Please give us your opinion, as a parishioner in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, on the following statements. For each item, indicate whether you strongly agree, somewhat agree, have no opinion, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree….
13. The diocese would benefit from having a bishop who has an understanding of the cultural dynamics of South Carolina.
14. It is important for the Episcopal Church to remain in the Anglican Communion.
15. Our current Bishop and the diocese, in convention, have affirmed that we are a Windsor Diocese. In that light, I believe our next bishop should be supportive of the Windsor Report and the ongoing Windsor process.
16. I support the blessing of civil unions (as opposed to marriage) between gay and lesbian persons in the Episcopal Church.
17. I support the ordination of partnered gay and lesbian persons in the Episcopal Church.
18. I believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary for salvation.
19. Divisiveness in the wider Church is beginning to cause problems in our diocese.
20. I believe the current problems within our denomination should be resolved by reasonable negotiation between and among the various constituencies.
21. I support the marriage of gay and lesbian persons in the Episcopal Church.
They are not ignoring the elephant in the room. Looks like they were attentive to [i] The State of the Church [/i] report.
They should discipline any clergy who can give strong agreement to item #18.
Survey research can be a subtle way to “give” information in addition to gain information. I believe there are too many statements about GL in proportion to other issues. Notice the BT was left off.
Re # 1
Timothy,
I am guessing you meant to insert a “not” between ‘can’ and ‘give’ in the last sentence of your post. Operating on that presumption, I am gather you wish to discipline all of the (admittedly very few) remaining Anglo-Catholic clergy left in TEC.
Christ is risen!
John
Ad Orientem,
Are you saying that the Anglo-Catholics in TEC are willfully lying when they take their ordination vows? I find that, frankly, incredible.
[blockquote]I am willing and ready to do so; and I solemnly declare that I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation . . . [/blockquote]
Sarah,
That is a question best referred to them. That said, I will tell you that my understanding of the Anglo-Catholic tradition is that they claim to adhere to all of the teachings of the OEcumenical Councils and the Fathers differing with Rome only on the scope of the papacy. I have always thought the High Church position utterly incompatible with historic Anglicanism including many of the 39 articles.
Christ is risen!
John
They don’t hold that the Assumption and the IC are things that must be believed. The 39 Articles are not confessional. You’d have to read out of the Church many people, going all the way back to the Reformation, if you think the High Church position is utterly incompatible with historic Anglicanism.
I cannot see how that survey, administered to parishioners, could be helpful to anyone selecting candidates for bishop or voting for a bishop. Is a person in such a position supposed to abandon his own personal conviction in a theological matter because the laity has voted 58-42 the other way?
It would be useful if administered to bishop candidates, though. Also I can see how it could be very useful in compiling a dossier on parishioners.
OT, the rules of the “inclusive church” that are shown later in the blog post are worthy of their own thread. I had been wondering when the liberals would get to having one of the readings at each service be taken from somewhere other than Scripture. Seems like this should be one of their top priorities.
[url=http://notweighingourmerits.blogspot.com/]Not Weighing Our Merits[/url]
Toral1, the purpose of the survey is not in selecting a bishop but getting a fair and accurate read on the state of the diocese and the beliefs of that diocese — right and wrong beliefs both.
I am incredibly proud that the motley crew of people on the search committee came up with these questions.
I’m more than proud — I’m stunned and amazed.
We need to know [i]the truth[/i] about our dioceses, parishes, church, etc.
To many times, search committees have *not wanted to know* what their people actually believe. I can’t tell you how many clergy or laypeople in authority say that asking such questions would be “divisive” which being interpreted means . . . “we’re divided but we don’t want anybody else to know just how much.”
When I saw the survey I was just bamboozled. These people asked about 1) WO, 2) communion of the unbaptized, 3) funding of TECusa, 4) all of the sex stuff in a variety of ways, 5) divorce and remarriage, 6) vast quantities of basic theological assumptions, 7) the property issues . . . I was simply amazed.
[i]Pleasantly[/i] amazed too, which is a rare feeling for me in TEC these days.
We Anglo-Catholics do indeed profess “I am willing and ready to do so; and I solemnly declare that I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation . . .”
Anglo-Catholicism is much more than just saying we are “Catholic-Lite”, the majesty without the papacy.
Being Ango-Catholic is about about serving in humility, humility in the face of the mystery of God and acknowledging the majesty of God, and manifesting the Majesty of God through the Liturgy of the Eucharist so that when Christ is made real for us by the action of the Holy Spirit in the Sacraments, we approach that Holy Communion in worthiness and humility for the gifts we are about to receive.
I agree with Sarah….very bold, facing the many serious issues of all in the EC……
Fine. It was the blogger linked to who said that the purpose was to help guide the search for a bishop….
By chance I happened to read something by J. I. Packer a few days ago lamenting how much the church had suffered by forgetting, or never realizing, that the most important quality in a pastor or bishop is holiness. Sure enough, it’s not even mentioned as an option among the most important qualities for a bishop in the questionnaire. (integrity and being spiritual and prayerful aren’t the same thing.)
I agree with Sarah too. There is a refreshing honesty about this survey. It might make an interesting discussion starter for a church adult forum or small group meeting in someone’s home, etc.
David Handy+
I am afraid this will be used to show that everyone has a valid opinion and that there are no real answers. It is interesting to me that theses questions need to be asked.
I believe there are too many statements about GL in proportion to other issues.
Given the amount of attention the Global South and ACNA pay to G/L issues … given the Windsor Report, the Windsor Continuation Group, the Covenant drafts, etc. … given the near constant bickering about G/L issues on Internet forums such as this … is there any wonder why there are “too many” statements about G/L issues?
Lets fact it, in far too much of the Anglican Communion, an inordinate amount of focus is being directed at issues centering on homosexuality … about how to meddle within and stop the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada in their movement toward putting G/L issues behind them … about how to punish and/or expel the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada if they don’t apologize and stop putting G/L issues behind them … about how to bring about a “covenant” that is all too obviously little more than a punitive document to be used by ultra-conservative parts of the Communion against the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.
Yes … too much time is being given to G/L issues … issues that center on nothing more than personal prejudice wrapped rather superficially in a guise of religious morality … issues that should have been laid to rest long ago.
The church should be asking people what they believe. It will be shocking, but helpful. Honesty is better than secrecy.
This shows that the clergy do not know what lay people are thinking. At least they admit it.
Captain Deacon Warren, thank you for saying it so clearly.
These are very similar questions the lay members of the Diocese of Georgia were asked by its Search Committee after meetings throughout the Diocese. I do hope the repeats was a mere “coincidence” and they were not “canned” questions all along.
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