In a statement issued after the December 3-5 meeting of the President of the House of Deputies Council of Advice, President Bonnie Anderson said she and Council members “spent a considerable amount of time discussing how the wider church can support those Episcopalians who want to remain in the church when and if their bishops attempt to lead their dioceses out of the Episcopal Church.”
Anderson said the Council also discussed how the Episcopal Church “can best create the safest space possible for the largest number of Episcopalians” to remain in the church.
“I have learned during my travels throughout our church that there are Episcopalians in every one of those disaffected dioceses who need our prayers and our support,” Anderson said in her statement. “I was very moved by the conversations I have had this year with such Episcopalians in the dioceses of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh and San Joaquin.”
The Council, composed of 15 persons, is appointed each triennium by the president of the House of Deputies under the authority of Title I, Canon 1.1(b) and gives the president, upon her request, consultation and advice.
[blockquote]Anderson said the Council also discussed how the Episcopal Church “can best create the safest space possible for the largest number of Episcopalians” to remain in the church.[/blockquote]
If that were truly the case, then the HoB and Executive Council would have worked with those disaffected dioceses to provide suitable APO and provide guarantees that their candidates for bishop would not be rejected because they don’t accept the ordination of women. That would have allowed San Joaquin and Ft. Worth the space they need to remain in TECUSA. That would have been the easiest and least expensive and most Christian way to “create the safest space possible for the largest number of Episcopalians.”
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
Don’t tell me that they are planning “border crossings”! That would violate ancient traditions!
Their committee is probably about the same size as the TEC’s ASA in the area vacated by the diocese of SJ.
I, Me, Mine…does this woman think she OWNS the Council of Advice?
RSB
[i]”I have learned during my travels throughout our church that there are Episcopalians in every one of those disaffected dioceses who need our prayers and our support,” Anderson said [/i]
ahem. You are just NOW learning this? I suggest you resign immediately and let someone take your office who knows better. 🙄
#1…. Hi Philip. I think you may have misunderstood Bonnie. It’s true that she said that she wants to “create the safest space possible for the largest number of Episcopalians.” But she said that in the context of talking about “those Episcopalians who want to remain in the church when and if their bishops attempt to lead their dioceses out of the Episcopal Church.” It is THOSE Episcopalians she is refering to, THOSE Episcopalians she is trying to create a safe space for.
Sometimes TEC leadership does speak very dishonestly (e.g. Bruno in his lies about SSB’s in his diocese, the equivocating resolutions of GC, etc.), but Ms. Anderson was not doing that here. She’s not pretending to want to create a “safe space” for the traditionalists. Anyone who wishes to secede is not a real Episcopalian, in her mind. She is refering to those who are still loyal to TEC.
#6 JS Amen. There is no movement afoot to create a safe space for those who are being subject to the Spiritual Violence of belonging to a Church who has booted Scripture to the wayside. There is no Council at 815 to figure out how best to insure the rights of the Traditional Christian are not trounced upon. There is no outreach group under Ms. Anderson, or Ms. Schori’s authority that is meant to help me feel better about or protect me from the wacky roller coaster ride of liberation theology as it guts TEC like a dead, bloated fish.
There is only protection, and outreach, and support for those who toe the party line of 815, who drink the Kool-Aid, who take the bait, hook, line, and sinker that everything is relative and ok.
Otherwise, you’ll have to swim on your own, as far as our esteemed TEC leadership is concerned.
Odd isn’t it? But I have no cause to be surprised.
KTF!…mrb
John Stamper (#6). I was aware of Ms Anderson’s real purpose. I was trying to point out the irony in her statement. ISTM that she isn’t concerned with keeping traditionalists/conservatives/reasserters in the bounds of TECUSA, but wants to make sure that the revisionists/liberals/reappraisers always have a safe place. She was not concerned when liberal bishops were deposing and harrassing conservative clergy, but a liberal person (clergy or lay) in a conservative diocese feel the least bit put out, then she needs to go down there and show solidarity with them.
I have ceased to be surprised by the irony in any messages by TECUSA officials, but I still like to point it out.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
[blockquote]President Bonnie Anderson said she and Council members “spent a considerable amount of time discussing how the wider church can support those Episcopalians who want to remain in the church when and if their bishops attempt to lead their dioceses out of the Episcopal Church.”[/blockquote]
Hold on…
First of all, why is she spending her valuable time on this? Doesn’t she know that only a tiny minority are choosing to leave? Really, the number of people leaving is so tiny as not to warrant attention from anyone, least of all the HoD president.
Second, she evidently didn’t get the memo: [i]Individuals[/i] can leave the Episcopal Church, but [i]dioceses[/i] may not. What’s so hard to understand about that?
[blockquote] “I have learned during my travels throughout our church that there are Episcopalians in every one of those disaffected dioceses who need our prayers and our support,” Anderson said [/blockquote]
We would have thought that all Episcopalians need prayers and support…not just the ones Ms. Anderson sees acceptable.
Thank you, Greg Griffith, for a witty and incisive comment. But it is unfortunate that you saw fit to ban one of your best commentators, Dr William J. Tighe, from your own blog SFIF anfd thus indirectly from T19.
It would be good to have his own trenchant anaysis of recent developments.
[i] Any glitch has been solved and Dr. Tighe IS able to comment on T19 whenever he wishes. Please
comment on the post and not a personal private matter on another blog. [/i]
-Elf Lady
safest place? Safe from what? This is the goal of church…to be safe? God isn’t safe! Another illustration of how out of touch this person and her ilk are when it comes to truth.
This entry is a rather clear picture of a church that has become genuinely frightened. She is now aware that if she does not actively provide a lifeline to the remainder, they may well defect too. In short, she is counting noses to see how many are left, and she is counting because the number is small enough to demand counting. The superficial tone is conciliatory, reasonable; the subtone is fright. San J is the sound of moving van, come to clear out an entire house, and the house happens to be hers.. LM
“San J is the sound of moving van, come to clear out an entire house, and the house happens to be hers”
Or so she thought.
Larry – I agree the tone of quite a few of the TEC pronouncement’s lately have been Fear.
Some of the strident criticism (eg that of Susan Russell and Giles Fraser) also has developed a hysterically Fearful overtone.
Progressives in San J and the other traditional Dioceses are in a fix,aren’t they? Well, no more of a fix than the tiny minority of us traditionalists who are stuck in the juggernaut of TEC as it barrels down the track toward irrelevance and perdition. One bright spot in this is that Ms Anderson at least speaks honestly. She and the leadership at 815 et al see compassion as something to be extended to those with whom they agree and who are “loyal”. Interesting. It renders rather thin the assertions of Anglican “comprehensivess” when really what progressives most want is legitimation of what is plainly heresy. My heart bleeds for the brokenness of the Church…
Over at Fr. Jake’s, commenters are very concerned that these poor souls will have no place to celebrate Christmas. I can only conclude that Bishop Schofield has shown up unexpectedly at their parish buildings and changed the locks. What other explanation could there be?
TEC has chosen to ally itself with homosexuals and aging Baby Boomers who cannot reproduce themselves in the pews. This is why the loss of property, as opposed to the loss of people, strikes a raw nerve. Pension funds, salaries and funding for superflous national church offices are at stake.