This is a difficult letter to write but I must let you know that I have submitted my resignation to the Metropolitan of Rupert’s Land effective September 1, 2008. I begin that day a new ministry as Rector of the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas.
I cannot begin to express my gratitude for the privilege of serving with you these past 17 years, first as Dean and, since 1993, as Bishop. Our sense of call to Texas is a positive one but at the same time I felt that it would be an opportunity for the Diocese to be overseen with a fresh pair of eyes, and to enjoy the excitement and momentum a change of bishop brings.
Tony Burton has been a fine witness for orthodoxy within the declining and increasingly heterodox Anglican Church of Canada. His departure may encourage others to see they have no future in the Church of Hiltz and Ingham and to side with Packer et al in the orthodox ACN.
How does this work — will he be recognized as a bishop in the US? Have any other bishops in recent times taken positons as rectors?
Isn’t he a Windsor Bishop–as if that means anything helpful…although I have heard him speak and he is certainly more like what we would expect a bishop to be…
Can’t claim credit for this, but a friend in Dallas quipped when I told him of this story:
So the bishop moves diagonally — from Saskatchewan to Dallas.
I bet the weather is better in Dallas.
Personally, I prefer Saskatchewan weather!
Bishop Burton has been one of the most outspoken proponents of the tradtional BCP in the Canadian Church. As I recall he was the keynote speaker at the English Prayer Book Society conference last year. Their loss is Dallas’ gain.
Randall
Has anyone heard why Bishop Burton decided to make this move?
“Will he be recognized as a bishop in the US?” —SAJ [#2]
As I read ECUSA’s Constitution, he will count as an ECUSA bishop only if a U.S. diocese gives him an episcopal position (e.g., assisting bishop).
Here’s the relevant provision:
“Each Bishop of this Church having jurisdiction, every Bishop Coadjutor, every Suffragan Bishop, [and] every Assistant Bishop…shall have a seat and a vote in the House of Bishops.â€
—ECUSA Constitution, art. I, § 2
I join those in wondering why Burton made this move. I understand that he has been bishop for a long time (he was one of the youngest bishops ever consecrated) and that he might be looking for a change of scenery. I also know that he consented to standing for bishop in at least one other TEC diocese. But with Victoria Matthews jumping ship to New Zealand, one wonders exactly what is going on in Canada.
[i]I bet the weather is better in Dallas. [/i]
Visit us in August or September and ante up. Think: hell.
I’ve long said that Texas has a better climate than California, because when we have nice days (like we did all last week), we appreciate it ….
[i]I bet the weather is better in Dallas.[/i]
Words Matter is correct about summer. Very hot. Stifling. Drought. And spring is tornadic and flash-flood prone.
But I imagine the Bishop Burton can handle it. They have tornadoes and severe weather in Saskatchewan. And they have to put up with both hot and cold weather. Come to think of it, Texas might be better at that!
Now if the church issues at hand were as predictable (and that’s not saying a lot).
I seem to recall something about a “sinking ship” in Canada.