Friday, August 17,
2007
"For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will
rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's
house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the
kingdom for such a time as this?"
Esther 4:14
Standards of
Anglican Orthodoxy
Source: The Church of England Newspaper
Date: August 17, 2007
By The Rev. Canon David
C. Anderson
(Note: this is a rebuttal to Arun Arora’s article which appeared
in last week’s edition)
Two weeks ago the Church of England Newspaper titled my article “Why
the Archbishop of York got it wrong.” My purpose in writing then was
twofold: to point out that York had made a statement that went
against the facts; and to provide the facts on why the Episcopal
Church in the US was not theologically orthodox, especially in the
top levels of leadership. The response of York, or rather the staff
member Arun Arora who wrote for York, was to ignore what was
actually said in my article and to assume two things, both
incorrect.
First, the assumption was made that I was attacking York, and this
is patently not so. I was encouraging York to look and listen harder
to what the American Church was saying. Second, the assumption was
made that anyone who is retired from a major position has lost
influence and fallen out of importance in the shaping of the
American Church mind. In the USA, Episcopal bishops continue after
retirement to have seat, voice and vote in the House of Bishops, and
often are asked to assist in other dioceses or to teach in
seminaries.
The problem is that Arora, in missing the point of the article,
misses it in a most embarrassing way, believing it is an attack on
his boss. Thus he brings up somewhat arcane references to Hitler,
Nazis and children’s games involving donkeys, and feels the need to
relegate prematurely Bishop John Shelby Spong to the old people’s
home. Although I would find little in Spong’s writings to endorse,
his latest book in hardcover was released February 27, 2007. He has
a busy speaking schedule in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and
South Africa going through October. Bishop Bruno is written off by
Arora, as Bishop Borsch’s successor, with hardly a notice that the
Diocese of Los Angeles is the second or third largest TEC diocese,
and that John Bruno was instrumental in the election of Presiding
Bishop Jefferts Schori, and has initiated the second largest number
of lawsuits against departing congregations.
It is good to see the many citations of orthodoxy by the Archbishop
of York, but no claim was made to the contrary despite Arora’s
excitement. The American Anglican Council and I do assert clearly
and with facts before us that the majority leadership of the
Episcopal Church in the USA has significantly departed from historic
Christianity and Anglicanism in belief about the person and work of
Jesus Christ and the authority of Holy Scripture. Although we have
NOT made any suggestion that the Archbishop of York holds such
beliefs, nor Arora himself, it would be well for York, and perhaps
Arora, to become more familiar with the American theological scene.
Although the leaders of TEC greet other Anglicans with smiling faces
and generous words, it is finally not the cordiality of the moment
that determines orthodoxy, but the actions, deeds and spiritual
pronouncements that are behind the glad hand extended.
Arun Arora states, “Anderson’s objections lie not in the
consideration of the mainstream of TEC, but rather by reference, by
and large to its extremities.” Oh that the statement might be so!
Who does he think Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori is, if not the
mainstream? The problem did not arrive on our doorstep yesterday,
but has been building, and when significant deviation from orthodoxy
occurs, those in leadership in TEC and in the Anglican Communion
have NOT been willing to provide discipline. For example, a panel of
TEC bishops dismissed heresy charges against Spong, and to this day
his writings have never been repudiated by the Episcopal Church’s
House of Bishops.
Are we ignoring the Episcopalians who “are faithfully reciting the
creeds and liturgy?” No, we are pointing to their leaders who are
putting them in spiritual peril. The current bishop of Washington,
DC, John Chane was previously dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in San
Diego, California and in his Easter sermon of 2002 remarked, “The
Easter story...the event of the resurrection, which defines the core
of our Christian theology, is at best, conjectural, based upon what
we are able to read from the Gospel accounts and the Book of Acts.”
David Booth Beers, the Chancellor for TEC, speaking to a meeting of
Episcopal chancellors remarked recently, “The Presiding Bishop wants
the Communion to understand the peculiar genius of the Episcopal
Church. If others understood ECUSA they would see us as holy...The
New Hampshire consecration was not sprung on the Communion - it
seems people haven’t been paying attention to what’s been coming for
30 years and that’s naive.”
It is not just the top level of TEC’s leadership that has
theologically and spiritually gone astray. The Rev. James Knowles of
Grace Church in Syracuse, New York, during a service in 2005 dipped
an eagle feather into cedar ashes and brushed the smoke towards
worshippers and asked the congregation to face the four cardinal
points as he read a prayer praising the sun, the moon, the alligator
and the turtle. I imagine they skipped the creed at that service.
Adding things and skipping things has become very common in
Episcopal Churches down on the grass roots level as well, and
cumulatively these do impact the present and the future. It is now
quite common NOT to require Holy Baptism for someone to partake of
Holy Communion in many liberal dioceses and parishes. We are certain
that the Archbishop of York would not agree to such practices, yet
it is happening constantly in many areas of TEC.
There is a published account of a University of the South (Sewanee,
Tennessee) student who some years ago sought counsel from the
school’s chaplain over his discomfort reciting the Nicene Creed
because he had doubts about some of the statements. The chaplain
said, “...he saw no problem at all. If joining in the Creed
distressed him, why not just speak only those portions of it that
didn’t offend?” This counsel revealed to the student, V. Gene
Robinson, that “although the Anglican faith had cherished creeds, it
had no absolute doctrine”. (The New Yorker, April 17, 2006).
Approximately ten years ago when charges were brought against Bishop
Walter Righter, the ecclesiastical court dismissed the charges
saying TEC did not have "core doctrine." One of the bishops making
that determination was Bishop Frederick H. Borsch.
Recently an Episcopal priest working in the Diocese of Olympia
confessed that she is a practicing Muslim and seems to believe there
is no contradiction involved. The Rev. Dr. Ann Holmes Redding has
been functioning with the bishop of Olympia's permission, and was
until recently serving as director of faith formation at St Mark's
Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle.
Another bishop, Geralyn
Wolf of Rhode Island where Redding is canonically resident, has
suspended her from exercising her ministry for a year to give her
the opportunity "to reflect upon the doctrines of the Christian
faith". The bishop of Rhode Island would seem relatively more
orthodox than the bishop of Olympia.
Were the Archbishop of York desirous, the American Anglican Council
could provide additional quotes from TEC bishops in the USA to show
the lack of orthodoxy. At the end of the day, John Sentamu should
change his mind about TEC’s orthodoxy or, if the Archbishop, or his
press officer, or both, continue to regard TEC as orthodox in its
doctrine, then that raises questions about their standard for
Anglican orthodoxy.
U.S. Bishops Ask
Archbishop of Canterbury for Clarity
Source:
The Living Church
Date:
August 16, 2007
By Steve Waring
Bishops who have made a
public commitment to support the Windsor Report have asked the
Archbishop of Canterbury to be clear and articulate in explaining
what the consequences will be if the House of Bishops fails to give
the assurances sought by the primates.
Seventeen diocesan
bishops and one bishop suffragan from The Episcopal Church received
an extensive briefing on the primates’ communiqué from the Rev.
Canon Gregory Cameron, and shared with him their hopes for the
meeting in September between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
House of Bishops during a conference held Aug. 9-10 at Camp Allen
near Houston.
Canon Cameron is deputy
secretary general and director of ecumenical affairs for the
Anglican Consultative Council. He also has served as the Archbishop
of Canterbury’s secretary at recent primates’ meetings and wrote the
final draft of the primates’ communiqué. The Most Rev. Rowan
Williams is scheduled to attend the first two days of the bishops’
meeting Sept. 20-25 in New Orleans.
During the Texas meeting
the bishops decided not to issue a public statement and agreed not
to discuss meeting details. This is the fifth time that “Windsor
bishops” have met at Camp Allen to consider the Windsor Report and
The Episcopal Church’s response to it. At previous meetings the
bishops have issued statements and The Living Church was assured by
several participants at the Aug. 9-10 gathering that the overall
goals and objectives remain consistent with what has been previously
published.
Sydney Anglicans
Close Door to Spong
Source:
Christianity Today
Date:
August 16, 2007
SYDNEY, Australia – The
Anglican bishop in Sydney has given an order to prohibit a liberal
U.S. Episcopal priest from entering any of the churches in the
diocese over a new book that one reviewer said “defaced the only
portrait of Jesus that makes any real sense.”
The bishop of South
Sydney, Robert Forsyth, told the Australian newspaper it was a
mistake for the Australian Anglican primate, or chief bishop, to
invite Spong to promote his book.
"The judgment of the
primate is, in our view, ill-advised," Forsyth said. "It is a
mistake. It is the wrong thing to do."
In a review of Spong’s
latest book, Mark Thompson, president of the conservative Anglican
Church League in Sydney, wrote that despite all Spong’s ”grandiose”
claims in the book, it “is really little more than the rehash of
long-discarded critical theories and doubts which scholars resolved
years ago.”
“Far from providing a
program for the future, this book simply rehashes the unbelief of
the past that has done nothing but diminish the impact of Christian
witness in the West,” he wrote in Sydneyanglicans.net.
Click here to
read the rest of the article.
Virginia Lawsuit
Update
Source:
Anglican District of Virginia (Via E-Mail)
Date:
August 14, 2007
(Note: the following
is a letter from the Vice Chairman of the Anglican District of
Virginia, Jim Oakes.)
As you may have heard,
we had a preliminary hearing in court on Friday, August 10, at which
the court heard arguments on our demurrers and pleas in bar. (Our
demurrer asserted that even if everything The Episcopal Church
claims is true, they still would have no case. The plea in bar
argued that vestry members are immune from suit for actions taken in
an official capacity as volunteers).
After extensive argument
over the plea of statutory immunity, the court was prepared to rule
but suggested that the parties work out an agreement. After recess,
the Diocese of Virginia and The Episcopal Church agreed to dismiss
all of the vestry members and rectors as defendants without
prejudice and the individuals agreed to honor any determination of
the court regarding the plaintiffs' property claims, subject to
their rights of appeal of any adverse ruling.
"We are appreciative
that after all these months, our volunteer vestry members and our
pastoral leadership are no longer named defendants in lawsuit filed
by the Diocese and The Episcopal Church," said Tom Wilson, Senior
Warden of The Falls Church, and Chairman of the Anglican District of
Virginia Board of Directors.
As to the ownership of
the property, the court stated that it was making a very narrow
ruling. The court found that, at this preliminary stage in the
litigation, the complaints filed by the Diocese and The Episcopal
Church state a sufficient claim to an interest in the property for
those claims to proceed to trial where The Episcopal Church and the
Diocese will have to put on actual evidence to support their
allegations. The court emphasized that it was not making a
determination as to any rights, but simply that the complaints
alleged enough to get The Episcopal Church and the Diocese past a
preliminary motion to dismiss.
However, before those
claims proceed to trial, the court has scheduled a hearing later
this year to determine whether or not the claims filed by the
Virginia churches under the Virginia Division Statute preempt the
property claims of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese. If the
court rules in favor of the churches under the Virginia Division
Statute, that finding will be dispositive (which means that there
would be no reason to proceed with the property claims made by the
Diocese and The Episcopal Church).
What does all of this
mean? Our legal team will be parsing every sentence of Judge
Bellows' rulings for some time, but we should keep in mind that
these are preliminary skirmishes in a long battle. Since football
season is about to begin, I can't help but use a couple of
analogies...
Our demurrer was,
frankly, a long shot. Our legal team has told us that, as a
practical matter, it is very rare for a judge to dismiss an entire
case at this preliminary stage, particularly one with such national
visibility. But it was worth a try. Think of it as a long
incomplete pass.
We can think of the plea
in bar as a touchdown - very good news, but it is still the first
quarter of the game. And we must remember that our trustees are
still named as defendants, although no claim of personal liability
is asserted.
We still have a long way
to go, and we still need prayer! We appreciate your support,
encouragement and prayer throughout this process.
Jim Oakes
Vice Chairman
Anglican District of Virginia
