After passionate appeals from both sides of the debate, clergy members and lay people voted 227 to 82 to “realign” the conservative diocese.
If Friday’s vote is approved again in a year, the diocese will begin steps to remove itself from the American church and join with another province in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
After the vote, Bishop Robert W. Duncan of Pittsburgh, who is also moderator of the Anglican Communion Network, an alliance of conservative dioceses and parishes, defended the decision.
“What we’re trying to do is state clearly in the United States for the authority of Scripture,” Bishop Duncan said after the vote, taken during the diocese’s annual convention in this city about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh.
Sweet.
I don’t believe it. An honestly reported story with no spin.
[blockquote]the more liberal bishops … have hijacked my church[/blockquote]It’s not your church. It’s His church. And they didn’t hijack it. We gave it to them through decades of our sloth and lukewarm indifference. LORD have mercy on us all.
Not quite without spin, Cole (# 2) when Werner is reported as saying a diocese like this chooses to claim $30 million in trust funds and 70 churches … By choosing to report these words without context, the reporter implicitly accepts that interpretation. Better journalism would say something like: ‘Mr Werner claimed that the diocese would no longer be able to claim ownership of $30m in turst funds and 70 churches if it moved away from the national Episcopal Church. However, the diocese says that the property belongs to the diocese and not to the national body.’
3:
Anybody ever ask you about “how are things at your church?” Do you lecture them on semantics, or do you answer the question?
Can anyone identify the people in the picture? It’s not everyday you get a nice photo in the paper of record.
The Very Rev Henry Lawrence Thompson III Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Dean of Doctoral Programs at Trinity School for Ministry Ambridge PA (aka Laurie) and Ms Deborah Leighton Trinity Mdiv student, postulant from Church of the Ascension Pittsburgh and daughter of the Rev Christopher Leighton rector of St Paul’s Church Darien CT (one of the Connecticut 2). Deborah served as a teller at the Convention. BTW, her Dad Christopher led me to Christ through an EE visit some 27 years ago.
David Wilson+
Dio-Pgh
David, I believe he is the Very Rev. [u]Dr.[/u] H. Lawrence Thompson III, is he not?
“I don’t believe it. An honestly reported story with no spin.”
This story was reported and written by Sean Hamill – my friend since the fourth grade – we went through years of Sunday School and youth group at St. Stephens. Sean is a good man, and a GREAT writer!
Thank you #4 and #9 for your slightly different comments. I am just a simple lay person and don’t expect to understand everything. All I can say, property issues aside, is that both +Bob, and +Henry his assistant, are two very decent men and they have personally ministered to me during some of my darkest hours. When I see them demonized in the liberal press or sued in the secular courts, it upsets me deeply. I think it is a small victory that that kind of bias didn’t surface in the NY Times article.
I forgot the Dr! My bad. And it’s Christopher PAUL Leighton too.
Thanks Dana for sharing about the author. What a surprise.
5: Hi samh. Yes, every time I am asked that by a reporter from the New York Times, I am always careful to correct their semantics.
Chazaq writes,
[blockquote]It’s not your church. It’s His church. And they didn’t hijack it. We gave it to them through decades of our sloth and lukewarm indifference. LORD have mercy on us all.[/blockquote]
I used to refer to the Episcopal church as “my church.” I have made statements like, “I don’t even recognize what was formerly my church.” The use of the phrase “my church” conveys the personal sense of betrayal, loss, and grief that we all feel.
As far as giving “our church” away, I am guilty as charged, being one of the slumbering pew-sitters before discovering Titus 1:9 and Stand Firm a year ago.