jQuery Slider

You are here

TEC Takes Big Hit in Legal Battles in SC, Ft Worth, Quincy*ABC Hopes Women Bishops Won’t be Ecumenical Stumbling Block

Full hearts and empty heads. Christianity lays great emphasis on the importance of knowledge, rebukes anti-intellectualism for the negative, paralyzing thing it is, and traces many of our problems to our ignorance. Whenever the heart is full and the head is empty, dangerous fanaticisms arise. --- John R.W Stott

If there is one thing I think the Church needs to learn, it is that God means prayer to have an answer.
–-- Andrew Murray

Speaking truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act. –-- George Orwell

ECUSA, the national Church, likes to claim that dioceses do not exist apart from the national Church; but the truth runs the other way: the national Church would be nothing without its member dioceses—and particularly those pre-existing dioceses corresponding to the former Church of England in each of nine former colonies. --- Allan S. Haley, Canon Lawyer

The crisis of moral authority is thus accompanied by a crisis of theological authority. In both cases the only answer will be found in the formation of new patterns and structures of leadership and the raising up and training of leaders who can survive this new level of scrutiny. While difficult in the short run, in the long run this could be of great benefit to the Church. --- Alastair Roberts

The Episcopal Church reports that the retirement rate of its clergy exceeds the ordination rate by 43 percent. --- The Atlantic Monthly

Well, TEC is snakebit. Now the Church of England is dragon bit. --- Follower of Christ

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org
August 1, 2014

The high and “holy” poobahs at 815 2nd Avenue, NY, NY, the Episcopal Church’s national headquarters, must be wetting their collective underwear these days. It was not a good week and, by all accounts, it is only going to get worse.

They are losing property battles in South Carolina, Ft. Worth, and Quincy. The much ballyhooed Dennis Canon is giving way to “Neutral Principles” as the method for resolving church property disputes.

Neutral Principles, accepted in 36 states and approved by the U.S. Supreme Court since 1979, is a method of settling questions of church property ownership using the same rules that govern ownership of other types of private property. It removes courts from wading into doctrinal disputes.

All the winds point in the direction of these three dioceses winning their cases, though you can be sure that whatever happens, TEC’s lawyers will be ready to launch their final hope of legal and property salvation with the Supreme Court of the US to make final adjudication.

The trial concluded in South Carolina this past week. By all accounts, Bishop Mark Lawrence’s lawyers kicked butt and David Booth Beers and team were sent packing by the judge for doing things they knew they should not be doing in her courtroom. It was theirs to win. By most readings, they will not. VOL’s intrepid reporter Ladson F. Mills III covered the event with grace and fervor. His stories can be read at VOL’s website www.virtueonline.org

But this is the Episcopal Church, after all, where vindictiveness, money, and property go hand in hand and all play second fiddle to inclusiveness, diversity, redemption, and grace that never really figure into the equation. We have long known that money is used to win over global south provinces that struggle with poverty issues and trust funds are used as “mission” to sue parishes and dioceses for property.

*****

The Episcopal Church’s Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer, N. Kurt Barnes announced this week that the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society’s (DFMS) trust funds, which total $380 million, continued an exceptional performance during the first six months of 2014.

The trust funds account for 25% of the annual budget of The Episcopal Church.

Barnes explained, “Annual returns after all fees and expenses were 18.6%, 14.1% and 7.7% for the one-, five- and 10-years ending March 31, 2014 – ranking within the top 20% of all foundations with assets over $50 million as tracked by the InvestorForce Performance Reporting Network (subsidiary of MSCI Inc.).”

“We believe that our consistent performance with no additional management fees is what attracted an additional $3 million of assets from new participants during the first six months,” added T. Dennis Sullivan, chair of the Executive Council’s Investment Committee.

Okay. So the church has tons of money, but it still may need to sell its landmark 815 2nd Avenue property!

The real problem is that TEC is running out of people. There are no new Generation X and Y and Millennials racing in to fill emptying pews. Several dioceses are ready to juncture as I write this; things are not getting better in most dioceses when it comes to raw ASA numbers. Pansexuality, inclusivity, and diversity seem to be playing well with feminist priests, gay bishops, inclusive liturgies and the like, but not with the general public. TEC may die the richest church in the world…would the last pensioner please turn out the lights?

A case in point, or Strike 2: The Episcopal Church lost for a second time in Illinois with a precedent-setting victory for Quincy. This is a huge victory; there is no way to get around that, noted Quincy’s chancellor.

In Springfield, Illinois, The ACNA Diocese of Quincy (DIO Quincy) garnered a huge victory this week when the Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court thoroughly rejected The Episcopal Church's appeal to the Illinois Adams County Eighth Judicial Circuit Court and ruled in favor of the realigned Anglican diocese.

On Sept. 9, 2013, Associate Judge Thomas J. Ortbal ruled, “There is no provision in TEC's Constitution or Canons which require prior approval of a diocesan constitution or its canons. There is no express prohibition against withdrawal of a diocese.”

Then barely 10 days later, on Sept. 20, 2013, the Diocese of Chicago, which had reabsorbed the TEC Diocese of Quincy (TEC Quincy) on Sept. 1, 2013, filed a motion for a stay of judgment indicating its intention to appeal Judge Ortbal's ruling which gave sole title of bank accounts and diocesan property to DIO Quincy.

"We continue to maintain, despite that ruling, that the assets in dispute rightfully belong to the [TEC] Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, now reunited with the Diocese of Chicago," Bishop Jeffrey Lee (XII Chicago) posted to his diocesan website on Sept. 27, 2013. "This will ultimately be decided by the appellate court."

Richard Baker of the law firm of Mauck and Baker wrote the following to the Diocese of Quincy:

Dear Quincy Supporters:

“As you are undoubtedly aware, on July 24 the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the trial court's decision on behalf of the diocese of Quincy. Attached is a short article summarizing the litigation and the appellate court ruling. While TEC may still appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court on this case and has 2 other pending cases in Illinois involving parishes, this is a major victory and affirms the legality of Quincy's determination to secede from TEC. Thank you for your support, your prayers, and encouragement throughout the process thus far.”

I suppose TEC’s new motto wherever they lose is NO SURRENDER.

*****

The Archbishop of Canterbury said this week that he hopes women bishops won’t be an ecumenical stumbling block. In a letter sent to Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote he hopes that the vote to allow the ordination of women bishops would not prove to be a stumbling block to future “full communion” between the Anglican and Catholic churches.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the Most Rev. Justin Welby admitted in the letter that the vote at the General Synod earlier this month to allow women bishops is a “further difficulty”, as far unity is concerned.

In the letter to Francis and other church leaders from around the world, the Archbishop penned, “We are aware that our other ecumenical partners may find this a further difficulty on the journey towards full communion.

“There is, however, much that unites us, and I pray that the bonds of friendship will continue to be strengthened and that our understanding of each other’s traditions will grow. It is clear to me that whilst our theological dialogue will face new challenges, there is nonetheless so much troubling our world today that our common witness to the Gospel is of more importance than ever.”

One Canadian Anglican blogger responded, “I’m sure Justin Welby is correct in saying that a unified witness to the Gospel is needed now more than ever. It seems to me, though, that when the Church of England voted in favor of women bishops, they were setting their own parochial agenda above the unified witness to the Gospel to which they claim to be so committed. Justin Welby was not ignorant of the fact that ordaining women bishops would further fracture Christian unity: women bishops were more important that a common witness to the Gospel and, in that sense, more important than the Gospel itself.”

Furthermore, the Episcopal Church has had women priests for some 40 years and there is no empirical evidence that they have made churches grow. In fact, the advent of women priests and bishops, and later the ordination of openly gay and lesbian priests and bishops, has only accelerated the decline, not halted it. People have not come racing into the “gay church” (TEC) looking for salvation. The handful that do come looking, are seeking ratification of their behaviors not salvation from them.

*****

This week marked the 40th anniversary of the first 11 women irregularly ordained in The Episcopal Church. Forty years after the first women were ordained to be priests in the Episcopal church, its presiding bishop is uncertain where her -- yes, her -- spiritual home would be if the church still refused to ordain females.

"I don't know if I'd still be an Episcopalian," Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in an interview with NCR. "That's a good question."

The church at first declared those ordinations -- 11 women in Philadelphia on July 29, 1974, and four the next year in Washington, D.C. -- to be both "irregular" and "invalid," but eventually labeled them valid though irregular. In 1976, the church's national governing body, pressured by wide acceptance of those irregular ordinations, changed the rules and allowed for the ordination of women as priests, not just as deacons. It also "regularized" the Philadelphia and Washington ordinations.

Without that rules change, "I'd be fishing in other seas," commented Jefferts Schori, who holds a master's degree in oceanography. It's a good guess that the religious sea would not be where she spent the first eight years of her life, in Catholicism with its all-male priesthood.

The 40th anniversary of the ordination of the Philadelphia 11, as the women became known, is turning into an occasion for considerable introspection about how it all came about and what difference it has made for the Episcopal Church, for the worldwide Anglican Communion, and for the broader church.

Mary Ann Mueller, VOL’s reporter at large had her own take on that event that can be read in today’s digest. http://www.virtueonline.org/remembering-philadelphia-11

*****

Religious and political leaders have stepped up their calls for a permanent ceasefire to the three-week-long conflict between Israel and Hamas. The number of casualties has topped 7,000 and the death toll reached 1,200.

“The continued and escalating violence in the land of the Holy One, the slaughter of innocents by actions of both sides, and the rigidity and absence of true political leadership is making the world weep,” Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote in a statement e-mailed to ENS. “God weeps as well, as brother kills brother. Will we permit Cain and Abel to play out their brief and bellicose act, or will we demand an end to this depravity? No one will live in peace in the Middle East – or the world – while this carnage continues. Pray for peace, shelter the innocent, support every humanitarian response, and insist on an end to this inhumanity.”

Ironically, the Presiding Bishop nowhere mentions the rockets and tunnels, the bomb-rigged homes and the placing of rockets near civilian hospitals and schools by Hamas. By inference, if not directly stated, Israel is the bad guy and innocent Arab civilians are the good guys. No mention is made of Israeli citizens who must duck for cover when they hear the whistles blow. No mention is made of the $31 million spent by Hamas on building concrete bunkers and tunnels, money that could have been spent on education, food and jobs for their people. Granted that Gaza is like a huge prison camp that no one can get in or out of, the people of Gaza are being badly served by Hamas. They need a government of their own (not controlled from the West Bank) that can negotiate with the Israelis. It won’t be perfect, but it would be a lot better than having bombs rain down on them from land, sea, and air, day after day.

In a carefully-worded equilibrium, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby issued a statement on the Israel/Gaza conflict: “You can't look at the pictures coming from Gaza and Israel without your heart breaking. We must cry to God and beat down the doors of heaven and pray for peace and justice and security. Only a costly and open-hearted seeking of peace between Israeli and Palestinian can protect innocent people, their children and grandchildren, from ever worse violence.

“My utmost admiration is for all those involved in the humanitarian efforts on the ground, not least the medical team and staff at Al Ahli Arab Hospital. Providing relief and shelter for those displaced is a tangible expression of our care and concern, and I encourage Church of England parishes and dioceses, as well as the wider Communion, to pray for them and support the Diocese of Jerusalem's emergency appeal.

“While humanitarian relief for those civilians most affected is a priority, especially women and children, we must also recognize that this conflict underlines the importance of renewing a commitment to political dialogue in the wider search for peace and security for both Israeli and Palestinian. The destructive cycle of violence has caused untold suffering and threatens the security of all.

“For all sides to persist with their current strategy, be it threatening security by the indiscriminate firing of rockets at civilian areas or aerial bombing which increasingly fails to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, is self-defeating. The bombing of civilian areas, and their use to shelter rocket launches, are both breaches of age old customs for the conduct of war.

“Further political impasse, acts of terror, economic blockades or sanctions and clashes over land and settlements, all increase the alienation of those affected. Populations condemned to hopelessness or living under fear will be violent. Such actions create more conflict, more deaths and will in the end lead to an even greater disaster than the one being faced today. The road to reconciliation is hard, but ultimately the only route to security. It is the responsibility of all leaders to protect the innocent, not only in the conduct of war but in setting the circumstances for a just and sustainable peace.

“While it is acceptable to question and even disagree with particular policies of the Israeli government, the spike in violence and abuse against Jewish communities here in the UK is simply unacceptable. We must not allow such hostility to disrupt the good relations we cherish among people of all faiths. Rather we must look at ways at working together to show our concern and support for those of goodwill on all sides working for peace.”

So we must all cry to God.

*****

Pope Francis became the first pope to visit a Pentecostal church, pressing his outreach to evangelicals who represent Catholicism's greatest competition for Christian souls around the globe.

Francis flew by helicopter this week to visit the under-construction Pentecostal Church of Reconciliation in the southern city of Caserta. He met privately with a Pentecostal preacher who is an old friend, Giovanni Traettino.

Speaking to some 350 Pentecostal faithful in the church, Francis apologized for Catholic persecution of Pentecostals during Italy's fascist regime and stressed that there is unity in diversity within Christianity.

He acknowledged the remarkable nature of his visit, "Someone will be surprised: 'The pope went to visit the evangelicals?' But he went to see his brothers." Francis has met unofficially with several Pentecostal and evangelical preachers recently.

The church’s pastor, Rev. Traettino, a close friend of the Pope, told him his visit was "unthinkable until recently," but added, "Even among Evangelicals there is great affection for you. Many of us pray for you, every day. Many of us, in fact, believe your election as bishop of Rome was the work of the Holy Spirit."

In June, Francis met US televangelists James Robinson and Kenneth Copeland, and megachurch pastor Joel Osteen. Traettino was present on 1 June when Francis addressed a charismatic gathering in Rome’s Olympic Stadium. Earlier this year, Francis recorded an iPhone video message with Evangelical Episcopal Bishop Tony Palmer for church leaders attending a conference hosted by Copeland. Bishop Palmer, who would have attended yesterday’s events, was killed in a motorcycle accident last week.

There was opposition to the visit from Catholics and Evangelicals. In a statement earlier this month, several Italian Evangelical groups met in Caserta and stressed the "incompatibility" of their beliefs with that of the Catholic Church and the Pope.

*****

An evangelical layman, Tom Isham of Trinity Episcopal Church in Marshall, Michigan, is working with the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to add the 19th century evangelical bishop, Charles Pettit McIlvaine, to the calendar of the Episcopal Church.

As a man of great and varied gifts, Charles Pettit McIlvaine did many things and he did them well. Combining evangelical fervor and liturgical dignity in equal measure, he distinguished himself as a leader, author, scholar, educator, preacher, revivalist, reformer, ecumenist, and Sunday school pioneer. His literary and scholarly gifts advanced the evangelical cause in the Episcopal Church, defended Christian doctrine, and addressed social issues. He was an active delegate at the first Lambeth Conference.

Throughout his career, Bishop McIlvaine emphasized spiritual rebirth. Hence he preached at numerous revivals, conducting them in good Episcopal fashion, “decently and in order.” His awakening at age seventeen matched the experience he recommended. “It was in the college of which I was a student,” he recalled. “It was powerful and prevailing, and fruitful in the conversion of young men to God; and it was quiet, unexcited, and entirely free from all devices or means, beyond the few and simple which God has appointed… In that precious season of the power of God, my religious life began. I had heard before; I began then to know.”

Though raised in the East, McIlvaine served as Ohio’s second bishop for forty-one years. Earlier, he served churches in Washington, D.C. and Brooklyn, N.Y.; twice served as U.S. Senate chaplain; lectured on Christian evidences at the University of the City of New York; and served as chaplain and professor at the U.S. Military Academy, where he transformed the reigning secular ethos into one of Christian awareness, setting a new tone for the nation’s officer corps.

During the first dozen years of his episcopate, he also served as president of Kenyon College and Seminary. He stabilized the college’s finances, built academic structures and faculty housing, and set the standard for racial harmony.

*****

CHURCHES FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS. Following a process designed to streamline resources and better serve the Diocese, C4SO Bishop Todd Hunter has revised titles and defined roles for Diocesan leaders. As founding Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Bishop Hunter is a “missionary Bishop” raising support for church planting and “tent making.” Given this reality, he has opted for a less traditional episcopal model, and, therefore, Diocesan Canons and Deans play an especially robust role in C4SO. As with any team, roles and responsibilities sometimes overlap, but generally speaking, Canons may be understood as an extension of the Bishop’s office, and Deans may be understood as a local extension of the Bishop’s pastoral ministry to clergy and congregations. They claim to some 29 growing churches.

Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), a Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America, is a community of churches and leaders committed to nurturing existing congregations as well as planting new churches. Under the leadership of Diocesan Bishop Todd Hunter, C4SO seeks to announce, embody and demonstrate the Kingdom of God.

The new Diocese unites a community of churches and leaders located primarily in California, Kansas and Texas, organized by regional deaneries. C4SO will also be involved in planting churches in collaboration with other bishops throughout the United States. Begun as a church planting movement in 2009, the Anglican Church in North America’s Provincial Council approved formation of the Diocese in June 2013.

“The best changes come in the midst of continuity with our tradition,” commented Bishop Todd Hunter

*****

A NOTE FROM THE PEWS. I wonder if what I am about to tell you is happening elsewhere? I am a member of an Episcopal church located in a rural community. Our rector is an outstanding preacher and organizer. We have a strong outreach program and a highly impressive series of classes, seminars and other activities. We operate in the black. Our average Sunday attendance is 133.

Although our rector is a liberal, he has not once, in all the time I have been a member (seven years), mentioned the national church or the presiding bishop. In all that he does and says conforms to the Bible. If he were to speak of what is and has occurred on the national scene and take the national church’s view, I would expect our local church to fall apart. Otherwise, I expect that we will continue to grow.

Ignorance clearly is bliss, tis folly to be informed.

*****

From the thousands that visit VOL’s website daily, we need to get a few of you converted to subscribers. We need a group of you who will regularly support VOL and its global ministry. It is time to do what needs to be done. Come on board as a Sustainer Subscriber. Small and large donations are all accounted for and you will hear from us when you do send something to keep us going. - That's all it takes. We acknowledge all donations. Partnership is the key. So please take a few moments and drop us a check to keep VOL going. We are totally dependent on you our readers.

You can send your tax deductible donation to:

VIRTUEONLINE
570 Twin Lakes Road
P.O. Box 111
Shohola, PA 18458

VOL's PAYPAL link here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support-vol/

You can follow VOL on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VirtueOnline

You can follow VOL on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/virtueonline/

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

David

Subscribe
Get a bi-weekly summary of Anglican news from around the world.
comments powered by Disqus
Trinity School for Ministry
Go To Top