Some have wondered about the status of this church, and about its intention to seek recognition as a province of the Anglican Communion. A basic principal of catholic Christianity is that it is not self-authenticating; its credentials cannot be established by the mere assertion of them. Christian faith looks to authorities, as well: the Scriptures, principally, but also Creeds and Councils that articulate them reasonably and traditionally, and all of which communicate the Gospel and act as a standard by which faith is recognized and acknowledged. Anglicanism itself represents a distinctive witness within the Christian faith, with its own markers and measures. A particular church (any particular church) always looks beyond itself in some way in the key points of its existence, and others will evaluate it accordingly.
However we view this new church in terms of these things, we must recognize that membership in the Anglican Communion is not something claimed unilaterally or seized by force. Sharp elbows may be useful in any number of contexts, but are hardly edifying or effective in this one. A request to be admitted as a province must be approved by the Primates’ Meeting and then acted upon by the Anglican Consultative Council, two of the Instruments of Communion that have developed within Anglicanism to help bring coherence to its life. The constituent bodies of the Anglican Church in North America are not known for a willingness to pay much heed to any of the Instruments of Communion. It is even doubtful that they are much interested in any authentication that looks to the existing structures of the world-wide Communion. Their witness is predicated on a self-proclaimed unwillingness to wait for these structures to work.
I smell fear emanating from this missive. He’s scared that he’ll lose his exclusive Anglican dealership to someone with more credibility.
[blockquote]Their witness is predicated on a self-proclaimed unwillingness to wait for these structures to work.[/blockquote]
My dear Bishop of Tennessee, we have waited over 40 years for “these structures to work”. Some of us are nearing time to meet the LORD, we have waited so long. How much longer do you suggest, sir, that we wait? This movement, ACNA, demonstrates something, sir, indeed. That something is the unwillingness to watch revisionism/liberalism bastardize Anglicanism any further than it already has. An unwillingness to allow the thieves of Anglicanism to persist in their subterfuge any longer. An unwillingness to allow the pearl that is Anglicanism to be dulled and dirtied any longer. An unwillingness to allow revisionism/liberalism to let incoherent non-Christian doctrine to persist any longer. Ever. Here we stand. We shall do none other.
“we will not be supplanted or displaced as members of the Anglican Communion by the actions or assertions of any group or combination of groups in middle Tennessee.”
True – they will, like old soldiers, just fade away…….
Almost exactly one in seven of the parishes in his diocese have either left as a parish, or left as a majority of a parish. Most of those remnants have continued with varying levels of success. And remember, Tennessee is one of the more traditional diocese, once you get past the front line ones such as Ft. Worth, Quincy, etc. So while the loss has not been at the level of Virginia or Florida, +Bauerschmidt is definitely aware of the direction of flow and would want to discourage its acceleration.
His church is being supplanted by virtue of its failing to replace the membership that have left or passed away. The consolidation we’ve seen – closing parishes, selling off cathedrals – is only going to accelerate. ACNA will become the de facto North American province by default in a generation.
Athanasius Returns, well said! Bishop Bauerschmidt, I hope you’ll take his words to heart.
Early on in this conflagration I was talking with a Nigerian bishop and told him of my real desire for the Africans and other orthodox bishops in the Communion to come to our aid. He replied that they are, indeed, with us, but that we would have the need for patience. He said he knows that we will endure great suffering through this, but that the African Church had endured suffering for years, and that he thought it might be good for the American Church to suffer for awhile.
I desire an appropriate resolution to these challenges to orthodoxy as much as anyone, but I am mindful of his words. Yes, I am in a safe diocese. But I wonder how much of the current willingness to seek quick solutions to the discomfort of being in a denomination that is out of Communion with so much of the larger Communion is rooted in our unwillingness to suffer while we wait a long-term solution. As Bishop Frey said about this in a sermon last year, maybe God is saying, “Don’t just do something; sit there!”
[i] Sharp elbows may be useful in any number of contexts, but are hardly edifying or effective in this one [/i]
Hence the irony of Bp. Bauerschmidt aligning himself with ECUSA revisionists’ sharp elbows, sharp knives, and unilateralism.
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[i] Their witness is predicated on a self-proclaimed unwillingness to wait for these structures to work. [/i]
Mendacious nonsense. The orthodox have waited five years for those structures to work. We waited for the Windsor Commission. We waited for Dromantine. We waited for the Panel of Deference. We waited for ECUSA to comply with the Windsor Report and the Primates’ Dar-es-Salaam Declaration. We saw Canterbury stymie the Primates, whitewash ECUSA’s defiance, and turn Lambeth 2008 into a farce. We see ECUSA’s radical revisionist leaders taking increasingly harsh and lawless action against the orthodox.
And then, after all this, Bauerschmidt accuses us of “a self-proclaimed unwillingness to wait for these structures to work.”
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Some had high hopes for Bauerschmidt. But this statement suggests that he has planted himself among the Vichy bishops. Very sad.
Neal [#7]: There’s a big difference between suffering for the gospel, as African Christians do, and suffering because you have yoked yourself to those who increasingly disbelieve the gospel.
Looks like about 15 ACNA Parishes in Tennessee. And several TEC parishes which are not happy campers. I did notice that FACA has been removed from the Common Cause website and the parishes deleted from the map finder. I wonder if that was at their request – I hope that during this period of great uncertainty people with common aims and goals do not do rash things that they will one day regret. I think +Tennessee probably should have reflected a little longer on his comments – and could have adopted a more concillatory position. There is a good chance that TEC’s next outrage could cause a Southern diocese like his to enter into a freefall. I hope then Christian chairity will prevail among the orthodox and the next batch of refugees will be welcomed with open arms.
#10 Chips,
The FACA website says “Some of the member jurisdictions of the Federation are also members of the Common Cause Partners in North America. All deliberations and actions of the Federation will be executed with sensitivity to the godly goals and purposes of the Common Cause Partners to proclaim the Gospel and effect unity among faithful Anglicans in North America. “
“The constituent bodies of the Anglican Church in North America are not known for a willingness to pay much heed to any of the Instruments of Communion.”
Ummmm…. would the Elves permit one to opine that the person known as Bishop of Tennessee might possibly be thought to be unconsciously describing his own jurisdiction, TEC, which in its rush to have its own way has INDEED paid no heed to any of the Instruments of Communion. If the bishop of the diocese in which I serve dared to force me to distribute to my congregation such poorly written and even worse thought-out rubbish I would do so, of course, but I would also orally make it clear that it is hypocritical nonsense to write such things.
RE: “As Episcopalians we will not be supplanted or displaced as members of the Anglican Communion by the actions or assertions of any group or combination of groups in middle Tennessee.”
Listen — that’s fine. One could agree with every single statement of Bishop Bauerschmidt . . . but I’m just not sure why he said it all.
If everything that he says is true, then why bother pronouncing “As Episcopalians we will not be supplanted or displaced as members of the Anglican Communion by the actions or assertions of any [Baptists] in middle Tennessee.”
I mean, why waste the pixels of saying something like that? It just seems so . . . weird and petty and irrelevant.
Sort of like my calling after someone who just won the lottery “and yo’ mama!”.
It just so . . . strange.
[i] One could agree with every single statement of Bishop Bauerschmidt [/i]
Not with his assertion that the ACNA’s “witness is predicated on a self-proclaimed unwillingness to wait for these structures to work.” That’s bumptiously false.
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[i] It just so . . . strange [/i]
Agreed. Sounds like a major case of institutionalism trumping good judgment and sound doctrine.
I see the ECUSA/TEC/GCC/EO-PAC in the words “unilateral” and “seize by force” with regard to “anglicanism”. Does the author of this piece understand in the least what he has written? And so large that he who runs may read it?
Not.
Well I didn’t say that I did agree with every single statement . . . but I do think that a person of good will could conceivably make those statements and sincerely believe them.
For example, suppose Bishop Bauerschmidt believes that being “willing to wait” is evidenced by waiting 50 years?
Now — you or I may obviously think that’s ludicrous. But there are actually people who think that’s the right amount of time.
This is why I get back to just the fundamental difference in values that the two conservative sides have. Some needed to leave yesterday, in accordance to their consciences. Others’ consciences could handle another generation.
My main point, though, is “why?” Why say those things? Why make all those “proclamations” about a Christian denomination that you don’t have any interest in and that you believe to be utterly irrelevant, foolish, and non-Anglican?
It’s like my issuing a statement about my lack of communion with the departed Heaven’s Gate cult.
I sincerely don’t get it.
LOL–“We have been waiting for three decades. That is plenty of patience exhibited by those of us who pray for the failure of the Episcopal Church.”–Such is the attitude expressed by many on this thread. While I realize that we live in an American culture that expects prompt service when we want it, such has never been the life of the remnant. Heck, some of our fights in the Church have been going on for 17 centuries. Just as the left could use a dose of Gamaliel’s wisdom, so could those on the right. If the bishop of TN is faithful, we will meet him in the world to come. Thankfully, those of us on this thread will not be making that judgment.
Peace.
[i] I sincerely don’t get it. [/i]
I also find it puzzling. But the clubbiness of ECUSA’s House of Bishops provides a clue. Many of the self-proclaimed Windsor bishops seem overly concerned about their revisionist colleagues’ esteem. Hence their fecklessness at the 2007 HoB meeting in New Orleans and at more recent outrages like the purported deposition of Bp. MacBurney.
Taking swipes at the orthodox, Baumeister-style, ingratiates you with your revisionist colleagues. You show how you’re trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, and . . . useful.
I’m with Sarah. My first reaction was “why is he saying this at all?” The “sharp elbows” comment, if you read it carefully, doesn’t even make sense. Those who agree don’t need to hear it. In fact, it’s really not encouraging or uplifting for “stay and fight” types at all. Those who disagree can only be inflamed by it. Very strange and disturbing. What is cooking in Tennessee? And why would the bishop take such a sharp tone? Total conjecture here, but I wonder if there isn’t a sizable parish or two very enthralled by this new province. Otherwise why even address the matter?
Thank God for the faithful orthodox Anglican churches in the Nashville/Middle Tennessee area. They are are no longer under the spiritual bondage of TEc. My three children at Vandy now have “real” churches where they and the friends they are introducing to Anglicanism attend every Sunday.
Faithful and orthodox Anglican congregations in Middle Tennessee have a great future and there is ABSOLUTELY nothing this bishop can do to stop their growth and faithful witness. Bishop Herlong forced Fr. Ray Kasch and All Saints’ Symrna out without their property. But that did not deter Fr. Kasch from starting again from the scratch and moving on and ahead with the Gospel. Fr. Bill Midgett and Trinity, Winchester left without a penny or any of the property. They are now Christ-the-King, and doing fine – thank you. Fr. Freddie and others are also faithfully carrying on with their respective missions and ministries.
Faithful Anglicans in Middle Tennessee are doing very well. Thanks be to God.
Fr. Kingsley Jon-Ubabuco
Arlington, TX
Why make this statement at all?
Most Bishops have been spreading the “all is well” message, and this one is off the farm.
Indeed, why tell your sheep that there is a wolf in shepherd’s clothing out there? The sheep in Tenn. must already be aware and must be looking for greener pastures. From the tone of this Bishop’s comments, the people of Tenn. would be wise to look for better leadership.
What I hear in the message is fear. He has heard the sound of the coming dark – which has it own peculiar noise -and he is afraid. And so he should be. He can triple lock all his doors, but Marley will enter, will he nill he, and he comes with a warning and a promise the bishop had better listen to. Larry