Second I have wanted to report on the situation and that is what I am doing in front of you and with those with whom I have met privately. We are in the curious place in the States of a bishop removed contrary to the plain dictates of the canons and constitution of the church. The primary motivating argument in the House of Bishops for my removal was that it was the best way to guarantee the Episcopal Church’s claims on the property of my diocese. Of course the efforts to remove me have had no bearing on the property of the diocese. Indeed two weeks after I was deposed unjustly and uncanonically, my diocese voted to leave The Episcopal Church and become the second of the American dioceses to leave. Two more dioceses are hard on our heels: the Diocese of Quincy will vote to leave The Episcopal Church on November 7th and on November 14th the Diocese of Fort Worth will vote to leave. At that point there will be four American Dioceses, San Joaquin in California, Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, Quincy in Illinois and Fort Worth in Texas, in some ways the four points of the compass on a US map.
The spirit in the Diocese of Pittsburgh is good. The standing committee is presently the ecclesiastical authority. I had said in the process of the Episcopal Church that I accept the discipline of the Episcopal Church because I was a Bishop of the Episcopal Church. The charge against me was abandonment of communion. That charge was rather remarkable under a canon that was meant to remove those who had become Roman Catholic or Presbyterians or had lost their faith but nonetheless I accepted the sentence. The standing committee became the ecclesiastical authority. When the Diocese of Pittsburgh left the Episcopal Church on October 4th, it was at that point ”“ I had been immediately received into the House of Bishops of the Southern Cone ”“ the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone Gregory Venables had appointed me his Episcopal commissary for affairs in Pittsburgh and the US, the standing committee asked me to return to my episcopal function from the time they left the Episcopal Church, and the standing committee has determined under the canons of the diocese that there will be a re-electing convention on November 7th, so I will be in the rather remarkable position of being both the seventh bishop of Pittsburgh and the eighth bishop of Pittsburgh and I did not die in between. Folks like me in the church’s past tended to be burnt at the stake, but that’s not something that the church does anymore and I have proved remarkably fire retardant. That’s the situation in Pittsburgh and three other dioceses that have or are stepping out.
[blockquote]Thirdly, I do come to my dear friends here in the Church of England with a warning that what begins as a liberal initiative very quickly becomes illiberal. [/blockquote]
Wise words, and applicable to not just those dealing with TEC.
Aye, Jeffersonian, liberality is a quality displayed fully by our LORD Jesus Christ. Liberalism is an anthrocentric movement (like other ‘isms’) that is quite a V E R Y long way away from Christ’s example. Sleepers awake! The ism must be fought tooth and nail.
+Durham, that’s interesting.
#3 I agree. Not sure what this means.
One must of course understand the difference between registering the view–as did quite a few TEC Bishops–that the PB was/is overreaching, as against support of specific realignment plans (whose character is also unfolding, not public, and subject to developments).
What struck me was the sense that four Bishops (Quincy, DFW, Pittsburgh, San Joaquin) might be all that was in the mix for a new province (together with the various CC bishops) and that this was just fine.
It also sounded like the place where support for this would be sought is the February primates meeting.
Is +Durham a supporter of something along these lines? I very much doubt it. But come to Toronto to hear him speak in late November…
Wise words indeed. Thank the Lord for Bishop Duncan!
When he says he is better known than his primate is he referring to Archbishop Greg Venables or Presiding Bishop Katherine Jeffers Schori?
#4 Prof Seitz
Yes – It looks like a great conference you will be having there with a great line up of speakers.
Looks like this is all beginning to shake out.
Best regards
PM
Hello PM–this will be the first of a series, next one in Houston at St Martin’s in April. We have in view a DVD series to be used in parishes for adult ed. The final taping we hope will include Fresh Expressions’ Bp Graham Cray (friend of Wycliffe Toronto) and others from the UK. Jo Bailey Wells, you may know, was Chaplain at Clare College before teaching OT at Duke. She brought the novelist Lauren Winner to anglican faith in Christ. Her husband is Will Williman’s successor as Duke Chaplain. Why not cross the pond to your commonwealth friends in Canada…?
#7 Prof. Seitz
Looks better and better. It is something I would love to attend – will have to see if timing and commitments allow.
Many thanks.
PM
Unfortunately, Suepie, Katharine Jefferts Schori IS well known, but her notoriety is not of the same kind as that of ++Venables…….fortunately.