Letters
received during the week of 18 January 2004
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AS
A CRADLE EPISCOPALIAN I experienced tremendous pride in my Church
the day that General Convention confirmed Gene Robinson's nomination
as a bishop. The majority of the Episcopal Church's bishops and
lay leaders had faced the divisive actions taken by those who
opposed this election — and I saw new hope for the church.
Until
today when I read Deborah
Daldwell's interview with Bishop Griswold I still had negative
feelings toward the actions being taken by those who oppose Bishop
Robinson's election. After reading Bishop Griswold's responses
I feel totally confident in the stability and direction the Episcopal
Church will take in the future. We are most fortunate to have
Bishop Frank Griswold as our Presiding Bishop and Primate.
Carl
D. Bell
Diocese of California
Los Altos, California, USA
CarlD7@msn.com
19 January 2004
And
another
I AM NEW
TO YOUR SITE, but have enjoyed many of the discussions.
I came to the Anglican Community as a result of compromise. As
many of your readers may relate the Anglican Church provided
a bridge for worship in a Protestant / Catholic marriage.
I
readily embraced the church and found good fellowship and communion.
But as the Church in the US began to cast a wide net of inclusion
I began to fall away. It is one thing to love all, but yet another
to condone acts that are castigated in negative tones in the
Scripture. How far can you defend 'love the sinner, hate the
sin?'
I
think that the many churches in the US have fallen prey to being
a harbor for the poitical and social minorities. What does this
accomplish? Does this not isolate the faithful? Many in the Episcopal
Church are conservative in their beliefs, relying on the Scripture
for guidance, not bending and twisting bits and pieces. The old
adage 'you must stand for something or you will fall for anything
is so accurate at this time in the US Episcopal Church leadership.
For
many years now the US church has been the recipient of missionaries
from Africa and the Orient in order to try to turn the increasing
tide of liberalism and political correctness. All of this said
to convey that talk of a schism and the resulting discussions
of doctrine should be a wake-up call to the Anglican Community.
Remember what Christ said to the churches in Revelation!
I
would love to be among the faithful again, but in the United
States the Church has become the material for comedians and the
tool of alternative lifestyle advocates. How many Episcopalians
are leaving the Church because the Church left them?
May
the peace of the Lord be with you.
Jeffrey
Baker
Unchurched at the moment
Tyler, Texas, USA
21 January 2004
'Metaphorical
nonsense?'
ECUSA'S PRESIDING
BISHOP Frank
Griswold has just come out with a new general letter in which he
writes that he hopes 'God is leading us more deeply into who we are called
to be as a community
of faith'. Would anyone help me, please, to understand how
this metaphorically nonsensical expression is rooted either
in the inspiration of Jesus Christ or in the spiritual wisdom
of the scriptures attributed to the first of Christ's apostles?
Henry
Greville
St Edward's Parish
Stow-on-the-Wold, UNITED KINGDOM
23 January 2004
The Vancouver
Sun and St Martin's Church
THE
ARTICLE FROM THE VANCOUVER SUN (16
January 2004)
seriously misrepresents the situation at St Martin's North Vancouver.
This church has not
decided to quit the orthodox coalition called the Anglican
Communion in New Westminster. The only ones at the church who
have decided to withdraw are the three wardens. These are three
wardens who were installed by New Westminster Bishop Michael
Ingham when he invoked Canon 15 on the church. They are bishop-appointed
wardens who do not represent the desires of the congregation.
St
Martin's voted in two successive vestry meetings to seek alternative
oversight and withhold assessments from the Diocese over the
blessings of same sex unions.
Bishop
Ingham invoked Canon 15, fired the entire democratically elected
vestry, the much-loved youth pastor and the majority of volunteers
in the parish. These were people who supported the decision to
seek AEO. He also changed the locks on the church.
Canon
15 was invoked because the parish was considered by the bishop
to be in crisis. It has not solved the problem. More than half
of the congregation meets every Monday night at a nearby United
Church for a prayer book service. The bishop-appointed trustees
refused to allow them the use of their own sanctuary. Routinely
more people show up Monday night than attend on Sunday. Many
of those who attend Sunday also go to the Monday night service.
Last
weekend when Bishop Ingham showed up to preach at the 10 a.m.
service about 60 people were in the pews. Many of them refused
to take communion from him. At the 8 a.m. service over 80 people
attended many of whom left when the bishop arrived.
So
far as the ACiNW is concerned St. Martin's remains a valued member
of the coalition until such time as they achieve their aim of
AEO, or have a democratic vestry meeting and vote that they no
longer want to pursue this course. Given that they are not being
allowed to vote on anything (or have input into the hiring of
their new rector) I suspect they will remain within our fold
until we reach a solution to this growing problem.
Lesley
Bentley, spokesperson, ACiNW
St John's Church (Shaughnessy)
Vancouver, British Columbia, CANADA
21 January 2004
Earlier
letters
We launched our
'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All of our letters are
in our archives.
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