to the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns (PDF)
» January 16, 2007 – Letter from the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns to the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee (PDF)
FAIRFAX and FALLS CHURCH, Va, Jan. 19 – Two leaders of the Anglican District of Virginia today urged the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and its bishop, the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, to cease both his divisive rhetoric and his march toward the courthouse and instead return to the negotiating table.
“It is still not too late for Bishop Lee and the leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia to stand down from making any more threats against faithful Christians who followed the Diocese of Virginia’s protocol for departing congregations, and instead to return to the negotiating table,” said Tom Wilson, Senior Warden of The Falls Church and Chairman of the Anglican District. “I still have hope, even now, that we can sit down and reason together.”
The Anglican District of Virginia is a growing association of Anglican Churches in Virginia, consisting of 16 worshipping congregations and two emerging church plants. On a typical Sunday, almost 6000 people attend these churches, making Anglican District larger than almost half of the Episcopal dioceses in the United States…
This article from the Washington Post yesterday contains detail about the Heathsville, Virginia church mentioned in the correspondence above: Praying for Answers.
Saturday morning
Living Church Departing Virginia Churches Urge Diocese to Resume Negotiations
Washington Post Congregations Give Warning On Property
Washington Times Breakaway churches urge bishop back to talks
The Rev. Dr. John Yates Writes to The Falls Church via Stand Firm
101 CommentsSince my previous report on this, there have been some further developments:
Pat Ashworth reported it last week in the Church Times under Panel gives comfort to Fort Worth.
Jim Naughton had asked Did the Panel of Reference do its homework? and Katie Sherrod had written It’s All About Gender.
Today, ENS reports that Bonnie Anderson the House of Deputies president writes Panel of Reference to clarify misconceptions. The report includes the full text of the letter, which had also appeared in leaked form yesterday.
26 CommentsUpdated again Wednesday evening
Update Tuesday The Episcopal Majority has now also published this article, with some explanation:
This letter was written by the Right Reverend Paul Marshall (Bishop of Bethlehem) to other bishops in the Episcopal Church in anticipation of the next House of Bishops meeting. Initially written for limited circulation among Bishop Marshall’s colleagues in the House of Bishops, it has been distributed in wider circles. We reprint it here in full with Bishop Marshall’s permission.
—-
Both Jim Naughton and Ruth Gledhill have now published an article written by the Bishop of Bethlehem (Pennsylvania, USA) Paul Marshall.
You can read it in full here.
Ruth Gledhill has links to a number of other articles and has commented that:
I think he is being just a bit too hard on the Archbishop. Dr Williams has written about why he decided to invite Schori to the Primates’ meeting in Tanzania, and has also had meetings with US liberals that a fringe Bishop such as Marshall could not possibly know about. The orthodox are worried. Poor Dr Williams is being attacked from all sides. In the letter below, Bishop Marshall writes of the pending crucifixion and resurrection of The Episcopal Church as it is presumably ‘forced’ to split. But if you ask me, it is the Archbishop who’s being crucified here, not TEC or anyone else.
Jim Naughton wrote that:
…the bishop articulates what many of us have been feeling about the Archbishop of Canterbury and his behavior toward our Church for some time.
Certainly this contribution strengthens the feeling of American discomfort that I received from reading the articles linked previously.
Mark Harris has commented at The Questions get Sharper
Update Wednesday
The article is now available on the Bethlehem diocesan website as a PDF file or as a Word file, go here. There is a background note there also:
In anticipation of the House of Bishops meeting in Texas, Bishop Paul Marshall wrote a discussion starter and sent it by email on January 12, 2007, to his colleagues in the House of Bishops. Upon receiving requests from colleagues to share more widely the note initially intended for limited circulation, he expanded and revised it. Primarily about the Archbishop of Canterbury’s relationship to our House of Bishops, the note assumes a great deal of context. It may be downloaded below, as a Word or PDF file. As always, we continue to pray for the ministry of Rowan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who, as Bishop Paul notes, “needs no witness from me to his reputation as a pious and good man, great in so many ways, and someone whom I overall admire as writer, teacher and moral voice in the UK.
There is also an Episcopal News Service report headed Bishop challenges Archbishop of Canterbury to meet with House of Bishops.
122 CommentsThe recent flurry of announcements from Lambeth and elsewhere concerning the Covenant Design Group, the Panel of Reference re Fort Worth, and the question of who will or won’t sit down with whom in Dar es Salaam, have led to a flurry of opinions by several American Episcopalians, collectively questioning the desirability of continuing membership of the Anglican Communion. I have listed a selection of these below.
Lionel Deimel
9 Jan Do We Need the Anglican Communion?
11 Jan Advice to the PB for the Primates’ Meeting
11 Jan Just to Be Clear …
Jim Naughton
9 Jan Revisiting “The Question”
10 Jan Revisiting “The Question”: Stewardship
Mark Harris
9 Jan Drip, Drip, Drip: Are we dealing with water torture or fresh springs?
11 Jan The Vocation of the Episcopal Church. (scroll down).
Marshall Scott
11 Jan Patience Through the Pain of Waiting
First, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette interviewed Katharine Jefferts Schori during her recent visit there to preside at the consecration of the new Bishop of Arkansas. You can read the full interview here, at Bible Belt Blogger, Frank Lockwood, religion editor of the Democrat-Gazette, or there is another copy of it here.
Second, the Winter/Spring edition of the Voice of Integrity (published by the US Episcopalian LGBT organisation) also carried an interview. You can read this here in the 2 Mb PDF original (the interview starts on page 9), or there is an html transcription here.
1 CommentUpdated Tuesday
The Panel of Reference, established by Archbishop Rowan Williams in response to the request of the Primates and Moderators of the Provinces of the Anglican Communion in their Communiqué issued from Dromantine, Northern Ireland, in February 2005, has issued a report on the submission made to it some time ago by the Diocese of Fort Worth.
The Fort Worth (FWS) submission is by the Bishop and Standing Committee of the Diocese who are in theological dispute with ECUSA concerning the ordination of women to the presbyterate and the episcopate… and are concerned that the action of the General Convention of ECUSA in passing Canons which makes women’s ordination mandatory makes it impossible for the Diocese at some future date to receive confirmation of the election as their bishop of a man who disapproves of the ordination of women to the presbyterate and/or episcopate.
The report can be read in full here. (PDF format)
The Diocese of Fort Worth has published an html copy here.
The response of the Diocese of Fort Worth to this report can be read here. No doubt it will appear Has now been posted on the diocesan website later as well.
Note that this matter is separate from the more recent application of Fort Worth (and other dioceses) for “alternative primatial oversight”.
Updates
Episcopal News Service reported it this way: Panel of Reference tells Episcopal Church it should clarify stance on women’s ordination.
The Living Church has Panel of Reference Responds Favorably to Fort Worth Appeal and Bishop Iker: Ruling Gives Traditionalists ‘Moral High Ground’.
The Telegraph has Anglicans ‘can reject women priests’.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has Panel backs diocese’s gender policy.
Newspapers in the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area have just published several items:
The Washington Post has this article: Episcopal Churches’ Breakaway in Va. Evolved Over 30 Years by Alan Cooperman and Jacqueline L. Salmon.
The Falls Church News-Press has two pieces: Homophobia’s Suspect Motives by Nicholas F. Benton and Anything But Straight: Holy Dispatch from Canada by Wayne Besen.
Why the Episcopal Schism Affects All Religions by Jo Bailey Wells first appeared on the website of Duke University.
Update Friday morning
I should also have included two comments by Matt Thompson which he made before Christmas on Political Spaghetti:
I’m flabbergasted
No, but seriously …
Update Sunday afternoon
Episcopal News Service has posted this report: VIRGINIA: Episcopal parish reorganizes, elects new vestry.
38 CommentsUpdated Saturday
The Bishop of Texas, Don Wimberly, has convened another meeting of bishops at his diocesan conference centre, Camp Allen.
There are reports from the Living Church ‘Windsor-Compliant’ Bishops Reconvene at Camp Allen
and from Episcopal News Service Second meeting of self-styled ‘Windsor Bishops’ begins.
There is also a statement on his website from the Bishop of Fort Worth, Jack Iker:
Second meeting of Windsor bishops at Camp Allen which starts out with the words “A second meeting of the so-called “Windsor Bishops” …
I have not yet been able to locate the Texas diocesan magazine article cited by ENS or the letter to which it refers.
Concerning the earlier Camp Allen meeting, the Archbishop of Canterbury recently wrote:
The Episcopal Church is not in any way a monochrome body and we need to be aware of the full range of conviction within it. I am sure that other Primates, like myself, will welcome the clear declarations by several bishops and diocesan conventions (including those dioceses represented at the Camp Allen meeting earlier this year) of their unequivocal support for the process and recommendations of the Windsor Report. There is much to build upon here. There are many in TEC who are deeply concerned as to how they should secure their relationships with the rest of the Communion; I hope we can listen patiently to these anxieties.
According to Bishop Iker:
Windsor Bishops hold that Lambeth 1:10 is the teaching of the Anglican Communion on matters of human sexuality, and we are committed to the Windsor Report as the way forward for the Communion as regards its recommendations against the blessing of same sex unions and the ordination of persons engaged in sexual relations outside the bonds of Holy Matrimony. We are agreed that the response of the 2006 General Convention to the Windsor Report is inadequate, and we are intent on remaining in an unimpaired relationship to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates of the Anglican Communion.
The original statement from Camp Allen bishops said:
We accept and affirm the Windsor Report and view adherence to it as furthering the vocation to heal the breaches within our own Communion and in our ecumenical relationships. Furthermore, we endorse the recommendation of the Windsor Report, as supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury, for the development of an Anglican Covenant.
The Windsor Report properly belongs within the larger framework of Anglican teaching, as expressed, not least, in successive Lambeth Conferences, including the resolutions of Lambeth 1998 (among which is Resolution 1.10). We understand this to be the mind of the Communion for teaching and discipline.
At the time of that meeting, there were apparently conflicting statements about how it had been organised in the first place.
Update According to Stand Firm there are four new attendees at this meeting who were not present at the first, namely:
The Rt. Rev. Charles Jenkins Diocese of Louisiana
The Rt. Rev. Duncan Gray Diocese of Mississippi
The Rt. Rev. Russ Jacobus Diocese of Fond du Lac
The Rt. Rev. Henry Parsley Diocese of Alabama
and five previous attendees are not present at the second meeting:
The Rt. Rev. Mark L. MacDonald Diocese of Alaska
The Rt. Rev. C. Wallis Ohl, Jr. Diocese of Northwest Texas
The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf Diocese of Rhode Island
The Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield Diocese of San Joaquin
The Rt. Rev. John B. Lipscomb Diocese of Southwest Florida(Also Bishop John Howard of Florida who attended only part of the first meeting.)
Update In the absence of the Texas documentation mentioned at the start of this article, this letter from a Texas priest offers some information.
Update Saturday
The Living Church reports that Meeting of ‘Windsor Compliant’ Bishops Adjourns Without Statement.
David Roseberry from Christ Church Plano in Dallas, Texas, which disassociated from the Episcopal Church (ECUSA) and the Diocese of Dallas in September, has written at great length about “The Journey of Christ Church, Plano”. Christ Church has this statement on its website:
As of September 15, 2006, Christ Church is a parish under the temporary pastoral oversight of The Rt. Rev. William (Bill) Godfrey, Bishop of Peru, and is also a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
More detail is in Q&A About Our Future.
.
The material is published at the Stand Firm website and is in five parts:
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Are You My Mother?
Considering CANA
Considering AMiA
The Letter, Lambeth, and a Little Bit More
Now back to our regularly scheduled coverage of the Virginia schism.
The Church Times has a report by Doug LeBlanc Property at issue as nine churches quit ECUSA.
Archbishop Peter Akinola has issued A Letter of Greeting from Archbishop Peter Akinola to the congregations who have recently joined CANA in which he says this:
…Sadly, I have also heard that some are suggesting that you are now affiliated with a Church that seeks to punish homosexual persons. That is a distortion of our true position. We are a Church that teaches the truth of the Holy Scriptures and understands that every person, regardless of their religion or sexual orientation, is made in the image of God, loved by God, and deserving of the utmost respect. That is the conviction that informs our passion for evangelism and drives our determination to establish new dioceses and congregations. We have no desire to place anyone outside the reach of God’s saving love and that is why we have supported well reasoned statements such as Resolution 1.10 from the Lambeth Conference in 1998 and also the section of the Dromantine Communiqué, which condemns the “victimization or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex.”
As I am sure you have heard, there is a bill currently being debated by the Nigerian Legislature that addresses the topic of same-sex marriages and homosexual activism. The Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria, in its desire to see the strengthening of marriage and family life in our society, has commended the legislators for tackling this difficult issue. We have no desire to see our nation follow the path of license and immorality that we have witnessed in other parts of the world. And we also oppose the severe sanctions of Islamic law.
We recognize that there are genuine concerns about individual human rights that must be addressed both in the framing of the law and its implementation. I am glad to inform you that while the Honorable Speaker of the House, a Moslem, wanted the immediate and outright passage of the bill, the Deputy Speaker, an Anglican, persuaded his colleagues to allow full public debate on it.
I am troubled, however, by the silence of outside commentators concerning the rights of the clergy, Christians, and particularly converts to our Church whose lives are threatened and too often destroyed because of mob violence. I see no evidence of compassion for those whose rights are trampled on because of the imposition of unjust religious laws in many parts of the world. There seems to be a strange lack of interest in this issue…
You can read the whole letter here on the CANA website.
There is also a letter there from Bishop Martyn Minns headed A Pastoral Letter for the new CANA Congregations. You can read that one here. He writes in part:
…Media coverage of our actions has been quite extensive. It has been prompted by the national and international implications of our decisions along with the reality that this is an unprecedented movement of congregations out of The Episcopal Church. As expected, not all of the media coverage was positive. I want to address one recurring untrue accusation concerning our attitude towards homosexual persons. Our vote was not an “anti-gay” vote. We affirm that as Christians we believe that every person, regardless of their sexual orientation, is made in the image of God, and deserving of the utmost respect. As the Dromantine Communiqué (issued by the Primates when they met in Ireland last year) states, “. . . we continue unreservedly to be committed to the pastoral support of homosexual people” and oppose “the victimization or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex.” And we have and must continue to witness to these convictions by our words and actions. I have attached a recent letter from Archbishop Peter Akinola that addresses this same issue from his perspective. Please notice the difference between what he actually says and believes and the dismissive tag lines that are often attributed to him.
Another persistent untrue theme is the way in which we care for those who voted to remain in The Episcopal Church. As I have said repeatedly, and I am sure you have heard from your own clergy and lay leadership, everyone is welcome to participate in our common life regardless of their vote on this or any matter. We are not monochrome congregations but diverse communities whose unity is in Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If someone tells you that they voted against the resolution, then I encourage you assure them that they are loved and included as full members of the family of God in this place. If there is any way in which I can help in this matter please let me know. My calling is to provide for the care and nurture of every member of our growing fellowship.
You may have read a response to our actions from Bishop Peter Lee. While his disappointment was to be expected, I am saddened that his language seems strangely harsh. I am particularly troubled by the rather blatant attempt to create fear and division by the use of the phrase “Nigerian Congregations Occupying Episcopal Churches”. This is not the Bishop Lee that I know and respect. I look forward to the return of his more usual tone of creativity and generosity. We all know that while we may have changed our ecclesiastical allegiance we remain loyal and faithful Anglican Christians in America. The character of our communities remains the same.
The question of property seems to loom large in many people’s minds. I draw your attention to the following press statement that was released yesterday by Truro and The Fall Church, “Anglican Churches Comply with Virginia Statute Requiring Reports of Their Congregations’ Votes.” It clearly states our belief that we have a valid and compelling claim to the various church properties which we have for generations “occupied”. We also believe that this should be handled in a respectful conversation with the leadership of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. We are trying to avoid both costly litigation and a media circus. Initial signs from the meeting of the Standing Committee and Executive Board are encouraging and we are preparing to engage in substantive conversation after the Christmas Holidays…
Some of the press reports which may have prompted these letters can be found below:
Washington Post Episcopalians Against Equality by Howard Meyerson
Nation Holy Homophobia by Richard Kim
Economist Wars of religion – Schism in Virginia
Falls Church News-Press Editorial: No Surprise To Us Locals
The press release about voting reports mentioned by Bishop Minns, Anglican Churches Comply with Virginia Statute Requiring Reports of Their Congregations’ Votes can be found here (PDF).
The Living Church had this interview with Bishop Peter Lee Bishop Lee: Extension to 30-Day Standstill Agreement Possible.
51 CommentsUpdated again 7 January
First, not Virginia, but Pittsburgh.
From the diocesan website: Calvary Church Reopens Lawsuit Against Diocese.
From the Calvary Church website: CALVARY FILES PETITION IN COURT OF COMMON PLEAS. The Court website for documents is here.
The actual petition text will be found there, but as it is a 21 Mb PDF file, you may not want to download it. The paper original is 315 pages long.
UPDATE a somewhat smaller version of the PDF file is now available from here (6.5 Mbytes).
The matter is discussed more briefly by Jim Naughton here.
This further 28 page filing by Calvary is only 1.4 Mbytes (PDF) so much easier to read, and contains a lot of the interesting information.
Update There is also an ENS report on this, PITTSBURGH: Parish asks court to protect diocesan property.
Update The January issue of Agape is now online as a PDF and contains an article by the rector, Harold Lewis, about why further legal action is now being taken by the parish.
4 CommentsUpdated Tuesday evening
At the risk of overkill, here are some further links to reports about or comments on the Virginia parish defections from ECUSA (how come Christ Church Plano didn’t get similar coverage?)
Stephen Bates has written on Comment is free about The problem of dissolution.
Rachel Zoll of the Associated Press has a report, Leader: Episcopal Church not splintering.
Dave Walker has another cartoon, How a chain of evangelistic carpet shops could help the Episcopal church.
The Diocese of Virginia has issued two further press releases:
News Update from the Diocese of Virginia
Diocesan Leaders to Reach Out to All Episcopalians
Episcopal News Service had Virginia diocese promises ‘every encouragement’ to Episcopalians remaining in disaffected congregations by Mary Frances Schjonberg
The Anglican Communion Network (or NACDAP) issued this press release:
Network Moderator Commends Virginia Churches
The Living Church has Seven Virginia Parishes Vote to Leave Diocese by George Conger and also Virginia Diocese Will ‘Assert’ Canonical and Legal Rights.
Statistics on the voting, membership, etc. of the departing parishes is being maintained in a spreadsheet here (thanks Karen B).
For American local TV reports, scroll down at this titusonenine entry, and follow the links there.
Religion News Service Episcopal Split Accelerates as Va. Parishes Vote to Leave by Daniel Burke.
The Washington Post has Diocese Declares Time Out on Lawsuits by Michelle Boorstein.
And the Richmond Times-Dispatch has Legal action put on hold in Episcopal split by Alberta Lindsey.
The Washington Times had Julia Duin saying Diocese approves freeze on litigation.
Updates
Another Episcopal News Service report, ‘Large, viable remnant’ wants to continue as Episcopal congregation.
Another Comment is free article, Anglicans in America by Bruce Bawer.
25 CommentsUpdated again Monday evening
BBC radio interviewed Martyn Minns on the Today programme. Listen here (3 min 20sec). There is a reference to what he said at Ekklesia see here.
Update
Jane Little has a further report for the BBC at Schism looming for Anglican Communion.
Later Update The BBC has this updated profile of Archbishop Peter Akinola. He is quoted:
…Archbishop Akinola – a man known for his outspoken views on homosexuality – says he is thankful to God over the decision.
“Once there’s a crack in the wall, you are likely to have all sorts creeping in” he told the BBC website in Abuja.
“When we began to notice these cracks a few years back, we did try as much as humanly possible under God to patch up these cracks,” he added.
But, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (Ecusa) refused to back down.
“Since the leadership of the church in America keeps doing everything we thought they would not do, those who don’t agree with them have chosen to go where they want to go and I thank God,” he said…
The Guardian has a report by Stephen Bates Two Anglican parishes lead anti-gay split from US church but the Telegraph has nothing yet an afternoon report: Virginia churches split from US Anglicans and The Times has only a brief note. Ruth Gledhill has however got a more detailed report on her blog headlined Property battles loom as US churches quit.
Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times has Episcopal Parishes in Virginia Vote to Secede. An earlier version of that report is here.
Julia Duin of the Washington Times has 8 Virginia flocks break away.
Alberta Lindsey of the Richmond Times-Dispatch has Seven Va. Episcopal churches break away.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review interviewed Bishop Robert Duncan Episcopal bishop: Church torn apart.
See here (URL will not last more than a day) for the front page picture in the Washington Post . Text of report previously linked is here.
Reuters Virginia churches break from U.S. Episcopal Church
Associated Press later version of Episcopal Parishes in Va. Break Away.
Update
A video of the entire CANA press conference (about 40 minutes) can be viewed here. Unfortunately, it is impossible to hear the questions during the question period, only the answers are audible.
Updated Sunday Evening
The BBC Sunday radio programme had a report on the Northern Virginia parishes by Jane Little in Washington, About 4 minutes, now available here.
BBC report also here: US parishes weigh Anglican split.
Other press coverage:
Associated Press Rachel Zoll Episcopal Parishes Might Break Away
New York Times Laurie Goodstein Episcopalians Are Reaching Point of Revolt
Update
Voting results from BabyBlue
BREAKING NEWS: The Falls Church votes 90% in favor of severing ties with The Episcopal Church
The Falls Church has voted 90% in favor of severing their ties and leaving The Episcopal Church immediately to join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). They also voted resoundingly (96%) to retain their property.
and now also:
Truro votes overwhelmingly to sever ties with the Episcopal Church
Truro Church has also voted 92.1% to sever ties with The Episcopal Church and join CANA immediately. They also voted 94.3% to retain their property.
Washington Post Bill Turque and Michelle Boorstein Two Episcopal Congregations Split From Church
A Statement from the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia
BBC US church splits over sexuality
Associated Press Matthew Barakat Virginia parishes split from Episcopal Church over sexuality
Episcopal News Service Mary Frances Schjonberg Virginia bishop vows to care for remaining Episcopalians, assert rights to departing congregations’ property
Statement by Martyn Minns at press conference (from titusonenine)
Press Release from The Falls Church and Truro Church (via BabyBlue)
64 CommentsThe first one was here. And the statement of the ACC Secretary General in the matter of CANA’s ecclesiastical status was reported yesterday.
This weekend voting concludes in the two big parishes, The Falls Church and Truro Church, and there is some excitement in the air. See also the comments to that post for some descriptions of last Sunday. At another parish the voting is over and the result declared.
Detailed instructions have been issued to the media in anticipation of extensive coverage tomorrow. That PDF is also available as html, here.
Some very strong stuff indeed appeared Thursday in the Falls Church News-Press:
F.C. Episcopal to Report Results of Vote to Defect Sunday
Nicholas F. Benton: An ‘Old South’ Backlash
Editorial: Descent Into The Abyss
The Living Church has published two further reports:
Secretary General of ACC Clarifies Communion Status of CANA
Virginia Diocese Questions Voting Procedure
If like me you were puzzled as to why the diocese cared about the voting procedure details, this comment on titusonenine explains.
The Clergy and Wardens of the Church of the Apostles, Fairfax, Virginia, wrote a letter to Bishop Peter Lee which you can read in full here.
The perception of Truro Church leadership concerning CANA’s Anglican District of Virginia are contained in this PDF file.
The Washington Times had this detailed report by Julia Duin today: Diocese faces exodus of flock.
And if you are wondering about whether Virginia law is clear about the ownership of parish church property this note by Jim Naughton On church property may confuse you further.
Further update: some useful background statistics on the voting numbers involved can be found here.
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