On Wednesday afternoon, I received a phone call from David Wilson, President of the Standing Committee, informing me that in 15 minutes there would be a conference call with the other seven members and that they intended to remove me from the Standing Committee. Two reasons were given. First, I had not accepted my letter of transfer to the Southern Cone. Actually, I had missed the announcement at convention and the letter was never offered to me. When I returned home that evening I found it in the mail having been sent the previous day. The second reason given was that my parish, St. Michael’s, appeared on this web site as having decided to stay in the Episcopal Church. I was not asked to join the conference call and was offered no due process. I do not recognize the authority that purported to take these actions. Providentially at that moment, I was meeting with key leaders of the Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church. After I reported the phone call to those assembled, and with the advice of the Diocesan Chancellor, I immediately appointed two new members to the Standing Committee, which the canons give me the authority to do. This was done at 2:44 P.M. I am pleased to announce that Ms. Mary Roehrich and The Rev. Jeff Murph, who were in attendance at the meeting, immediately accepted those appointments.
Later in the day, I received a letter by e-mail from David Wilson informing me that the remaining seven members of his Standing Committee consider themselves to be aligned with the Province of The Southern Cone.
This information was conveyed to the Presiding Bishop’s office and today we received recognition as the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh in the Episcopal Church and because of the absence of a Bishop, the ecclesiastical authority.
“Providentially at that moment, I was meeting with key leaders of the Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church” —Jim Simons
Remarkable coincidence.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
“After I reported the phone call to those assembled, . . . I immediately appointed two new members to the Standing Committee”
So now Pittsburgh has its own, Simonsized counterpart to the Lublin Committee. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Committee_of_National_Liberation
Jim Simmons needs to bookmark TitusOneNine so he can keep up with all that is happening in the Episcopal C(lub) and the wider Anglican Communion. Then he wouldn’t have been caught ‘unawares’.
Peace
Jim E. <><
Then why is he joining with people who deny due process if it is so offensive to him…
Here in Virginia and now in places like Pittsburgh and so on, I keep being drawn back to the words of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address:
[blockquote]Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” [/blockquote]
Does anyone doubt that there are good and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ on both sides of this divide? I would beg those on the side of the Southern Cone to seek a godly resolution to this matter – deal with your brothers and sisters in a way that would let them go to ECUSA, if that is their desire. I similarly beg those who want to remain in ECUSA to not be taken in by the legal strategies of Mr. Beers and the Presiding Bishop – they do not seek what is best for you, but have a blood lust for war.
Both sides must ask yourself the Cromwell question:
[blockquote]I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.[/blockquote]
” I would beg those on the side of the Southern Cone to seek a godly resolution to this matter – deal with your brothers and sisters in a way that would let them go to ECUSA, if that is their desire.’
I think this has been Bishop Duncan’s policy from the very beginning–mirroring that of John-David Schofield+ in San Joaquin.
Greetings Rev. Simons,
I must say to you by being straight forward. You are not the authority in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. And you never will be. Nor will the other two members you have appointed. Duncan and the other members of the standing committee are the rightful authority. Not you or anyone else. I suggest that you and the others stop meddling in the affairs of God’s church in which you have no business or authority. Like 815 you have sinned against The Holy Ghost. And the Sacred Scriptures has said in St. Mark 3: 28-29, that there is no forgiveness. There will never be forgiveness for this sinful action which has been done. You must remember that God is a merciful God, but hes also a god of judgment. And you will pay for it with your soul as it will join that with Lucifer in Hell.
Are you willing to be accountable to God for the souls that you have helped and now leading to Hell for the actions you are taking? I would have to say no. You will continue to follow on the sad route 815 order you to do.
++Stonewall
#5, Kevin – yes, that is my impression from all I’ve read. I’m not there, so I’m trying to be careful.
I keep praying for miracles – for the PB to turn from her Pharaoh strategy (Exodus 8:32) and adopt a Gamaliel strategy (Acts 5)
I seem to remember Rev. Jeff Murph writing a piece a couple of weeks ago to the effect that a faithful witness to Christ could be given inside TEC. Perhaps now his choice leaves him only one choice: to “witness” to Christ by minimizing Him and ultimately ignoring Him as the reappraiser TEC leadership does seeming instinctively.
#6, are you saying that Fr. Simon is going to hell because he is staying in TEC and helping to re-constitute the Episcopal diocese there?
Your comment may be the singularly most disturbing comment I have seen on T19 in the last six years.