First, the document is consonant with my understanding of our Church’s polity which I first encountered in Powell Mills Dawley’s The Episcopal Church and its Work (the last volume in the first Church Teaching Series, see p. 115-16) while as a layperson, new to the Protestant Episcopal Church in the early 1970s, being trained to be a lay reader. Further reading in our history during seminary and while teaching courses on The Episcopal Ethos at San Joaquin School for Ministry and in Adult classes in the parish has only confirmed what Dr. Dawley wrote almost fifty years ago.
Secondly, this statement of the bishops is also in keeping with the resolution that the Standing Committee and I brought before our recent Diocesan Convention and which was subsequently passed, “Resolution 1: Proposed Anglican Covenant”. It is, among other things, seeking to defend the authority of dioceses to sign onto the Anglican Covenant should other bodies in TEC choose not to.
Thirdly, it is in all of our interests not to have our polity and heritage redefined by civil courts in litigation with departing dioceses without a more thorough vetting of our Church’s history and polity, as well as the larger Communion’s ecclesial reflections.
Wonderful statement. I have to admit to being a bit puzzled by all the brouhaha, as I see nothing of conspiracy or dark purposes in the selected e-mail thread.
We need an impartial “Supreme Court” desperately. The problem would be who appoints such a court,
Yes, montanan (#1), it is indeed a marvelous statement, calm and clear and unafraid. In the relatively well-known phrase of counseling expert, Rabbi Friedman, Bishop Lawrence is a “non-anxious presence” in the HoB, and he’s acting in a healthy self-differentiated manner. South Carolina is truly blessed to have him.
Will the recent CP Bishops’ Statement on the Polity of TEC be sufficient self-differentiation? I doubt it, but time will tell.
David Handy+
My, Bishop Lawrence, you are in the middle of things. Keep up the good work and God bless.
Bishop Lawrence is indeed a brave and courageous man. He gives hope to those of us who have no voice because of the diocese we happen to reside in. May God continue to bless his work.
#5 You have a voice; exercise it through catechesis.
Re: WV Parson–
“We need an impartial “Supreme Court†desperately. The problem would be who appoints such a court”,
Find a copy of the United Methodists’ “BOOK OF DISCIPLINE”. Devised as a result of the very conflicts we are experiencing NOW, except in response to similar angst in the late 1700s.
Why ARE Anglicans so dense? So late to the light? So infatuated with waiting on the impetuous leaders to get the changes done?
BREAK away from the dead and impetuous….reform….and revive.
(Worked for the Methodists, and they avoid MANY of the distracting housekeeping and power struggles that we endure decade after decade).
#6 I teach weekly and preach when given the opportunity. The frustration comes from not being able to safely speak publicly in the diocese.
#8 thank you for your witness. What do you mean by ‘safely speak publicly?’ Thanks.