On Friday The 13th, Bishop Peter James Lee sent the following letter out to twenty one clergy whose congregations, following the Diocese of Virginia Protocol, voted to separate from the Episcopal Church, and whom he inhibited following his sudden cancellation of his own Property Committee as well as the stand-still agreement – all designed to negotiate amicably.
Notice that Bishop Lee introduces a new phrase, a new organization, in his Friday the 13th Letter. It’s called The Communion of The Episcopal Church (as opposed to the Anglican Communion). Since the inception of the Episcopal Church, when churches won recognition from the Archbishop of Canterbury himself and then went to form dioceses, the word “communion” has meant the Anglican Communion.
Church of the Apostles, Fairfax, was able to call a New Zealand priest to be their rector because he was an Anglican priest. Bishop Lee is “in communion” with the Anglican bishops in New Zealand and so the clerical orders are recognized. That is what “communion” means. It means that all these clergy and bishops have orders that are valid to celebrate the Eucharist….
Baby Blue is mistaken; this letter is an example of standard procedure when a bishop is about the lower the canonical axe on clergy. The phrasing about communion is taken from the canons; it doesn’t imply a new rival to the Anglican Communion at all. It is a pro forma letter “for the record”. The clergy didn’t transfer to another Anglican province; there are steps to do that and remain in good standing. They just left the Episcopal Church for the sake of mission. I doubt that the clergy involved, who have acted as they have been led by their sense of the truth and imperiatives of the Gospel, will give this letter a moment’s thought. They have too much else to do.
Oops. In line one: “about to lower” not “about the lower”
and in line 5 “imperatives” not “imperiatives”
Sorry.