The tenth Synod of the Province of the Southern Cone of America, meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 1-5 November, 2010, has elected Bishop Hector "Tito" Zavala of Chile as its next Primate replacing Bishop Gregory Venables. Bishop Zavala becomes the province's first Primate of Chilean extraction. The role of Primate is a three year renewable term in the Cone. Bishop Venables is not retiring, but will maintain his present position as Bishop of Argentina and Northern Argentina. In another closely followed vote, the possibility of allowing women's ordination to the priesthood in those dioceses that so affirmed to move ahead (local option) was turned down by the house of clergy; the other two houses voted in favor. The Province of the Southern Cone comprises the seven dioceses of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Northern Argentina, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

Read here

(Note posting from Bishop Gregory Venables in the 'comments' section)

Part 1 is here)

Last week I wrote to you about the facts surrounding the breakdown in communication between the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Kenneth Kearon, and the Province of the Southern Cone regarding alleged "border crossing violations."  As I wrote last week, these facts raised troubling questions about (1) the nature of the alleged "border crossings" by the Southern Cone; (2) the incoherent standards that led to the removal of Bishop Tito Zavala from the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO) without any actions against Canada; and (3) the discrepancy between Presiding Bishop Venables' assurances that responses were given to both Secretary Kearon and Dr. Williams, and Kearon's claims that they were not.

Since then there have been two interesting developments.  First, the Province of the Southern Cone House of Bishops met and elected Bishop Tito Zavala as its next Primate, replacing Bishop Gregory Venables.  Please note:  The role of Primate is a three year renewable term in the Southern Cone.  Bishop Venables is not retiring, but will maintain his present position as Bishop of Argentina and North Argentina.

Read here

The Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council has withdrawn the Bishop of Chile’s invitation to serve on the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (UFO), citing the province’s violation of the moratorium on crossing provincial boundaries.

However, the Oct 14 press release issued by Canon Kenneth Kearon has left Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina “flummoxed.”

In an interview taped on Oct 18 with Anglican TV, the primate of the Southern Cone said he was nonplussed by the assertions made in the secretary general’s press release, as it was “untrue” and “unjust” to say he had not responded to the ACC.

Read here

Watch video here

In 2005 the diocese had 1,488 communicants, today there are 3,240. The number of baptized members is 2,010 and the total membership of the community stands at 5,250 members. Over the past 5 years Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti has confirmed 2,025 people (407 in 2009), 90% of whom were newcomers to the Anglican church.  

In 2005, 32 clergy were excommunicated by the Brazilian Province, today, thanks to the hard work of 6 diocesan training institutions the number of clergy in the diocese stands at 60, in whose care are 46 congregations and social projects in 9 Brazilian States.

Despite the fact that the Diocese of Recife is currently facing lawsuits brought to bear by the Brazilian Province (which is demanding property), its story has been one of growth in the face of material uncertainty. Recently an Archdeanery was created in the South and South Eastern reaches of the country where various congregations have already been established. In view of this exciting growth and expansion, the diocesan General Convention is looking to 2010 as a "Year of Vocations".

The Right Reverend Robinson Cavalcanti
Diocesan Bishop
Diocese of Recife, Anglican Communion
 

Church leaders in Brazil have questioned the Archbishop of Canterbury’s assertion that an informal mediation process is underway between the Provinces of the Southern Cone and Brazil over the Diocese of Recife.

In his Feb 5 press conference held at the close of the Primates Meeting in Alexandria, Dr. Williams gave an overview of the recommendations made by the Windsor Continuation Group to the primates for responding to the divisions within the communion.

A “pastoral forum” to hear disputes and “pastoral visitors” who “can act as consultants in situations of stress and conflict” were proposed, Dr. Williams said, adding that “in case that sounds too abstract, I might mention that we have tried this out informally as between the province of Brazil and the Southern Cone over the question of Recife.”

“Two pastoral visitors were appointed to go and investigate the situation in the Province, discuss with various people and propose some ways forward,” Dr. Williams said.

“And although its taken a couple of years to move things on, some of those recommendations are bearing fruit,” the archbishop said, adding that it “in some cases” a pastoral visitor scheme “could be helpful.”
 

Read here.

The synod of the Diocese of Recife has voted to leave the shelter of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone and affiliate with the third province movement in North America.

At its Dec 4-6 meeting in Jaboatão dos Guararapes the ex-Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB) diocese voted to join with the ex-Episcopal Church dioceses of Pittsburgh, Quincy, Fort Worth and San Joaquin, along with a number of continuing American and Canadian Anglican and African-led jurisdictions, to form the new province.

The move from the Southern Cone to the third province will take place in June at the Anglican Church in North America’s founding convocation in Fort Worth.

Recife also agreed to amend its canons to bring it in line with the new province passing an ordinance forbidding the consecration of women priests to the episcopate, and also created an archdeaconry based in Rio de Janiero to oversee Anglican churches in Southeast Brazil that have seceded from the IEAB.

Although Recife ordains women to the diaconate and priesthood, the decision to conform its canons to the new province and forbid the consecration of women priests to the episcopate passed overwhelmingly. A spokesman noted the vote was taken the same day as Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti (pictured) ordained the Rev. Pamela Schmaling to the priesthood.

Read here.

The fly-in Bishop of San Joaquin, The Rt. Rev. Jerry Lamb has sent out a letter inviting the priests and parishes that fled TEC for the Province of the Southern Cone to return to the Episcopal Church.

Clearly energized by a court decision ruling that the diocese and the national church own the properties of parishes in the Diocese of Los Angeles who fled TEC Lamb wrote that the vote to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church could meet with the same fate as the parishes in Los Angeles.

The California State Supreme Court concluded, "…individual defendants are free to disassociate themselves from [the parish and the Episcopal Church] and to affiliate themselves with another religious denomination…. The problem lies in defendants’ efforts to take the church property with them. This they may not do."

"The Court’s decision in this case is extremely helpful to the Diocese of San Joaquin’s position in the present litigation with respect to the former bishop," according to diocesan chancellor Michael Glass, Esq. "It also clarifies, beyond a doubt, the rights of the Diocese regarding parish and mission properties occupied by groups that have disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church."

"It is my sincere desire that the decision of the Supreme Court will prompt groups that have left the Episcopal Church to seriously consider and accept my invitations to conversations of reconciliation, and return to the Episcopal Church," Lamb said.

"There has been enough pain and suffering on all sides of the issue," he wrote. "It is time for us to speak to one another face to face."

An attorney who asked not be named pointed out that "the court decision has no application to the right of a diocese to withdraw from The Episcopal Church. The withdrawal of the diocese also brought the parishes out of The Episcopal Church".

The Diocese of San Joaquin and its Bishop John-David Schofield are now under the ecclesiastical authority of the Province of the Southern Cone.

Letters from Bishop Lamb are below.

The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin
The Central Third of California

The Rt. Rev. Jerry A. Lamb, Bishop
The Rev. Canon Mark H. Hall, Canon to the Ordinary

January 14, 2009

Dear People of God,

I send you greetings during this season after Epiphany, a season that reminds us that we are called to proclaim the Gospel to all the peoples of the world.

I write to you to invite you into conversations with me regarding your relationship with the Episcopal Church in view of the January 5, 2009 California Supreme Court decision on property.

I am, of course, not an attorney, but the decision is clear that all property and assets of a parish are held in trust for the wider Episcopal Church, and upon any attempted disaffiliation from the Episcopal Church, such property must be returned to the Episcopal Church and its Diocese.

There has been enough pain and suffering on all sides of the issue of separation from the Episcopal Church. It is time for us to speak to one another face to face about returning to the fold of the Episcopal Church or setting forth a plan for gracious leave taking.

I remain ready to speak to clergy, the laity, those in leadership, or congregations. Please be in touch with me.

In peace,

+Jerry A. Lamb
Bishop of San Joaquin Diocesan
Office: 6702 Inglewood Ave Stockton, CA 95207

*****

January 14, 2009

Dear Friends,

Enclosed with this letter is a letter I am sending to clergy and congregations that attempted to remove parishes and missions from the Episcopal Church. I am once again inviting people to speak to me about their relationship to the Episcopal Church.

The decision by the California Supreme Court was very clear, and it may result in some people rethinking their decision to leave the church.

I urge the laity and clergy of the Episcopal Diocese to engage their friends and acquaintances from the other group in personal conversations, and based on long-standing friendships, move toward healing in the diocese.

Remember, I am ready and more than willing to speak to clergy, the laity, those in leadership, or congregations.

In peace,

+Jerry A. Lamb
Bishop of San Joaquin
The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin
 

Fallout from the weekend decision by the Diocese of Quincy, Ill., to leave the Episcopal Church of the United States may include litigation over millions of dollars’ worth of property and assets.

“We pray there will be no litigation,” the Rev. Ed den Blaauwen said Monday. Den Blaauwen, the rector of Christ Church in Moline, is also the newly appointed vicar general of the diocese that is now aligned with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, based in Argentina.

Church resources would be better used for Christian activities than in the courts, he added.

The Episcopal Church will protect its history and heritage, said the Rev. Charles Robertson, canon to the presiding bishop of the national church in New York City. Church officials will not give away property to a foreign province, he said, adding, “This is our heritage and, more than that, the heritage of those who have not even come our way yet.”

The Episcopalian Church still exists in the Quincy Diocese, Robertson stressed. “Our first concern for followers is that they know that our church continues,” he added.

New alignments

Lines are being drawn in the church between liberal or moderate factions and traditional or conservative ones. Arguments center on the national church’s decisions to allow women in the clergy, which occurred in the 1970s, and to promote an openly gay minister to a bishop’s post in 2003.

The schism widened when the national church appointed Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to the job. The Quincy Diocese, which numbers 24 churches (including those in Moline, Rock Island, Silvis, Geneseo and Kewanee) and 1,800 members, has never allowed women or gays to be part of the clergy.

“We are working to assist in the reorganization of diocesan affairs,” Schori said. It now appears that four churches, including St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Peoria, Ill., the largest in the diocese, will continue to align with the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, which includes churches in the Iowa Quad-Cities, has no intention of leaving the national affiliation, officials have said.

The Southern Cone includes the South American countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. It also includes breakaway dioceses and parishes from San Joaquin, Calif., and Pittsburgh. The Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, is expected to join them after a vote this weekend.

A new alignment called the Common Cause partnership is working to establish an Anglican province in the United States, according to the Rev. John Spencer, the press officer for the Quincy Diocese. That would include the alignments with the Southern Cone and other U.S. churches that have aligned with an organization including Anglican churches in the African nations of Nigeria and Rwanda.

The timeline for the new organizational structure would involve some kind of provisional recognition in late December or early January, he said. Formal approval of the new North American Anglican Province may come by early February, after the worldwide Anglican council meets in Egypt.

Choices to be made

After the dust has settled, members of the faith will be able to choose the Anglican, or traditional approach, or Episcopalian, which represents a more revisionist, or liberal, approach, den Blaauwen explained.

“There will be no changes at Christ Church,” he said. “We will continue to practice our faith as we always have.”

The discussion is confusing some church members, including Dorothy Swift of Davenport. She joined Christ Church in the 1970s, and the Swift family’s allegiance dates to 1952.

She sings in the church choir and coordinates the prayer chain, a Christ Church committee that uses the power of communal prayer to help solve problems. “This is a very difficult time,” she said Monday.

Swift has no desire to leave Christ Church, noting that she raised her children there and enjoys the fellowship of the faith community. “I fret over this myself,” she said.

Church offers Thanksgiving feast

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Davenport will host its annual Festival of Thanksgiving on Sunday at the church, 12th and Brady streets.

All Christians are invited, with the festivities beginning at 4 p.m. The Cathedral Bell Choir will perform, and events include a promenade of area pastors of all denominations as a symbol of unity.

Bishop Christopher Epting, executive director of ecumenical relations for the Episcopal Church, USA, will offer a prayer for all denominations. Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba will speak. Others are scheduled to share testimonies of faith.

The service is intended to help people of faith during these difficult days, organizers said. Refreshments will be served in the church’s Great Hall after the ceremony.

Episcopal News Service, Quincy, Illinois] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said November 8 that the church “laments the departure from the Episcopal Church of some individuals in southern Illinois" after members of the Diocese of Quincy voted on November 7 to leave the Episcopal Church and realign under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

“The Episcopal Diocese of Quincy remains, albeit with fewer members, and we are working to assist in the reorganization of diocesan affairs,” she said. “We assure all, both Episcopalians and former Episcopalians, and members of their surrounding communities, of our prayers for clarity and charity in their spiritual journeys. May all be reminded that the Gospel work of healing this world will take the best efforts of every person of faith.”

The action to realign was carried out by the passing of two resolutions. The deputies represent 24 churches and missions and about 1,800 parishioners.

The first resolution formally annulled accession to the constitution and canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Clergy voted 41 in favor and 14 against the measure. In the lay order the vote was 54 to 12 to pass the motion. On the resolution to join the Southern Cone, clergy voted 46 to 4 in favor. Lay deputies voted 55 to 8 to approve the resolution.

The Southern Cone includes the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. It has also accepted former members of the San Joaquin and Pittsburgh dioceses of the Episcopal Church who, like those in Quincy, have theological disagreements with the wider church.

Worship at the Quincy synod was held at St. John’s Episcopal Church, the mother church and original cathedral of the Diocese of Quincy, created in 1877 by the division of the Diocese of Illinois. St. John’s has said it will change its name to “St. John’s Parish, an Anglican Church.”

Ending years of discontent

During the 45-minute debate on the resolution to leave the Episcopal Church, some speakers suggested that they could have a greater witness by “working from within,” but the majority of speakers expressed disgust at the Episcopal Church, saying that what they were leaving did not represent the church they had been born into or once joined.

The final speaker, a woman who was not fully identified, said “We need to make a choice. Is Jesus Christ our Savior or not?” 

“I don’t feel like I’m leaving TEC, instead I feel like I am moving forward. I am convinced that by not leaving TEC, I will brand myself with the same heretical views of those who are running TEC now. This is the end. Right here. Today,” she said.

The resolution said leaders of the Episcopal Church and actions of its General Convention “have failed to uphold the teaching and authority of Holy Scripture, have challenged or belittled core doctrines of the Christian faith, have refused to conform to the agreed teaching and discipline of the Anglican faith, have refused to conform to the agreed teaching and discipline of the Anglican Communion, and have rejected the godly counsel of the leaders of the Communion.”

A relationship already strained by General Convention’s consent in 2003 to the consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who is openly gay, was further exacerbated in 2006 with the election of Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop. The Diocese of Quincy does not ordain women.

Shortly after Jefferts Schori’s election, Quincy joined a small number of Episcopal Church dioceses seeking what they called "alternative pastoral oversight” from a primate other than the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.  A news release issued at the time by the diocese said it objected to certain actions by the leadership of the Episcopal Church. It also said that part of the reason for the diocese’s request was the theology of Jefferts Schori, who allowed Diocese of Nevada congregations to offer blessings of same-gender unions and voted to approve Robinson’s consecration. Quincy was "unwilling to accept the leadership" of Jefferts Schori, the news release said.

At its 2007 Synod, members of the Diocese of Quincy considered resolutions to sever ties to the Episcopal Church, but decided to remain at that time.
The Rev. John Spencer, vicar of St. Francis Church, Dunlap and official spokesman for the diocese, said on November 7 that action set into motion a year-long “period of discernment” on the issue.

“We did not want to rush. We wanted to give everyone time to think and pray, inform people about the issues and move slowly and methodically,” he said.

At that time Spencer said the diocese also "took the first steps, constitutionally, to make it possible to realign when the time is appropriate to do so."

In August 2008, the Standing Committee sent a document titled "The Church in Crisis: A Resource for the Diocese of Quincy," to every household in the diocese. It aimed at answering the question, “Shall the Diocese of Quincy separate from the Episcopal Church? If so, why and how? If not, then why not?’"
Interim Leadership

Following the unexpected resignation of Quincy Bishop Keith Ackerman, which was effective November 1, the synod convened without a sitting bishop. The Rev. Canon Edward den Blaauwen, rector of Christ Church, Moline, and a member of the Standing Committee, was appointed to preside at Synod’s business meetings.

At the opening session of the synod on November 7, which was closed to the public, Spencer reported that Ackerman was on hand to ceremonially “pass the gavel” to den Blaauwen.

Following the votes to realign, a letter was read from Archbishop Gregory Venables, primate of the Southern Cone, in which he reported that he had appointed den Blaauwen as Vicar General of the new diocesan unit, in the absence of a sitting bishop.

Den Blaauwen who also serves as executive administrator for Forward in Faith North America, of which Ackerman is president, attended the Global Anglican Futures Conference in June.  He also accompanied Ackerman to the Lambeth Conference this past summer.

Spencer noted that no plans have yet been made for a search for a new bishop.

“Our focus has been entirely about just getting through this synod for now,” he said.

Reorganizing, realigning a diocesan structure

One of the first orders of business for the new diocesan structure was an announcement by den Blaauwen that members of the clergy formerly canonically resident in the Diocese of Quincy would receive a certificate indicating they were now clergy of the Southern Cone. He told those clergy who wished not to affiliate with the Southern Cone to write the word “rejected” on the certificate, along with a signature and date.

It was not apparent during the meeting if any clergy present would immediately reject association with the Southern Cone.

The synod also enacted other pieces of legislation aimed at reorganizing and realigning the new diocesan structure. Among them were:

• Establishing a nine-month “grace period” during which any congregation may, by a two-thirds vote, withdraw from “the Synod of this Diocese” and stating that the Bishop and standing committee will work “diligently, in good faith and with Christian charity, with any member of the clergy who might wish to seek canonical transfer to another diocese of the person’s choice;”

• Allowing for a parish or mission outside the geographical boundaries of the diocese to apply for admission to the synod of the new diocese;

• Creating a new Canon on Worship, which prescribes allowed versions of the Holy Scriptures and indicates that the bishop shall approve a “recognized edition of the Book of Common Prayer for standard use in the diocese;”

• Approving a new Canon on Marriage that defines holy matrimony to be “a divinely-instituted sacramental union of one man and one woman;”

• Affirming the “Jerusalem Declaration”, which came out of the GAFCON Conference;

• Approving funding from the diocesan assessment both for the Province of the Southern Cone and for the Anglican Communion Network, to which the assessment has gone since the Diocese of Quincy stopped supporting the Episcopal Church in 2005; and

• Supporting the Common Cause Partnership, a group of orthodox bishops and lay persons working for the creation of a new Anglican province in North America.

The Episcopal Diocese of Forth Worth will hold its annual convention November 14 and 15 and will also consider resolutions to leave the Episcopal Church and realign with the Southern Cone.  In preparation for the convention, Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker has issued a statement titled “10 Reasons Why Now is the Time to Realign.”

– Joe Bjordal is Episcopal Life Media correspondent in the dioceses of Provinces V and VI.

Bob Duncan, the once and future bishop of Pittsburgh, has been at the forefront of evangelical efforts to turn the Episcopal Church away from so-called revisionist theology. Christianity Today deputy managing editor Tim Morgan spoke with Bishop Duncan, who was removed from office by his fellow bishops in early September just before the Diocese of Pittsburgh voted by strong margins to pull out of the Episcopal Church. In a few weeks, the diocese is expected to meet again and officially reinstall Duncan as its top leader with the oversight of Anglican Archbishop Gregory Venables from Argentina.

What was the mood like at the recent diocesan convention in Pittsburgh during the final vote to pull out of the Episcopal Church?

The mood was somber. It was expectant, graceful, if you can be all those things at once. People together were realizing how serious it was, and yet there was a determination that we needed to do this as kindly and gracefully as we could as a witness to the world.

Will the left-leaning Pittsburgh congregations that stay with the Episcopal Church be treated fairly in keeping their church property?

We ought to deal with congregations fairly and equitably. The principal stewards and the principal benefactors of most of our congregations are the people in those congregations themselves. In some cases, the diocese has had no investment in the congregation. In other cases, we have had a substantial investment. For a congregation where we have had a substantial investment, we need to work out together what share of our investment needs to be returned to us.

What’s your advice to the remnant of evangelicals still in the Episcopal Church about giving up church property?

Their property isn’t worth their souls’ health. While our property is precious and important, if it becomes an overwhelming aim, it’s probably good to let go of it. But having said that, the principal thing I would say is that we’re very hopeful that the spirit that we’ve been blessed with here in Pittsburgh will produce a settlement that will [make] a better way forward across the country. We’re also hopeful that the Episcopal Church, in losing battle after battle, will finally just decide that these property battles aren’t worth fighting.

So three things: First, I hope that the way we go through this will provide a precedent both moral and legal for the way other situations might be settled across the country. Second, I hope that the continued failure of the Episcopal Church in its litigation might help it wake up and cease the litigation. And third, in any place where the property has become an overwhelming issue, it might be better for evangelicals to let go of it. Trust the Lord that he’s got the cattle on 10,000 hills. He’s able to restore to us what we lost.

Do you have any second thoughts about creation of this new province for conservative Anglicans?

No second thoughts about it. I would have hoped that the Anglican Communion might simply recognize us as the legitimate bearers of the Anglican franchise here. But that’s not likely to happen in the short run. The significance of the Episcopal Church deposing me is much greater than what most people would assume in this battle for a province. For the worldwide Anglican Communion to see me deposed has been absolutely sobering, and even moderates are shocked and stunned by it.
 

Some conservatives continue to support an Anglican Covenant and the Windsor continuation process as vehicles for reform. Do you hold out much hope for these initiatives?

The covenant is a good concept. Sadly, the form, in which it comes forward, has no great strength to it. A better form of covenant would have been the Thirty-Nine Articles or The Book of Common Prayer. Those have been the things that actually functioned as the covenant for three centuries and more. So the covenant is a useful idea. But as it’s being developed it’s not [useful]. About the Windsor continuation group, the glacial timetable on which it’s working is like every other proposal that’s come from the Anglican Communion office, from the Archbishop of Canterbury. They have been too little and far too slow.

How should we best interpret the recent silence of Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams?

Sometimes silence is golden. Not so long ago I wrote to him and thanked him for his silence. The silence could suggest two things. It could suggest an indifference, which I don’t think is the issue. Or it could suggest a diplomatic response in which it’s clear that the sands are shifting. The Archbishop of Canterbury and I have had regular contact, and that will continue. He is redefining his own role by his silence. He redefined the role of the Lambeth Conference. Those redefinitions are necessary in light of the emergence of a global communion. The existing Anglican structures are largely colonial. I acknowledge his authority to exercise his role the way he sees it, actually diminishing his role substantially for the future of the communion.

Is a new center emerging within Anglicanism?

A post-colonial Anglicanism with a conciliar structure will emerge. The notion that the Archbishop of Canterbury is first among equals is going to fade away. The 21st-century role of the Archbishop of Canterbury will go through the same metamorphosis that the role of the royal family went through in the 20th century. The British Empire is over, and sadly, so is a British-dominated communion.

How will conservatives negotiate the issues that divide them—women’s ordination and related concerns? Is there going to be a theological center?

The theological center on first-order issues has deep agreement. Most of us hold the issue of the ordination of women to be a second-order issue. We are committed to working with our partners in the communion as we try to come to some lasting agreement. The way I illustrate that is we are now wise enough to understand that we can’t settle the issue of reception of the ordination of women. The reason we can’t settle it is that East Africa ordains women and West Africa doesn’t. We have got to go through this together, and it’s going to take a couple generations to do it. There’s a deep commitment to one another across this divide.

Are you confident that there will be a new province for the North American Anglicans a year from now? And are you the most likely person to be the primate of that province?

The simple answers are yes and yes. I do believe that the Common Cause partners will put everything in place that we need to put in place by Christmas. The time has come. In terms of my leadership I think I understand, and those who put me in this place understand, that in this particular moment my task, my call has been to bring the partners to a place, to the creation of a province and to the beginning of its life, and then I’ll be happy to give it over as soon as it’s clear that I’m not called to do it anymore. We will operate in a way in which the primate of the province is a diocesan bishop, will serve for a term, and may be reelected for a term. Then another will take up that primacy.

How do all these events among Anglicans fit into the bigger picture?

They need to be read in the context of this great reformation in the Christian West. I thank God that it’s come as far as it has. I thank God for the people of Pittsburgh who supported me. I see a new day dawning — and not just for us, but for all our Christian partners. We Anglicans, who don’t theologically always get it right, have done something ecclesiologically that might have helped the whole Christian church.

Beloved in Christ Jesus,

Although there are a number of items in the news this week, I am commenting on just two: the Pittsburgh situation and the Northern Virginia legal case. My commentary this week is shorter because I am on the road and needing to catch a flight back to Atlanta.

This last week, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted to change their Constitution and to leave the Episcopal Church as a diocese and affiliate with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. This is the same Province with which the Diocese of San Joaquin in California is affiliated, and is the probable future home of two more Episcopal dioceses. Maybe they will have to learn some Spanish: "Donde’ esta’ el Obispo?" Pittsburgh will have another Diocesan Convention in November to elect a bishop, since while they were still in TEC, their bishop Bob Duncan was allegedly deposed by the Episcopal House of Bishops. Rumor has it that the former bishop just might be a top contender for the position of bishop; you might say, the once and future bishop of Pittsburgh.

In Virginia, the litigation scene goes from the bizarre to the absurd while the highly paid but frequently bumbling TEC and diocesan lawyers keep changing their theory on the litigation as the judge rules against them. We are told that on September 5, the diocesan/TEC lawyers decided to include in their lawsuit, as a co-litigant on their side, the historic Christ Episcopal Church of Alexandria, alleging that some of the Falls Church land really belongs to Christ Church Alexandria. The main problem is that the diocesan lawyers didn’t even ask the vestry of Christ Church for permission to include them until September 22. Isn’t that a problem? Shouldn’t they have had the parish’s permission before adding their name to the complaint? And to top it off, the vestry didn’t approve the request until September 24, and that without notifying the congregation until very recently. Isn’t adding the parish’s name to the litigation in progress without their permission a fraud towards the court? If not, it certainly seems irregular. Other churches might begin to wonder what documents the diocese has affixed their names to, and whether there is something that could come back to bite them.

Joining the litigation now puts Christ Church Alexandria into the ongoing legal fray. Could their participation make their land and assets available for satisfying any adverse judgments of the court? What if the judgment finally went against the Episcopal Diocese and Christ Church, and attorney fees of millions of dollars were awarded – would the land and assets of Christ Church be considered to be available for paying the fees? Who knows… but it is very risky business to enter into a fight where Christ Church has nothing to gain and only property and money to lose. I would think that the vestry, upon reconsideration, would wish to withdraw quickly from the litigation, and if they don’t, then the Christ Church Alexandria congregation might wish to recall any vestry person who may have violated their fiduciary responsibility to the parish and congregation.

One wonders at times if this is all real or if some of the participants didn’t just stay at a Holiday Inn Express and count that as wisdom enough (for our international readers, this humor is based on an advertisement run by that hotel chain).

May our Lord bless and protect you and your family in this perilous time.

The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr.
President and CEO, American Anglican Council

_________________________

How long will KJS be able to keep fooling herself and others?  When will ‘reality therapy’ kick in and the denial become too obvious to ignore?    

TONAWANDA, NY: Largest Parish in NY Votes to Leave The Episcopal Church:  1,000 members relocate to purchased synagogue with three times the space  By David W. Virtue  www.virtueonline.org  10/8/2008

The largest Episcopal Church in New York has voted to leave the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Western New York and affiliate with the Province of the Southern Cone, saying the National Church has strayed from the authority of Scripture and the Lordship of Christ as the besetting issues.

The Rev. Arthur Ward, rector of the 1000-member St. Bartholomew’s congregation, said they plan to vacate the property at Brighton and Fries Roads in Tonawanda before the end of the year. "We are very excited about the future. 99% of the congregation is leaving. We have the overwhelming support of everyone.

The future never looked better. Where we are going is three times the size of the present property. We will have room for growth that we would not have had if we had stayed where we are. God is good. Now we can grow and expand free of a denomination that no longer believes in the uniqueness of Christ and His saving message"

Ward spoke with Bishop Garrison telling him the congregation and its leadership will officially leave TEC on Sunday, December 14. Ward told VOL that the bishop was gracious and thanked us for giving him the lead time.

"He also granted our request to write dimissory letters for our five clergy (three priests and two deacons) and one of our retired clergy, to transfer us to the Diocese of Argentina. Our congregation of over 1000 strong will be leaving for the new location, a former Jewish synagogue, Temple Beth El, less than a mile away. We are looking forward to the move. We will close on the deal shortly. We will have a very manageable mortgage," Ward told VOL.

"I am glad that we can now put the conflict and division of the Episcopal Church behind us. God’s Word is clear – truth is more important than unity and principle trumps property. We now look forward to exchanging the negative energy of division with the positive energy of building a new church and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ unhindered by the revisionist constraints of the Episcopal Church."

The parish ranks 111th largest in the Episcopal Church. There are 7,300 parishes in TEC. Their departure is a major blow to the Diocese of Western New York and Bishop Michael Garrison’s weakening grip on the diocese. St. Bartholomew’s is fully 10 percent of church going Episcopalians in the diocese – and represents a major financial loss to the diocese.

Read it all here:http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9160

The real issue here is not parishes or dioceses departing, rather it is that the Episcopal Church was hemorrhaging membership well before the controversial ordination of Gene Robinson. Individuals are realigning with their feet.   — Faith J. H. McDonnell, Director of the IRD’s Religious Liberty Program

Washington, DC—The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted on Saturday to end its affiliation with the national denomination. The vote carried with support from 119 of the 191 lay delegates and 121 of the 160 clergy delegates. The diocese has aligned itself with another province in the Anglican Communion, the Argentina-based Province of the Southern Cone. The vote taken by the diocesan convention follows the removal of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan on September 18th by the Episcopal House of Bishops over the charge of “abandonment of the communion”.

Pittsburgh follows the Fresno, California-based Diocese of San Joaquin, which voted to secede from the Episcopal Church in December 2007. Two other Dioceses, Fort Worth, Texas and Quincy, Illinois, are scheduled to vote in November on similar resolutions.

IRD Religious Liberty Director Faith J.H. McDonnell commented:

“We at the IRD support the faithful Anglicans in the Diocese of Pittsburgh who have now left The Episcopal Church. Their decisions were made soberly and only after much prayer and agonizing deliberation.

“We also recognize that, in responding to God’s call, some faithful Anglicans will remain within The Episcopal Church. Their call is no less one from God, and we support them in their mission of renewing the denomination.

“The real issue here is not parishes or dioceses departing, rather it is that the Episcopal Church was hemorrhaging membership well before the controversial ordination of Gene Robinson. Individuals are realigning with their feet. Many of the most vibrant and evangelistic parishioners are leaving, and the remaining revisionists appear unable to offer a compelling draw to potential new members.

“While Gene Robinson’s consecration heightened the issues within The Episcopal Church, it is in no way the main issue for the churches that are leaving. It provides one example of how The Episcopal Church has drifted away from its Scriptural foundations, but only one. Beyond wanting to be faithful to Scripture, the churches felt that their mission work was impaired by remaining within The Episcopal Church.

“Faithful orthodox Episcopalians owe a debt of gratitude to Global South Anglicans, where the church continues its vibrant growth and ministry. Orthodox Anglicans from many different groups have shown support to the Pittsburgh Diocese, demonstrating a solidarity that could only have been dreamed of a few years ago."

The standing committee of the Diocese of Quincy has recommended that the diocese seek realignment with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone based in Argentina, while continuing as a member of the Common Cause Partnership, according to Fr. James Marshall, president of the standing committee.

Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy is on sabbatical through the end of October. In the absence of the bishop, the standing committee is in charge of non-sacramental ecclesiastical duties. Bishop Ackerman will be back in time to preside at convention, which is scheduled to meet Nov. 7-8 at St. John’s Church, Quincy.

The standing committee decision following a Sept. 25 meeting at Grace Church, Galesburg, is similar to recommendations made by the standing committees in Pittsburgh and Fort Worth. Both of those dioceses have also scheduled votes similar to the one in Quincy.

Last year delegates to the annual synod in Quincy approved a number of canonical changes in preparation for this year’s decisive vote on whether to remain in union with the General Convention of The Episcopal Church.
 

The Standing Committee of The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh today took action to begin the process of recalling Bishop Robert Duncan to his position as diocesan bishop.  Bishop Duncan was involuntarily removed from the post by The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops on September 18.  While the diocese remained in The Episcopal Church, it submitted to the decision.  Now that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is part of the Province of The Southern Cone, it is free to invite Bishop Duncan back into leadership.

ET TU, HOUSE OF BISHOPS? It would seem so. The final betrayal, without a trial, will take place this week when bishops of the Episcopal Church take a vote to remove the orthodox Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan from ministry for abandoning the Communion of the Church, the Episcopal Church that is, not the Anglican Communion and certainly not the faith of the church which he holds more dearly than life itself.

Bishop Robert Duncan’s ecclesiastical death is the clear objective of the presiding bishop. In a letter to the clergy and people of the diocese Duncan wrote, "Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori made it clear that there will be a vote to depose me from the ministry of the Episcopal Church."

The charge against Bishop Duncan, initiated by five priests and sixteen laypeople of the Diocese of Pittsburgh is led by the liberal priest and pathological opponent of orthodoxy Dr. Harold Lewis of Calvary Episcopal and an implacable foe of Bishop Duncan who has spent the last two years litigating against this godly Evangelical Catholic bishop. The "evidence" in the case put forward by the House of Bishops Property Task Force, is drawn directly from the Calvary litigation.

"We have long suspected that a principal purpose in the Calvary litigation was to have me removed, by whatever means, before the realignment vote. Whatever the purported evidence, I continue to maintain that the House of Bishops ‘"vote’" will be a gross violation of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church," said Duncan.

Indeed it is. Mr. John H. Lewis, Jr. Bishop Duncan’s attorney wrote VOL pointing out that the Presiding Bishop and her chancellor are violating the canons of The Episcopal Church in order to "remove" Bishop Duncan prior to the diocesan convention in October. The move is clearly political in intent and nature.

Lewis called the action "improper" because Duncan’s actions are only "intentions". He cited the failed attempt to depose San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield, as a case in point. He further argued that both The Episcopal Church and the Province of the Southern Cone (under whose authority Duncan would come under) are members of the same "communion"- the Anglican Communion.

Lewis noted that the real intent of using this particular canon was to use the Task Force on Property disputes – not the Review Committee – for the purpose of seizing property. The Canons state that the case of an "inhibited" bishop must be referred to the HOB for action. Bishop Duncan has not been inhibited, let alone deposed. Jefferts Schori tried once before to inhibit him, but failed to get the consent of three senior bishops so had to drop it, albeit temporarily. Now she has returned with a vengeance.

"In these circumstances, I concur with my Chancellor and the Parliamentarian that any ambiguity in the canon should be resolved in favor of making this important provision (deposing Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan) work effectively and that the discipline of the Church should not be stymied because a majority or nearly a majority of voting bishops are no longer in active episcopal positions in the Church and their attendance at meetings is hampered by age, health, economics, or interest in other legitimate pursuits," wrote Jefferts Schori. You can read her full statement here: http://tinyurl.com/55bk3l

Back wrote Lewis, "The canons clearly distinguish between a majority of those present (the requirement when acting on a bishop’s request to resign) and a majority of bishops entitled to vote (the standard for deposition) it also is reasonable that there would be a higher standard for involuntary separation. The presiding bishop concedes an ‘ambiguity’ but says that the Canon has to mean what she says it means in order for it to ‘work effectively’. In other words, she doesn’t have the votes to depose Bishop Duncan so the canon has to be twisted in order to achieve her goal of removing Bishop Duncan before the diocesan convention."

The Presiding Bishop is out for blood and won’t rest till Duncan’s ecclesiastical head is removed from his shoulders and is out of the diocese. She has neither civility nor polity on her side, just raw vengeance. "If the presiding bishop really believes that Bishop Duncan’s statements and ‘intentions’ violate the canons, then she should follow the honorable course prescribed by the canons, announce a presentment and give him a trial," Lewis blasted back.

That, apparently is the last thing Jefferts Schori wants. She rules the House of Bishops with a rod of iron. Few, if any, bishops will stand up to her. She makes her predecessor Frank Griswold look like a declawed pussycat. He hated confrontation. She wallows in it.

"There are two things I would say, and one thing I would ask. First, whatever happens on Thursday as to my status, the Diocese will carry forward under rules long-ago established. If I am ‘removed,’ the Standing Committee will be the Ecclesiastical Authority", said Duncan.

The Pittsburgh diocese is scheduled to vote Oct. 4 at its diocesan convention on whether to secede from the Episcopal Church and realign with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone in South America. While there are two factions opposed to leaving TEC, the overwhelming majority stand with Bishop Duncan.

Duncan said in his letter that even if he is removed, leaders of the Pittsburgh diocese will carry on with the secession vote. Duncan and his supporters say that the U.S. church’s consecration of an openly avowed non-celibate priest to the episcopacy in the person of Gene Robinson was the final line in the sand.

Duncan’s opponents have made it equally clear that even if a majority of Pittsburgh Episcopalians vote to withdraw from the Episcopal Church, the National Church will continue to have a Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Several hundred Pittsburgh Episcopalians met at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon on Saturday and said they planned to stay with the Episcopal Church

"The beginnings may be a trifle rough but we have the will and the people to proceed," said Mary Roehrich, a member of St. Andrew’s Church in Highland Park. "…This diocese will not be liberal or conservative. It will have significant numbers of people of all theological stripes," said one newspaper report.

The presentation was made by an organization called Across the Aisle, a coalition of clergy and lay people that formed seven months ago, after Duncan announced he would seek to have the Pittsburgh Diocese break from what he feels is a liberal-leaning Episcopal Church.

Across the Aisle has "made a first cut at a budget and, in so doing, have made support for parishes, parish initiatives and mission development a high priority," said Joan Gundersen, a member of the Church of the Redeemer, Squirrel Hill.

A standing committee of four lay people and four clergy will lead the reorganized diocese until a new bishop can be selected, said Rev. James Simons, rector of St. Michael’s of the Valley in Ligonier and chairman of the Across the Aisle steering committee.

The legal battle over the $43 million in assets that the national church says the diocese holds in trust will become the lynchpin of the deposition of Bishop Duncan by the Presiding Bishop. Across the Aisle is working in cooperation with the national church.

Mrs. Jefferts Schori’s particular animus for Bishop Duncan has no parallel. She has not gone after Ft. Worth Bishop Jack Iker, Bishop John-David Schofield (San Joaquin) or Bishop Keith Ackerman (Quincy) with the same degree of ferocity that she has gone after Bishop Duncan. There is a peculiar hatred for Duncan born no doubt because of his leadership of Common Cause Partnership bringing together orthodox dioceses and parishes in the Episcopal Church under an umbrella movement, and for his unquestioned leadership in the upcoming North American Anglican Province.

Clearly the remaining orthodox in The Episcopal Church are on a collision course with the Episcopal Church’s revisionist leadership. There is no going back for either the pansexualists who are bent on moving the church forward in a direction at odds with the vast majority of Anglicans worldwide or Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals in TEC who see little or no future for themselves in the present church. By the end of the year Anglo-Catholicism will cease to exist at a diocesan level. Then it will be Evangelicals who will face the music.

The following are confidential documents concerning the inhibition and deposition of Bishop Robert Duncan from Bishop Dorsey Henderson of the Title IV Review Committee to the Presiding Bishop.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/DuncanCert.pdf

The following is a statement from Bishop Duncan’s attorney John H. Lewis Jr.

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8994

The following is Bishop Duncan’s Pastoral Statement to his clergy and laity

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8987

END