I trust that this letter finds you well. You may remember me from Chicago where I am the rector of St. David\u2019s Episcopal Church in Glenview. We had the privilege of hearing you preach at one point in your time as Dean of Seabury Western Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n
I am writing in response to your diocese\u2019s recent resolution to investigate the Institute on Religion and Democracy. Apparently you think that IRD is taking members out of the Episcopal Church. I\u2019m still in TEC, so I must have missed the message. I have been a board member of the IRD since the mid 80s and was ordained a deacon by Bishop Paul Moore in June of 1974. So it is with a heavy heart that I write to defend my association with the IRD, especially given the fact that I started out in your diocese, though I never worked there as an ordained priest. I spent three years in the Diocese of Ohio doing youth ministry at St. Peter\u2019s, Lakewood. Then I became rector of Church of the Good Shepherd for the next fifteen years, prior to becoming rector of St. David\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The IRD began in the early 1980s before I became associated with it. It was founded in part to stand up for the persecuted church. We were one of the few organizations which prayed for and stood up for the persecuted church in the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the underground Christian church thanked us for our prayers.<\/p>\n