Clearly, Professor Jones has ignored or is somehow unaware of these facts. Otherwise he would not have complained that “some of the speakers felt that the schismatics (as I think of them) were being persecuted by lawsuits, and needed to be protected from the American Church.” If he knew or cared about the facts, he would have known that TEC has initiated almost 60 lawsuits against churches, clergy and individual lay leaders whose only offense has been to try and “mend the tear” in the fabric of our beloved Anglican Communion by seeking refuge in other Anglican jurisdictions. Those who have fled to other provinces of the Anglican Communion have been appealing to the rest of the Communion for protection from the American Church, and rightly so. Our office keeps track of these legal actions: they are increasing at an astonishing rate and in flagrant violation of the Primates Meeting in Dar es Salaam (2007) where the Primates demanded that TEC stop the litigation. Literally millions of dollars have been wasted by TEC in emptying church buildings-and to what end?
Professor Jones ought to know better than to claim that “the power of the executive branch (the President and the Presiding Bishop of TEC) is carefully circumscribed.” This is nonsense. Unlike the checks and balances provided in the Constitution of the United States, TEC has no independent judicial branch that can circumscribe abuses of power by bishops. For this exact reason, the Presiding Bishop of TEC has been able to flagrantly torture the plain meaning of the canons in order to unlawfully depose 12 bishops. TEC diocesan bishops have been free to do the same to their clergy, inhibiting and deposing over 108 deacons and priests. In addition, the Presiding Bishop has violated both constitution and canons in dismissing lawfully constituted Standing Committees and substituting her own, in furtherance of litigation. These facts document both the abolition of the rule of law within TEC and an imperial expansion of the Presiding Bishop’s powers.
[i]We’ve corrected the headline. Apologies to the Rev. Ashey for not catching the misspelling sooner. — the elves[/i]
In addition to Mrs Schori’s heresies of Pelagianism, Marcionism, Pluralism, Universalism and Gnosticism, as the author points out, I would add that she is equally guilty of the Pneumatic Heresy of Joachim of Flora, and that she is certainly a Modalist and an Arian.
I’m not certain that KJS is an Arian. I read her as a panentheist and an adoptionist. Arius had a clear enough conception of the distinction between God and creation to declare that Christ was a creature, not the Creator. Insofar as panentheism is not quite able to mark the distinction between Creator and creature that is essential for a genuine doctrine of incarnation, it does not quite rise to the theological level of Arianism.
Philip Ashley provides an abstract of “The Episcopal Church: Tearing the Fabric of Communion to Shreds” in his rebuttal of James Jones. The evidence is on the side of the former.
Note that Phil Ashey (a former colleague of ours here in Pittsburgh) has his name given as “Ashley” both on the T19 head and at the head of the linked article. Spelt correctly down at the foot of the linked article.
Phil was, of course, widely respected and liked by friends and colleagues here. A good guy, and a well-written piece here.
Bruce Robison
Adoptionism is ipso facto Arianism with a theological twist. However, William, I’m happy to include both on my list. :]
I have made a tinyurl link to the important document so that it can be widely disseminated to the pew potatoes who are asleep to the goings on:
tinyurl.com/AACreport
Rev. Ashey does a good job of controlling himself. It must have been hard not to say, “You are a lying scoundrel.” No orthodox being persecuted? Rubbish. Look at the many dioceses where there was pogrom against conservative clergy (Wyoming, Minnesota, Newark,…).
There’s not a conservative priest under 70 in TEC in Washington or Maryland with the exception of Chevy Chase. Unfortunately, there are very few churches of Anglican leaning in the area, so many of the faithful have just evaporated into thin air.
#7. francis,
that is a tragic demographic.
Francis,
We’ve been absent from Mount Calvary, Baltimore (where we were married) since 2004, but I think the present rector Jason Catania is under 70. For that matter, what about Ascension and St. Agnes in Washington?
Not that this changes your essential point, of course.
Actually, # 7 that is not entirely true. I can think of at least two others. One in Baltimore and one in Bladensburg. But they are Anglo Catholic so perhaps not in the same category as the one in Chevy Chase?
monika
Jason Catania is very much under 70! As is Mark Lewis at St. Luke’s Bladensburg.
monika
Regarding the theology and Biblical scholarship of the “To Set Our Hope on Christ” document, Professor Jones may want to read the following which appeared on TitusOneNine in August 2005:
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2835
#12. moheb,
Unlike the fuzzy thinking of TEC, you’re mind is clear and your expression is articulate.
The ABC makes the AC meaningless by his doing nothing. I find this man of many words to have a questionable Christian Faith.