Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Good luck to them. I'm sorry this church is falling apart, but I see that like Luther said: they can do no other.
Dear sionnsar,
I find this confusing.
Are these people still part of the Anglican Communion?
Can Bishop Griswold in some way inhibit their communion with the Anglican Communion?
To me, it seems that, whatever its current difficulties, ECUSA is the current holder of the "exclusive franchise," if you will, of Anglicanism in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury in the United States. Although ECUSA's position is precarious, it has seemed that it is the final arbiter of who does and doesn't belong to the Anglican Communion in the US, at least for now.
But if these people declare themselves out of communion with ECUSA, while simultaneously putting themselves under the Province of Uganda... I have a headache.
Any light you can shed on this would be MUCH APPRECIATED.
sitetest
No, the "relative newness" isn't what's so different. Phil Ashey has been "removed" or gotten in trouble with his Diocesan's before this.
I'll be candid in saying that I never did hear the "whole story" of why he was so available to become an Assistant Rector at Church of the Apostles in Fairfax City back in the mid-90's, which itself has been a mission church from Truro some 27 years prior!!
Phil Ashey's Father was an Episcopal Priest, but Phil's history with the Church has been different and shall we say, spotted. He was an Assistant DA in Ca (LA County I believe) and well known for getting rid of gangs by getting Judges to push harsh prison sentences that seemed to "scare straight" the rest of the kids on the street. His prosecutorial skills were widely known in the legal field before he became a Priest.
No one, including myself, has ever had a doubt that Phil experienced the call to be a Priest. He is brilliant, liturgically and doctrinely Anglican. He is the most Orthodox of Priests, along with several others I could name.
But if any one of the Priests in the Diocese of Virginia was going to leave, I would have expected it to be Phil.
He left Apostles in the 1999, I think. Went to a Church in Pittsburgh, but "ran into trouble again". The trouble I think was that he is not going to countenance anything of the sin of ECUSA, is very charismatic while also being very Anglican. He loves the ancient rites of the Church, and at Christmas and Easter, at Apostles, I loved him for bringing back services that I hadn't seen celebrated since I left the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City, LI, NY, including the ancient rite of Easter.
Next thing I knew - he was back in the Diocese of VA, having transferred out of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and doing "Church planting". Mostly he did a lot of substituting for vacationing Priests.
I question the date of 2000 as the year that South Riding was planted. If it is correct, then time has fled even faster than I can remember!! If asked, I would have said 2003. Maybe he is not the first to have been with that congregation. I'm racking my brain to remember if David Jones or someone else started with them.
However, remember - they don't have any property, they've been meeting in an elementary school, and I doubt that there is much in the way of "property" that has been supplied by the Diocese. Phil would have been very leery of indebting himself to the Bishop of VA.
One weekend a few months ago, our music director contacted me to tell me that the church copier was broken and asked if I could make copies for the service. At the copy center, the clerk took a keen interest in the worship materials I was copying. I struck up a conversation, and we had fine Christian fellowship for a few minutes, until I asked what church he went to.
"South Riding...er...episcopal...Church", he said with obvious discomfort. "We're not like some other Episcopal churches!" he hastily added: "We believe in the scriptures and the traditions!"
It tore my heart to see this brother in Christ afraid to admit what church he belonged to! I reassured him that I understood the plight of true believers in his church. I am glad to see that he no longer has any reason for embarassment.