The Rev. Neil Lebhar, one of the deposed priests, said the ministers can both still draw their pensions and contribute to retirement funds created for ministers who have left the denomination.
Howard said he was merely making official what the ministers have done by aligning themselves with Anglican bishops. He inhibited, or suspended, the clergy six months before deposing them to give them time to reconsider.
“They did not desire to remain in the Episcopal Church and this just makes it official,” Howard said. “Not one of them came to me and said: ‘I want to be an Episcopalian.’ ”
However, the deposed clergy take exception with the claim they have abandoned communion, Lebhar said. They are remaining true to Scripture and to Anglicanism by quitting the Episcopal denomination, said Lebhar, rector of the Anglican Church of the Redeemer in Jacksonville.
“It’s a little bit like someone divorcing you for being unfaithful when they have been unfaithful,” said Lebhar, chairman of the Jacksonville-based Anglican Alliance, which represents more than 20 congregations in North Florida and South Georgia.
God bless Fr. Lebhar and all these faithful clergy!
And may God soften Pharoah’s heart.
I add my prayers to Irenaeus’. On this Good Shepherd Sunday it is so good to hear of those who indeed hear and know His voice.
“22 Episcopal Clergy”, this is so sad, it really is a purge.
Florida is case in point of the danger conservatives face in TEO. Florida was a safe diocese. It may not have been as healthy and wise as it should have been. The liberal power base was still strong in the east end of the diocese and Jecko retired too early. The diocese wasn’t smart enough to see through the slick act that Howard put on. He said alll the right things, but a closer examination would have revealed his colors. Brad Page+ had his number, but alas, too fgew heeded his warning. They wanted to believe he would be another +Duncan (the Pittsburgh one). What they got was a lawyer, a Prosecutor in priest’s clothing who interprets the Gospel through the lens of the law, Canon law, not God’s law.
I was at St. John’s in Tallahassee when he made his first visit and preached his first sermon there. Theologically speaking, there was no there there, It was vapid, devoid of content, not even any juicy heresy. Honestly I don’t think he believes anything enough even to be a heretic. Except for power. He believes in that. He made that clear when he froze St John’s assets merely because he suspected the rector might not be happy with the direction the diocese would take then. Howard made sure his suspicions same to pass, virtually forcing Dudley+ to leave.
It’s been three years of long knives in Florida. But now Howard has the diocese he wanted: leaner (so much leaner), meaner (very, very mean indeed), and his.
Lively dioceses are far too much trouble.
The ONLY communion these clergy have “abandoned” is the communion they once had with what has evolved into the apostate Episcopal Church. They are faithful Anglicans whose Church has decided to go off on its own, and AWAY from the majority of the Anglican Communion.
“Now Howard has the diocese he wanted”
Well, he may now get the sort of fealty and compliance he demands. But I doubt he ever imagined how costly his policies would prove in membership, money, and morale.
Some people say he’s now trying to mend fences. That could be quite a sight.
Bishop Howard is Wile E. Coyote. He hasn’t figured out that he is in fact cutting himself off rather than the other way around.
Beep Beep