Episcopal Leader to Visit ‘Continuing Episcopalians’

‘Continuing Episcopalians’? The ChristianPost:

The head of The Episcopal Church is making an official visit to Episcopalians who belong to a diocese that has opted to break away from the denomination.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the TEC, arrived Friday in South Carolina to visit Episcopalians in the Diocese of South Carolina who want to remain with the denomination. As part of her itinerary, Jefferts Schori will attend the “Continuing Episcopalians” special meeting on the election of a new provisional bishop for their churches, as the legal battle over who can rightfully call themselves the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina continues in court.

The Steering Committee for the Continuing Episcopalians nominated retired East Tennessee bishop Rt. Rev. Charles Glenn vonRosenberg to the post. The vote to confirm him will take place at Grace Episcopal Church in Charleston on Saturday.

Hillery Douglas, chairman of the Steering Committee and senior warden of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Charleston, said in a statement that Jefferts Schori was a welcomed presence. “We welcome the opportunity to have her with us at this important time in the history of our diocese, and it will be a privilege to share with her firsthand the energy and diversity of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina,” said Douglas.

Rev. Canon Jim Lewis, who is part of the diocesan leadership that decided to break away from TEC, told The Christian Post that he has little issue with the process that the Continuing Episcopalians are undertaking. “We have said consistently that The Episcopal Church (TEC) is free to set up a new Diocese here. She has every right to come and be a part of that process,” said Lewis.

“What neither she nor TEC has a right to do is to claim to be us in that process. We remain the same legally incorporated entity that was established in 1785 (four years before TEC was founded). We have disassociated with TEC but we have not ceased to be The Diocese of South Carolina.”

Earlier this month, the leadership of the South Carolina Diocese filed suit against TEC over the rights to the name, seal, and property of the diocese body. On Wednesday, the Diocese successfully got a court order to temporarily halt TEC’s usage of the name and seal. The order will remain in effect for ten days, overlapping with the Saturday vote on vonRosenberg. A hearing will be held on Friday, Feb. 1, to determine if the order should be made into an injunction.

“Our request for a declaratory judgment is now in the hands of the court of the State of South Carolina. We expect a full and fair hearing of the issues that will in time vindicate our right to freedom of association,” said Lewis.

“We chose to join in the founding of TEC. We are also free to choose to leave that association. We believe that to be guaranteed by both South Carolina law and the U.S. Constitution.”

Due to the court order, on their website the “continuing Episcopalians” have changed their name to “The Episcopal Church in South Carolina” and have removed the diocese seal from their web pages.

Neither The Episcopal Church in South Carolina nor the national leadership of the TEC returned comment to The Christian Post by press time.

 

Obama Picks Episcopal Priest for Inauguration Prayer

The Deacon’s Bench reports:

He replaces Louie Giglio, the evangelical pastor who found himself in hot water for his remarks on homosexuality two decades ago.

FromCNN:

The president has picked a neighbor to deliver the closing prayer at the inauguration.

The Rev. Luis León told CNN on Tuesday the White House and the Presidential Inaugural Committee invited him last week to deliver the closing prayer at the 57th Presidential Inauguration.

León pastors Saint John’s Church, an Episcopal parish just across Lafayette Park from the White House, dubbed the “Church of the Presidents.”

“I found out last week,” he told CNN in an interview on Tuesday.

A source close to the inaugural committee confirmed León would be delivering the benediction and said a formal announcement would be coming later in the week.

The historic church León has pastored since 1995 has been connected to every president since its founding in 1815. Inside the historic building, Pew 54 is reserved for presidents whenever they come to worship.

President Barack Obama and his family have worshiped at the church numerous times during his first term. They have visited the church more times than any other during his presidency, and the president and León are said to have a good relationship.

León’s benediction will mark his second appearance on the inauguration stage. In 2005 he delivered the invocation for the President George W. Bush’s second inauguration.

“You don’t get used to this. I’m just as nervous now as I was the first time,” León said. “From the moment someone asks you to do that, your wheels are spinning with what to say. So my wheels were spinning now.”

Read more.

Ah, yes, an Episcopalian… Just right… Relativistic, inclusive, politically correct, completely inoffensive and totally harmless…

 

Bishopess Katharine Jefferts Schori Finds Theological Opponents Guilty of Misconduct

Conger:

A 3-member Reference Panel led by U.S. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has found that a prima facie case of misconduct can be made against nine serving and retired bishops of the Episcopal Church for voicing public disagreement with her view of church polity.

Bishops Peter Beckwith, Maurice Benitez, John W. Howe, Paul Lambert, William Love, Bruce MacPherson, Daniel Martins, Edward L. Salmon, Jr, and James Stanton were told on 19 Oct 2012 a reference panel consisting of Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, her aide Bishop Clayton Matthews, and the retired Bishop of Upper South Carolina and chair of the church’s disciplinary board Dorsey Henderson had found there was merit in the charges brought against them for having dissented from her view of the nature of the church’s hierarchy by testifying in court or having submitted an amicus brief to a court.

The Reference Panel recommended the accused bishops pursue “conciliation” with their accusers. Conciliation is not defined, however, in the canons.

In his email to the accused informing them of the panel’s decision, Bishop Matthews said that “after obtaining the agreement of the complainants, we will include in the process some representatives from the House of Bishops, in the spirit of our closed sessions, appointed by The Presiding Bishop.  After some research for potential persons to serve as a Conciliator, I will meet on October 29th with the person, who we hope will serve as the Conciliator. I hope following this meeting, a schedule for proceeding will be forth coming.”

Under the Title IV disciplinary canons adopted in 2009, an intake officer must first determine if the offense described in the complaint warrants action. As intake officer for the House of Bishops, Bishop Matthews held that held that having endorsed an amicus brief with the Texas Supreme court that defends one view of Episcopal Church history and canon law, or in the case of Bishops Beckwith, MacPherson and Salmon, for having testified to their views of church polity in a case involving the secession of the Diocese of Quincy, the nine bisohps violated the canons.

Bishop Matthews then referred his findings to the panel, of which he is one of three members, and which was led by the presiding bishop whose views on church polity were the subject of the dispute, for determination of guilt.

Canon lawyer Allan Haley said the system adopted by the Episcopal Church to try political dissent was absurd. “No man shall be judge of his own cause is a maxim of law from the time of Solomon,” he said. In this case the presiding bishop and her staff are the investigators, prosecutor, judge and jury.

This “reeks of the kangaroo courts of rough justice of the mining claim” of the old West, he said.

One of the nine accused told CEN he has yet to be told what it was about his actions that violated the canons.  Is it the “issue” or “expressing the issue in court” he said.

If it is the issue, the bishop noted the position set forth in their brief was identical to that put forward in 2009 in the Bishops Statement on Polity.  If it was stating this belief in court, “what is illegitimate about that,” he asked.

Canon law experts note the prosecution of the nine bishops was politically motivated, as the actions for which they are accused are not considered “triable” when done by bishops who endorsed the party line.

Canon IV.19.of Title IV states: “No member of the Church, whether lay or ordained, may seek to have the Constitution and Canons of the Church interpreted by a secular court, or resort to a secular court to address a dispute arising under the Constitution and Canons, or for any purpose of delay, hindrance, review or otherwise affecting any proceeding under this Title.”

If the nine are being charged with violating this canon, the question need be asked why the Bishops of Texas, Southwest Texas, Northwest Texas and the Rio Grande have not been brought up on charges also, one bishop told CEN.

In the case of Masterson, et al. v. Diocese of Northwest Texas, No. 11-0332, the Rt Rev. Andrew Doyle, the Rt. Rev. Garry Lillebridge, the Rt. Rev. Michael Vono and the Rt. Rev. C. Wallis Ohl, Jr., filed an amicus brief with the Texas Supreme Court that endorsed the three-tier hierarchy concept favored by attorneys for the presiding bishop’s office.

One commentator asked “why it is OK for some bishops or dioceses and TEC itself to seek to have the courts interpret the C&Cs, but when others specifically advise the courts that they cannot get embroiled in these issues, it is a canonical offense.”

 

The Episcopal Church

See, this is exactly the kind of thing that needs to guarded against:

 

Authoritarian Anglicans

Writes Fr Dwight Longenecker:

Here is the great irony: the people who dismantled traditional Christianity by the democratic process are now dismantling the democratic process.  In other words the tyranny of the ballot box is being replaced by just plain tyranny.

This article analyzes what is happening with the ruling ranks of the Episcopal Church of the USA. The presiding bishop–Kate Schori–sues breakaway churches and dioceses. She refuses to say how much the legal action costs. She presents her own budget to the church ending years of the budget being drafted, amended and controlled by the laity. She and her cronies have pushed through a radical re working of how the Episcopal church is governed–moving from an elected governing body of three houses to a unicameral body in which Schori’s administrative team will design and govern the agenda.

In other words, from those who criticize the Catholic Church for being overly clericalized and authoritarian–from those who trumpet that they are doing the will of the people and that majority rules–we get the most authoritarian and draconian kind of governance.

The article exposes the plummeting numbers in the Episcopal church, the downwardly spiraling finances while observing that the folks are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic by approving funeral rites for dogs and cats, wedding ceremonies for homosexual couples, apologizing to Native Americans for evangelizing them and opening the way for transgendered people to be ordained.

Just sayin’

ECUSA’s Future: A Glimpse Afforded by the Present

Two telling glimpses of what the Episcopal Church (USA) is becoming, in front of our very eyes, appeared in General Convention commentaries today.

They form part of the unfolding disaster:

The first came up in the context of a proposal to authorize the use in church readings of the English Standard Version of the Holy Bible. The ESV is essentially a revision of the already-authorized Revised Standard Version of 1971, and has received scholarly approval, on the whole. (Your Curmudgeon has the Study Version on his desk, and consults it regularly to compare with other versions. Its complete text, like that of the New English Translation, is available free online.)

Let on-the-scene reporter Lauren Anderson tell the tale:

The House of Deputies is considering the authorization of new translations of the Bible, including the English Standard Version with the Apocrypha, for use in lectionary readings.

While discussing a proposed resolution to add the Contemporary English Version (1995) and The Contemporary English Version Global (2005) to the list of authorized translations, the English Standard Version was proposed as an additional translation option.

Proponents said the ESV is widely used and growing in popularity, and has the additional benefit of being available free on the web, making it an efficient option for preparing handouts and PowerPoint media.

“The English Standard Version is a wonderfully popular version. We’re trying to be relevant. We’re trying to be current. We’re trying to become more and more in touch with the world around us. This version is,” said the Ven. David Collum of the Diocese of Albany.

Others opposed the amendment, saying it is not within the purview of the House of Deputies to make a decision about authorizing Bible translations.

“I think for us as a body to micromanage the work of the theologians of the Episcopal Church is not our job,” said Denise Crenshaw of the Diocese of Michigan.

This is the Episcopal Church (USA) as it used to be—expressing viewpoints of wide diversity, from all over the map. But watch what happened next (pay close attention, now—I have added the bold to assist you):

Deputies voted in favor of the amendment to add the ESV translation to the resolution, but later reopened the discussion when the validity of the translation was called into question by a deputy who found a verse from the ESV that used the word homosexuality. The house ultimately decided to reconsider the amendment as its first order of business July 8.

Oh, my goodness—do you realize what happened here? According to the standard LGBTQI mantra, “homosexuality” is a term that cannot be used to translate any word or words in the Bible, because the Bible was written two thousand years ago, when no one could even conceive of, let alone depict or describe, what the term “homosexuality” covers. (See, for instance, the explanations of Resolutions D002 and D019 which passed the House of Bishops earlier today.)

So because of that one word appearing at one place in the ESV, that translation must be BANNED from ALL Episcopal lecterns and pulpits. All thanks to the diligent and quick work of one deputy, whose terrifying announcement was enough to cow the entire House of Deputies into reconsidering the matter.

Anyone care to guess how these paragons of political correctness will vote today, July 8?

Now let us turn to the second glimpse of ECUSA’s future. Cherie Wetzel of Anglicans United should need no introduction to SF readers, but she and her husband have been attending and covering General Conventions for nearly twenty years, and perhaps longer. She is a member of a “Prayer Warriors” team at this GC, and takes her duties very seriously, as a loyal, upstanding and orthodox Christian should at these affairs. But look what happened when she accidentally and innocently wandered into this (my bold emphasis):

To my surprise this  morning I walked into the bathroom designated for transgendered people.   The door was not labeled ( it is now) and I was clearly not welcome.    Yes, transgendered people are making their presence known at this Convention and making the push for their place at the table.

Welcome to your future, O Episcopal Church!

Further comment, at this point, would be superfluous.

 

Episcopalian Attendance in US Drops 23%

This while they find themselves nattering about ‘inclusiveness’ which, in reality, means never mind the sin, comes as you are, without the need of repentance.

Wherever Catholics go when they leave, all the evidence is that they aren’t heading to the Episcopal Church in significant numbers.  And it doesn’t look like that many evangelicals are on “the Canterbury Trail” as we used to say back when becoming Episcopalian still looked wildly cosmopolitan and cutting edge.  As a young evangelical Quaker (there are maybe 300,000 Quakers in the whole world), Anglicanism looked immense and globe-spanning and in the hiearchy of non-fundamentalism, Episcopalians were (in our eyes) at the far end of the other side of the spectrum, right next to Catholicism.  Large, historic, liturgical, established, exotic.

Now the apt word seems “life support”.

The average Episcopal Church attendance dropped a staggering 23% in the ten year period between 2000 and 2010 (via Whispers) In 2010, just under 700,000 attended TEC Churches in the whole world.

In the Seattle area, (Diocese of Olympia) where St. Mark’s Cathedral still looms and KING FM has broadcast their lovely Sunday evening Compline for many years, average attendance in the whole diocese was 9,500.  9,500?  I’ve worked in Catholic parishes with larger weekly attendance than that.

The Episcopalian Diocese of Quincy, IL attendance has dropped 71% and averages 363 people in attendance at 9 parishes.  I’ve taught Called & Gifted workshops that were larger.  No wonder they are openly talking about reuniting with the Diocese of Chicago (attendance: 12,925).

To compare, CARA estimates that on a given Sunday, there are about 22 million Catholics in the pews in the US vs. approximately 657,000 Episcopalians.  In other words, there are roughly 33 times as many practicing Catholics as practicing Episcopalians.

This is not a time to gloat but to thoughtfully ponder.   A group I spoke to recently about evangelization wanted to look to the experience of mainline Protestants to see what they were doing.  Seriously?

If we are serious about evangelization, we would far, far better look to the experience of our evangelical brothers and sisters. 49% of American evangelicals weren’t raised as evangelicals while Catholics have the second lowest number of converts of any American religious faith.

Source

 

Episcopalians Review a New Rite for Gay Unions

Remember, if you cannot handle these things, there is safe refuge in the Chair of St Peter or Traditional Anglican Communion.

The Boston Globe:

Episcopal Bishops Thomas Shaw (left) and Gene Robinson marched in this year’s gay pride parade in Boston

Episcopalians, gathering this week in Indianapolis for their triennial General Convention, are expected to overwhelmingly approve trial use of a new liturgy for blessing same-sex unions…

In 2009, the Episcopal Church lifted a temporary ban on blessing gay unions and said bishops may provide “generous pastoral response” to gay couples, especially in states that allow civil unions or gay marriages.

Many Episcopal bishops now permit the blessing of same-sex relationships, and some in states where gay marriage is legal — including ­Bishop M. Thomas Shaw of the Diocese of Massachusetts, which runs roughly east of Inter­state 495 — let priests ­officiate at the marriage of same-sex couples.

But because the Episcopal Church canons and the Book of Common Prayer describe marriage as between a man and woman, some bishops have not embraced same-sex blessings or weddings. Bishop Gordon Paul Scruton of the ­Diocese of Western Massachusetts, does not allow priests to do either.

Scruton, who is retiring Dec. 1, and Bishop-elect Douglas John Fisher said through a spokeswoman Thursday that they planned to issue a joint statement following the General Convention vote. They did not indicate what it might say, and they declined a request for an interview beforehand.

At the last diocesan convention in October 2011, Scruton said the diocese would move toward allowing the blessing of same-sex unions if the ­General Convention adopted the new liturgy this summer, said Steve Symes, diocesan ­coordinator of Integrity USA, a group within the church working for the full inclusion of gay people.

Even if it does not happen before Scruton retires, change seems likely to occur under Fisher. During a meet-and-greet where candidates for bishop met voting delegates, Fisher indicated he would look to the people of the diocese for guidance on the issue, Symes said. At last October’s diocesan convention, delegates voted overwhelmingly for a resolution to begin blessing gay unions, Symes said.

“I almost think it’s a slam-dunk — I think it will happen,” he said.

In a phone interview from Indianapolis, Shaw said the proposed new liturgy may not be used often in the eastern portion of the state, where priests have been allowed to craft their own services in conducting gay marriages for several years.

The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, which wrote the new rite, has “done a good job,” Shaw said. “It’s just for Eastern Massachusetts, it’s about five years too late”…

Shaw said that at a recent meeting of bishops he was surprised to learn that even in dioceses in traditionally conservative parts of the country, such as Houston, preparations are being made to offer the new liturgy in some parishes…

Church should be pointing fallen man to the way of heaven, not to Sodom.

 

New Hampshire Episcopalians May Choose a Second Homosexual Bishop

Read about the abomonation possibility here.

And our Bishop Brian Marsh weighs in:

Bishop Brian R. Marsh, the president of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America, a traditional Anglican church that is not part of the Anglican Communion, said his church gained five additional parishes in New Hampshire within a year of Robinson’s election.

The whole piece is here.

 

Episcopal Church to Consider Communion Without Baptism

Fresh hell:

Today’s episode brought to you by the Diocese of Eastern Oregon:

When Diocesan Council and Standing Committee met online March 10, members ratified EDEO’s Open Table resolution, to be presented at General Convention 2012. “Be in resolved…that The Episcopal Church ratify the rubrics and practice of The Book of Common Prayer to invite all, regardless of age, denomination or baptism to the altar for Holy Communion.” The resolution also calls for deleting from the Church’s Constitution and canons the line saying  that “No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this Church.”

Now, I’ve generally understood “open table” to mean that baptized Christians, across certain denominations, are welcome to take communion in each other’s churches (Roman Catholics conspicuously excluding themselves). For example, a baptized Lutheran is welcome at the Episcopal table, and so on.

So calling this “Open Table” is either ignorance, or subterfuge, on the part of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon. Neither is beyond theological liberals, but I suppose we’ll have to wait for more explanation from DEO before we know which it is.

What we’re talking about here, though, is completely different. This is a resolution to delete from the Church’s constitution and canon the requirement that “No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this Church.” In other words, if this resolution passes, then the official position of the Episcopal Church regarding the Holy Eucharist is that one not need be baptized into the faith to partake of its most holy sacrament.

On the one hand, this seems like small potatoes compared to everything else we’re dealing with as liberals assault the faith and conservatives roll over: Once you call homosexual behavior a holy thing, and lock arms with abortionists and call what they do “a blessing,” then giving communion to the unbaptized seems like small potatoes, right? After all, we know that dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Episcopal churches do this all the time, so it’s not as if passing this resolution will actually change anything in the church, right?

Read on here.

Lest you forget, there is something called Anglicanorum Coetibus, so that at the day of judgement, Episcopalians can really be without excuse.