The Historic Via Media: The Boundaries of Anglican Identity By Cheryl H. White, Ph.D. There seems to have been a renewed interest in the via media – indeed, this term has been invoked with increasing frequency amidst the rhetoric of the revisionists within the Episcopal Church. Many groups who support the recent consecration of Gene Robinson as a bishop of the Church are using the term via media in an attempt to corrupt its historic meaning. By applying the term to actions th

US Bishops pressured to find a compromise Church of England Newspaper, 3/25/2004 The American House of Bishops was this week under immense pressure to reach a compromise on providing Episcopal oversight to dissenting traditional parishes, amid an intractable divide between conservatives and liberals. Guards have been posted at the gates and a media lockdown is in force during the Episcopal Church's retreat for bishops which began on March 19 in Navasota, Texas. Aides to Presi

ALBANY: HOB RESPONDS - IS HALF A LOAF BETTER THAN NONE? by Bishop Dave Bena The House of Bishops met this week in Texas to take up action on the growing number of parishes (now in the hundreds) who feel that they cannot accept Episcopal Oversight by their bishops. Most of these are traditional parishes which take Scripture very seriously and which teach and model biblical, conservative values. They have gathered that their bishops are teaching and modeling values in oppositio

Offer of episcopal oversight called 'unfortunate' Marites N. Sison, Staff Writer, Anglican Journal Archbishop David Crawley, the acting primate, has written formal letters of protest to the primates of Central Africa, Congo, Rwanda and Southeast Asia saying their offer of "temporary adequate episcopal oversight" to New Westminster parishes opposed to same-sex blessings constitutes interference in the affairs of the Anglican Church of Canada. Four out of 11 churches that do no

By Claudia C. Kalis When my daughter was 3 years old she loved popsicles. Not infrequently, the popsicle would break in half and she would burst into tears begging me, "Mom. Fix it. Mom, please fix it." I knew, or quickly learned, that broken popsicles cannot be fixed, no matter the ingenuity of ones efforts. If my daughter was to have a whole, unbroken popsicle there was only one solution, one answer. Give her a new one. The Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishe

By David W. Virtue, 2/26/2004 Walter C. Righter, the former Bishop of Iowa and assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Newark, NJ who was tried and subsequently found not guilty for ordaining a non-celibate homosexual to the priesthood, says the five orthodox bishops who won't subscribe to ECUSA's canons and constitution should leave the Episcopal Church. Writing on the House of Bishops/Deputies, listserv, an Online chat room, the revisionist bishop said, "if the continuing dissen

By David C. Anderson If some see even a glimmer of hope in DEPO (Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight), we fail to see how. It is too complicated, too lengthy, designed to frustrate further, to identify the rebels and annihilate the faithful before a real safe harbor can be reached, and leaves the local bishop with veto over the process and no clear definitive decisive and timely way to override the veto. From our standpoint DEPO is a NO-GO. It represents bad faith on the p

By Cynthia P. Brust, AAC, March 26, 2004 The House of Bishops has failed the Church by its new process for Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight (DEPO). The bishops had the opportunity to act sacrificially and lovingly to reach out to orthodox Episcopal congregations and parishioners. Instead, they have offered DEPO, a cumbersome bureaucratic process controlled by the very overseers from whom relief is sought. It inadequately deals with episcopal pastoral care and fails enti

Dear Brothers and Sisters, This week the ECUSA House of Bishops meeting in Navasota, Texas trumpeted an uncertain sound in proposing measures to deal with the crisis in The Episcopal Church. Thoughtful Episcopalians said it was a totally inadequate blast in the face of the current crisis in The Episcopal Church. It touched on symptoms not systemic problems. Time will tell if what took place at Camp Allen, Texas is the final turn in the road towards open schism or just another

By David W. Virtue PHILADELPHIA, PA—The revisionist Bishop of Pennsylvania, Charles E. Bennison is facing increasing pressure from orthodox priests in his diocese who disagree with him over the faith, ECUSA's liberal positions on sexual morality and the way he runs the diocese. "Diversity is disappearing, instead we have a liberal narrowness. It's a paradox. Genuine liberalness is slowly vanishing and becoming deliberately narrow," said the Rev. Don Sehulster, the evangelical

By Dave Munday Charleston, S.C., Post and Courier March 26 -- A retired S.C. Episcopal bishop who was censured for invading another bishop's territory calls the rebuke by church leaders the height of hypocrisy. Retired Bishop FitzSimons Allison of Georgetown joined four other retired U.S. bishops and a bishop from Brazil in confirming 110 Episcopalians at a March 14 interchurch service in Akron, Ohio. The parishioners said they could not allow themselves to be confirmed by Oh

From Cynthia Brust Director of Communications American Anglican Council We are not surprised by the House of Bishops censuring the five of us for providing support to those congregations in revisionist dioceses who cannot in good conscience accept the radical actions taken by General convention and who now find themselves alienated from their diocesan leadership. The House of Bishops continues its long retreat from its sworn responsibilities concerning the Christian faith, fr

By The Rev. Dr. Andrew Goddard It appears beyond doubt that this coming year will prove decisive for the future of worldwide Anglicanism. Attention has now — thankfully — shifted from disputes over homosexuality to questions concerning what the Anglican Communion is and how it must change if it is to survive the current crisis. It is therefore important to understand why there is a crisis without reference to same-sex unions and 'gay bishops'; similar issues could arise in re

By Jan Nunley [ENS] Saying that they "repudiate and deplore the unilateral actions" of five retired U.S. bishops who conducted confirmations in Ohio without the diocesan bishop's permission, the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops, meeting at Camp Allen, Texas on March 24, nevertheless declined to proceed with disciplinary action against them. The vote on the resolution was unanimous, according to Bishop Suffragan Ken Price of Southern Ohio, secretary of the House of Bishops.

A HISTORY OF SEXUAL ABUSE BY EPISCOPAL CLERGY MINNEAPOLIS, MN-An organization calling itself SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) will file a lawsuit against an Episcopal priest who abused a California youngster years ago, and still serves in a parish today. David Clohessy, 46, a national director of SNAP told VIRTUOSITY that he could not name the priest pending the suit, but would release the name shortly. Clohessy did express one serious concern. "I fear that

March 24, 2004 By Cynthia P. Brust Director of Communication The House of Bishops has proven once again their dysfunction and inability to acknowledge, much less address, the crisis of the Episcopal Church. From a format of "process", small group discussion and multiple revisions, they have produced a plan for episcopal oversight that is undeniably and woefully inadequate. "Adequate" oversight must be determined by those who are seeking it. The House of Bishops considered the

A BROKEN LADDER EPISCOPAL BISHOPS' NEW OVERSIGHT PLAN IS INADEQUATE, SHOULD BE IGNORED by David Roseberry Plano, TX (March 25, 2004) -- The Bishops of the Episcopal Church, in a meeting this week, have revealed a new plan to supposedly provide pastoral oversight for dissenting congregations in dioceses. The plan is inadequate and should be ignored. The Episcopal Church (ECUSA) voted at last year's convention to consecrate as bishop a man who is living in a homosexual partners

TRADITIONALIST EPISCOPALIANS MAY FORM CHURCH IN NORTH CAROLINA By YONAT SHIMRON Staff Writer News Observer March 23, 2004 RALEIGH, NC—Traditionalist Episcopalians upset with the recent confirmation of an openly gay bishop are considering forming their own church in Raleigh. The group, All Saint's Fellowship, printed notice of its intention to explore starting a new church in its weekly Sunday bulletin. It has been holding Sunday services in the chapel of St. David's School, f

NEWS ANALYSIS By David W. Virtue The Episcopal Church House of Bishops has adopted a covenant which they believe will resolve all the problems that now exist between revisionist bishops and biblically orthodox parishes. After three days of closed door meetings at Camp Allen, Texas where even cell phones didn't work and guards were needed at the gates, in order, one presumes, to prevent anyone wanting to run in and steal the pluriform mind of Frank Griswold, the 100 or so bish

FORWARD IN FAITH SAYS HOB DEPO STATEMENT UNACCEPTABLE STATEMENT FROM FIFNA PRESIDENT, FR. DAVID MOYER 24 March 2004 FIFNA'S RESPONSE TO THE HOUSE OF BISHOPS' STATEMENT ON EPISCOPAL CARE Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, Kyrie Eleison. It would be wise in this second half of the Lenten season to pray unceasingly in light of the ECUSA House of Bishop's Statement of 23 March, 2004. We have a church (or as Father Sam Edwards would say, an "unchurch") that has been declared to be in