Last week, orthodox Christians convened at the historical St. Philip’s Church to participate in theological discussions at the Mere Anglicanism Conference. Most of the attendees expressed support for the Diocese of South Carolina under Bishop Mark Lawrence, which has been forced out of the Episcopal Church through heavy-handed persecution against traditional Christians within the denomination. Ironically, revisionist Episcopalians met only eight blocks away to reorganize the rump diocese loyal to the national Episcopal Church, USA under Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori.
Mere Anglicanism started off on January 24th with a traditional evensong from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer with the Rev. Dr. Leander Harding of Trinity School of Ministry acting as officiant. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Paul Barnett lectured the next morning on five epiphanies that convinced him of the historicity of Christ. The former Anglican Bishop of North Sydney emphasized the powerful manuscript evidence, the archaeological-geographical credibility of the Biblical record, the multiple attestation to miracles, and the existence of external hostile sources. He likewise excoriated the textual skepticism and deconstructionism that dominates many seminaries today. “The health in the seminary influences the health of the ministers, and the health in the ministers influences the health in the churches,” he surmised.
“She marched into the sanctuary to a particularly defiant rendition of Highland Cathedral.”
Heh. Written by Germans, not Scots. Not exactly church music, but I suppose Parry’s Jerusalem isn’t either.
Lyrics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Cathedral#Lyrics
But there is the part, “Gone is the past, let us start anew” which I suppose describes the formation of this new diocese and the installation of its first bishop.
New Gozpell, new kanons, … why not a new bishop to match a de novo “diocese”?!