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Heretical Bishops, We Don't Need Them - by George A. Burns

HERETICAL BISHOPS - WE DON'T NEED THEM

By George A. Burns

For a century and a half, from 1607 to 1784 there was no Anglican Bishop in America. The parishes were all under the theoretical leadership of the Bishop of London, three thousand miles away. Actually, the Puritans and many others in colonial American feared that if Bishops were sent here they might be clothed with more than "spiritual powers."

On 14 November, 1784, Samuel Seabury was consecrated a Bishop by three Bishops of the independent Scottish Anglican Church, which had maintained a precarious existence in Presbyterian Scotland since the revolution of 1688.

Now, in 2004, we Anglicans in North America are faced with a crisis of leadership not unlike that of the Church of the colonies. Our parishes today do not have an absence of Episcopal leadership. We have a proliferation of Episcopal leadership, but it is by a group of heretical Bishops. Many of these apostate Bishops actually admit that they have departed from the historic faith. They seek to justify their heretical voice and actions by giving us a new Bible, new Sacraments, and new Commandments.

The parishes of the faithful can find both guidance and strength from the history of our colonial past. We do not need the ministrations of heretical Bishops. If the parishes of America could function under the leadership of a Bishop three thousand miles away, surely we can function under the leadership of the faithful retired Bishops of the Episcopal Church such as those who officiated at the Sacrament of Confirmation in Ohio. We can function under the leadership of the many foreign Archbishops who have offered their Episcopal oversight, such as Archbishop Akinola and Archbishop Venables. We can also function under the leadership of the Bishops of the other Anglican bodies who preserve our Anglican Book of Common Prayer and Tradition.

As our forefathers put off the yoke of the tyrant, so we faithful in the Episcopal Church refuse to have the Word and Sacraments trodden under the feet of heretics. We will accept Episcopal leadership only from a faithful Father in God.

Heretical Bishops! We Don't Need Them!

Fr. George A. Burns, Assisting Priest
Church of the Nativity
Jacksonville, Florida

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