On the day after the conference, Diocese of California Bishop Marc Andrus described as “profound and generous” Williams’ suggestion in his final presidential address that “there will be some who cannot abide by these moratoria, and in this they signal that there are steps to deeper unity they cannot take; or it may be that they conceive of deeper unity in other ways.”
Andrus said California would not abide by the moratorium on same-sex blessings but that he takes it “as incumbent on me and on us in the diocese to actively labor to both understand the position of those to whom that moratorium is important, and to convey the reality of our life together to the world.”
Andrus echoed others’ reactions when he noted that “the document is not legislation.”
“We will pay close attention to it, but we must not reify the agreement points in it into laws, and we should resist interpretations that seek to employ those agreements as laws,” he wrote.
On August 3, Integrity USA’s Susan Russell warned of a similar tendency, urging bishops to “resist the temptation of those who will try to turn this descriptive document into a proscriptive edict.”
Sounds like business as usual in TEC
More Anglican Fudge!! How sickening sweet!! And how predictable!! The only clergy remaining in TEC are those depending upon the Church Pension Fund or those who seek a strange twisting revision of the Gospel of Christ; and the only laity those who wish this ‘New Age ‘gospel’ to take over or those who have buried their heads (and pocketbooks) in the sand. They will not change nor admit error. Think of all the good the $12 million spent on idiots in purple shirts running about could have done in the US and abroad!
But it does make for a very fine excuse for the purple-shirted of TEC to be away from their struggling dioceses for three weeks….PLUS three or four weeks more for their scheduled ‘vacation’ in Europe, courtesy of their struggling diocese back home, which paid their airfare (plus that for their spouse, to England).
This Lambeth Conference has been a GROSS waste of time, talent and treasure. I had already decided to depart TEC for a CHRISTIAN Church, and thank God for the very clear sign from this disgraceful Lambeth that my prayerful, anguished decision was correct!
I personally know at least ten TEC clergy who are staying on ONLY due to their financial situation: kids in college, ill spouse and/or parent, etc. Thank God, I am certainly not wealthy, but not totally dependent in that way….after this ludicrous Lambeth, HOW DO FAITHFUL TEC CLERGY SLEEP AT NIGHT?!?
Mon petite chou, you have become eine kleine sauerkraut.
Perhaps: and, hopefully, an herald of the TRUTH of this SICK situation.
Stefano: It is interseting (and revealing) that you do not choose to dispute the message, only the messenger.
I continue to be baffled why reasserters get so exercised about this. There’s no reason for them to assume God is going to punish them if “those apostates in California” choose to conduct same-sex blessings. They should continue to state their position when the occasion offers, but otherwise should trust that eventually things will work out the way God wants them to.
Oh, I see! We’re just supposed to sit idly by and continue to put up with the persecution, are we? I will “turn the other cheek” once, maybe even twice, but don’t expect me to do it a THIRD time! Tolerance has its limits with me, and right now, my tolerance level is ZERO!
D.C. Toedt writes:
“I continue to be baffled why reasserters get so exercised about this.”
Because, Mr. Toedt, of Neuhaus’ Law: “Where orthodoxy is optional, it will soon become proscribed.”
Those who adhere to the faith once delivered, and who really care about the faith that their children will be raised in, can read the handwriting on the wall. The hard-line reappraisers in TECUSA will NOT be satisfied with permitting islands of orthodoxy to serve as indictments of their heresy; they will press forward with their agenda of purging orthodoxy. Pray tell, how will reasserters “continue to state their position [i] when the occasion offers [/i]” if they are shouted down as homophobes, bigots, and hate-speakers, when orthodox clergy are considered unsuitable for revisionist dioceses, when orthodox clergy and laity are not considered for diocesan and GC delegate positions, and when they’re sued out of their parishes??
My thoughts exactly, Joshua! The history of liberalism in TEC in recent years has been one of persecution of everyone who disagrees with the direction in which the Church has headed. Every time we have sought redress for our grievances, we have been either ignored, shoved aside, labelled as homophobes, bigots, schismatics, and troublemakers. We are being sued, evicted, defamed, and trashed by a supposedly “Christian” Church.
Thankfully, TEC’s days as a full-fledged member province of the Anglican Communion seemingly now are numbered. However, the Communion itself also faces extinction in its present form, as we all know by now. GAFCON is leading the way to the Second Anglican Reformation, and there is a choice open to all: Join us, or wither on the vine!
The Lambeth Conference was not a complete waste of time, I’m sure, but did anyone expect it to be very different for TEC? The liberal bishops have not chnged their minds. Why should we expect them to change their ways? They have shown themselves just as impervious as ever! I was not surprised they encouraged Gene to come – even uninvited as he was. He has no shame or embarrassment it seems!
Little Cabbage…
I apologize if I’m misreading your quote in #2, but I don’t think that I am. And for the record, I’m a conservative priest, still in TEC. You are quick to make the judgment that any clergy remaining in TEC are either heretical or (weakly? slavishly? idolatrously?) dependent upon their pensions. Obviously, in your opinion, they are,at best, dysfunctional. And yet, your decision to leave was “anguished.” Maybe you’re partially correct, but then, maybe you’re forgetting a whole class of priests who: 1. Yes, have families depending upon them both now and in the future; 2. Had a clear calling to invest themselves in the PECUSA, but haven’t yet heard a clear calling to leave TEC; 3. Care about the people God has given them to care for, and wish to remain as long as possible to provide some sort of orthodox example and teaching for them; and 4. Feel every bit the anguish that you felt. It puzzles me that folks like you, who have suffered anguish, would want to toss rocks instead of support. Another thing that I wonder at is your willingness to abandon the church so easily. And I might add that, as a result of so many conservatives leaving instead of manning up, the church has become even more theologically unbalanced, virtually guaranteeing that politically driven special interest groups will enjoy great success kicking our conservative butts for a long time to come.
I can’t count how many times I’ve read remarks similar to yours concerning priests and pensions on the reasserter websites, and it always kills me that folks like you would think that priests would endure all that we endure, from both liberals and conservatives, just for money. But what really tears at me is that folks like you still feel the privilege to criticize those who haven’t left, pretending that you know their hearts. Finally, I’ll offer you the same deal I offered the doctor who was offended because I’m not willing to just leave everything behind and plant a non-denominational church: As soon as you quit your job, lose your home, mess up your ability to buy anything for years to come, spend a hundred grand or so on seminary, put your family on hold, and then agree to join me for a few years while we plant the church…I’ll be game.
D.C., assume you are a member of the Elks in the state of Vermont and the Elk Lodges in Alabama decide to exclude members on the basis of race. You protest their actions and you ask the national board of Elks to discipline the Alabama branch. And the national board tells you that membership in the Elks on the basis of race is a local option isssue, so just live with it and the issue will be worked out over time. I assume you would be immediately tendering your membership in the Elks.
For all who advocate leaving TEC, I commend last Sunday’s gospel and the story of the loaves and fishes. Out of very little, our Lord can make more than enough. Out of a few reasserting dioceses and parishes and priests and laity, our Lord can produce enough fruit for twelve baskets of leftovers. Perhaps we need to trust our Lord more and ourselves less.
Phil Swain [#12], if the circumstances you posited were to arise today, then I would certainly resign from the Elks. If the circumstances had arisen in the 1950s, and my lodge and others were actively working to change the national policy on excluding members by race, I might well have stayed.
I think your analogy needs to be tweaked, however. A better one would be this:
• You’re a Union veteran of the Civil War and a member of the (hypothetical) “Veterans of the Civil War” fraternity, organized by Yankee veterans. The fraternity’s national policy has long been that former Confederate soldiers could join, but only if they renounced their treason and obtained a pardon from the federal government.
• As the decades passed, time slowly healed the wounds of the war. Some members began to urge the fraternity to admit even unreconstructed Confederate veterans, and to give them co-equal status with Union veterans. Their rationale was that both North and South veterans had done their duty as they saw it, and that was all that mattered.
• A few VCW lodges defied the national policy and admitted unrepentant Rebels. One such lodge even elected a fergit-hell Rebel as its exalted grand poobah, causing a great hue and cry among some other lodges.
• Eventually, the national board of the fraternity decided to make the exclusion of unrepentant Rebels a local option. QUESTION: Would you resign your membership?
I left out something from my analogy in #14: Our hypothetical “Veterans of the Civil War” fraternity focuses its energies on promoting democracy, opposing dictatorships, and doing charitable works. The fergit-hell Rebel who was elected as exalted grand poobah holds pretty much the same views on democracy versus dictatorship as do his Union brethren. He has always been opposed to slavery, but during the war he felt it was his duty to take up arms in defense of his native state (a la Robert E. Lee), and would do so again if he had to do it all over again. He also has a splendid track record when it comes to charitable works.
So to repeat the question: Would you resign from your VCW lodge because an unrepentant Rebel, otherwise a fine man, had become grand poobah of another lodge?
#11: Thanks for your post, and for sharing the terrible situation you find yourself in; know that you are far from alone. And I hope you know whom to blame: the HOB, which has betrayed its trust, theologically and pastorally, so often over the past few decades.
It’s tragic that so many dedicated clergy have been put in this position by our purple-shirted ‘superiors’, but it’s true. Don’t blame me, put the blame where it squarely belongs: at the doorstep of the House of Bishops! Most clergy families are struggling; but not the family of a bishop! I’ve yet to hear of even ONE TEC bishop’s family which is less than upper-middle-class in income. Secure in finances, they don’t have to worry about leaving TEC to try to ‘start over’ in some other career at age 50+. (Good luck at that one!)
And please note the well-padded, secure finances of the leadership of the conservative Americans who have left. (e.g., AMiA). Most were rectors for many years of large, very wealthy congregations; some also receive faculty pensions. Their CPF pensions are handsome, I’m sure. Others (usually of tiny congregations) are drawing a solid government pension, and benefits, too.
My friends and I get irritated reading the triumphal posts by former TEC clergy and laity of enormous, wealthy congregations which have formally left and glory in their ‘successful’ transfer….scratch the surface and you’ll find that they were able to pull it off very largely because of the $$$ in their midst. Example: Midland, Texas; The Falls Church, Virginia; Truro Church, Virginia; St James, Newport, CA. These are some of the wealthiest and conservative towns in the country. We save our admiration for the orthodox priest (and family) inside or outside TEC which is watching the antics of the HOB and GC and Lambeth drive away tithing, active Christians from the small to medium-size local parish!
My point was to simply point out the uncomfortable truth: 99% of the bishops could give a d… that the families of their few remaining orthodox clergy are in spiritual and, increasingly, financial pain. They just don’t care, especially if one is vicar/rector of a small congregation. In fact, several have publicly stated they hope the orthodox will soon be gone! Over and over, the ‘moderate’ bishops have been revealed as ‘company men’, simply keeping silence so the institution which pays them will keep on.
Bishop Andrus has already announced that he won’t abide by any moratoria….and will he be disciplined? Of course not! Will he be chastized by the PB? Horrors, no! Is this a symptom of a VERY sick institution calling itself a ‘church’??? YES!!!!!
Always, it’s the ‘small fry’ who feel the flame first and worst. Orthodox clergy in TEC and their families who depend upon the priest’s salary and benefits are in increasingly difficult straits, and my heart goes out to you all. Good luck, and God bless.
DC Toedt: The reason Christians ‘get so excited’ about reappraiser proclamations like Andrus is that by his actions he TARS ALL OF TEC AS A ‘CHURCH’ WHICH IGNORES BIBLICAL TEACHING AND CHURCH TRADITION AND MORALS AND ETHICS, etc., etc. Plus it’s a slap in the face to the Lambeth Conference and other AC members.
It’s obvious, save to those who simply ‘will not see’. The Bishop of the Bay Area is an embarrassment to Christians; but he will not be held accountable.
And THAT’s the core of the problem: the HOB refuses to hold each other accountable (except if it’s $$$ or property rights). They have betrayed Christ and betrayed the Church.