Bishop Jack Leo Iker of Fort Worth informed The Living Church on Jan. 15 that he has received a second letter from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori threatening him with new disciplinary action.
“Unlike her November letter, it did not imply a charge of ”˜abandonment of the communion of this church’, but it said that I would be liable for charges of violation of my ordination vows if I continue ”˜any encouragement of such a belief’ (i.e. that parishes and dioceses can leave The Episcopal Church),” Bishop Iker said.
In the end, she’ll face one she does not believe has the status He is revealed to have in a judgment that she does not profess will happen and give an account of her actions. My recommendation to +Iker is live and act in the light of that reality and everything else is temporal and ultimately meaningless. My prayers are with Bishop Iker (also with +KJS, that her eye may be open to grasp what Scripture reveals).
Time for Ft. Worth to move ’08 convention date up by a few months…….like next week?
2. Dee in Iowa — might be sort of hard since most parishes are just now getting around to having meetings and electing delegates to the convention…
(Ahhh… the whole thing makes me glad I left. Both sides are just getting too spiteful. Sadly, my family is still in the thick of it all.)
What we have is a Presiding Bishop who is on a complete and utter power trip. She will stop at nothing to bring down people who disagree with her, even if that means spending millions of dollars to do it.
My suggestion to KJS is let the people leave in peace you get on with the MDG and let them get on with their mission, work out a settlement and let them leave.
Greg has posted a copy of the actual letter here:
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/9226/
Sounds as if the next HOB meeting will have a quite full agenda.
Man, I wish She would send [i] me [/i] one of those letters! I’d frame it. But I’m not a clergyman, so there’s no chance.
So…
Bp. Reiter (sp?) can get away with ordaining someone not eligible for ordination due an umarried, active sexual lifestyle, simply because it doesn’t violate any core doctrines of TEC, the HOB seems totally incapable of disciplining itself (with a few conservative exceptions), and yet somehow I imagine that the powers that be will have no trouble finding a few good bishops to convict +Iker. No doubt, he’s guilty of violating the core “upsetting our applecart” doctrine.
Forgive my ignorance but is the process for a diocese withdrawing from the national church the same?
“Last November, the annual convention in the Diocese of Fort Worth approved the first of two required amendments to the diocesan constitution to remove itself from The Episcopal Church.”
Did the Diocese of San Joaquin follow such procedures before leaving? Or was their’s a more expeditious process. Just curious that’s all.
#4, I respectfully disagree. The PB is carrying out her duties under the Constitution and Canons of the Church. I see nothing power-tripping about this. If anyone is on a power trip, it is Bp. Iker. Your advise to the PB is to let Forth Worth do whatever its bishop desires. He’s going to do that anyway, but no PB would sit idly by and let a bishop violate the Church whose Constitution and Canons he had pledged at his ordination to uphold. TEC will get on with its mission whatever the Fort Worth leadership does.
I cannot imagine a less qualified person than +KJS to be the PB of a Church of God. Her world is crumbling around her and she is scolding and threatening anyone who dares take a stand for God and not her. A good pastor would get on a plane, fly to California or Texas, and quietly show these Bishops love and respect while trying to make her point. Her arrogance (maybe it’s instigated by Beers for obvious reasons..a few more lawsuits will help his firm mightily) is appalling.
This is what happens when those in authority choose a leader for the wrong reasons.
Careful…she might release the flying monkeys next.
The fundamental disagreement is ecclesiological. The Episcopal Church has been teaching that the diocese is the primary unit of the church – as opposed to the protestant teaching of the “godly congregation” Dioceses join in provinces or national churches as seems best to them for the proclamation of the gospel. We are in the process of making the General Convention our golden calf.
Tom Rightmyer in Asheville, NC
OK. Help me out here. The Episcopal Church would need a majority assent from the Diocesan Standing Committee to depose Bishop Duncan? Probably won’t happen in this case.
This does raise a question about the Bishop in San Joaquin. The P.B. has inhibited him, but has she received the necessary consent from the Standing Committee? If not, can she validly say that he is inhibited?
#13,
“We are in the process of making the General Convention our golden calf.”
A pescient comment for sure.
Psalm 145: 19-22
Never mind my #14. It appears that there are two different charges there that a Bishop canbe brought up on. Violation of ordination vows requires Standing Committee assent, whereas abandonment of communion does not.
This whole thing sure reminds me of the Isreaites trying to leave Egypt… In the end Pharoe’s army drowned in the Red Sea… Maybe that is happenent at TEC, too.
George Conger reports:
Bishop Schori denied there was an organized campaign being waged by the national Church to silence the voice of conservatives in her letter to Bishop Iker. “I lament your belief,†she wrote, that those “with your theological position are being systematically eliminated from positions of leadership and influence. If they are disappearing, it is by their own decision and at their own hands.â€
Comment: We know how this works, we’ve seen it in our own dioceses. An example of this from the Diocese of Central NY: Bishop Adams convenes a panel to study human sexuality. He appoints about a dozen members, including one (ONE) conservative. Thus, the conservative theological position hasn’t been eliminated; the bishop can proclaim diversity, but anyone can see that the decisions of the committee have been predetermined by the weighting given by appointment.
Conger:
She stated that she had sought to ‘include all theological positions in appointments within our purview’ and had not discriminated against traditionalists. However, following her election as Presiding Bishop, Bishop Schori said she hoped to educate Bishop Iker and other opponents of women clergy on the ‘heresy of Donatism,’ and has not favoured the clergy careers of those on the right of the church spectrum.
Comment: the thought that Schori is capable of educating Iker on Donatism or any point of theology is laughable. We have seen her attempts at theology in her public statements. She could use a few years of tutelage from Bishops Iker, Duncan, and others. Her theological statements are vapid at best.
Wilfred, you might get your wish if you happen to be a vestryman or other diocesan official or committee member in any parish or diocese which happens to run afoul of Mrs Schori and her legal beagle David Booth Beers. I wouldn’t put it past them to depose everyone…..including such persons……in their drive to silence all opposition.
TonyinCNY: “Her theological statements are vapid at best?” Let’s go to the extreme here: Her theological statements are RIDICULOUS!
I’m on the vestry at my DoFW parish and although I don’t expect inhibition or deposition, I do expect excommunication and inclusion in a law suit filed by the general convention church when the time comes. I’ve got the frames ready!
Atually, hearing her stamp her tiny feet and use big religious words, quoting canons of councils she doesn’t believe, is kind of cute.
Tony wrote:
[blockquote]Conger:
She stated that she had sought to ‘include all theological positions in appointments within our purview’ and had not discriminated against traditionalists. However, following her election as Presiding Bishop, Bishop Schori said she hoped to educate Bishop Iker and other opponents of women clergy on the ‘heresy of Donatism,’ and has not favoured the clergy careers of those on the right of the church spectrum.
Comment: the thought that Schori is capable of educating Iker on Donatism or any point of theology is laughable. We have seen her attempts at theology in her public statements. She could use a few years of tutelage from Bishops Iker, Duncan, and others. Her theological statements are vapid at best. [/blockquote]
Actually, she sounds like she doesn’t understand Donatism either:
Asking that those who lead a Christian Church/Denomination believe the tenents and doctrine of that Church is much different from expecting them to be sinless (which is the core of Donatism).
[i]Your advise to the PB is to let Forth Worth do whatever its bishop desires.[/i]
The Diocese of Fort Worth will do what it decides by majority vote, which is the same process by which TEC installed as a bishop a man publically engaged in a sexually active same-sex relationship and a bishop divorced twice and married 3 times. What other significant innovations of church life have occurred by majority vote?
#18 and #23, if you’ve spent any time at all trying to talk to the reappraisers, it’s quite clear they have no idea what Donatism is, other than something they think is a big trump card for their arguments. They appear to have come up to speed on it just as quickly and sloppily as they did with discovering there was an Anglican Communion or a long-ago council in a place called Nicea.
As I said at SF:
I honestly think KJS enjoys sending out these letters and reading the responses, postings and comments from the Reasserters -smiling and enjoying all the attention.
Now, here is my suggestion:
Since KJS’s letters are now becoming “seriously comicalâ€, next week at our four-day Diocese of Fort Worth Clergy Retreat, I plan to have a fireside “A Reading from KJS hour†(please NOT the KJV) each night after Compline- please join me. Who says clergy do not need some fun before bed-time? What better way to unwind than having fun with some of her majesty’s “theologyâ€, warnings, and THREATENING LETTERS?
Fr. Kingsley+
Arlington, TX
Boy, Spiro! That oughtta be a hoot!!