"Why I am Leaving the Episcopal Church" a priest's explanation

I am forty-five years old and for thirty-four of those years I have been an active participant in the Episcopal Church. I was baptized, confirmed, married, ordained a deacon, and ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. It has served to shape and form me spiritually and it has taught me tremendous aspects into the worship of Almighty God. The Church has been a place of stability and refuge, although it has always been in need of reform.

But recent actions of the Episcopal Church have taken spiritual depravity to new depth for the modern era. The Church which taught me the Gospel has now adopted a new Gospel which reduces Jesus to nothing more than one option among many. The Church which introduced me to the Word of God has now rewritten the Word of God to placate cultural and political pressures put upon it by intellectual extremists. The Church which taught me to confess and repent of my sins has now embraced and endorsed certain sins which have become culturally accepted.

The actions of the 2003 General Convention in approving the consecration of a non-celibate homosexual person to be a bishop in the Church, and its approval of a method by which liturgies may be used for same-sex unions in the Church, is the presenting issue of a much deeper theological and moral problem within the Church. While these decisions are clearly in contradiction to the teaching of the Bible, the lessons of Church History and Tradition, and the mind of the world-wide Anglican Communion, they demonstrate a clear obsession with reinterpreting the Scriptures and an amazing disregard to the consequences of their actions on other Christians throughout the world whether Anglican or not. A revisionist philosophy has overtaken the ethos of the Church which interprets the Scriptures, Church History and Tradition not according to what they actually say, but according to how one is made to feel and in order to be pastorally sensitive. I cannot be apart of such forsaking of Christian teaching and morality.

To remain in the Episcopal Church is on some level affirming the direction the church has taken whether I agree or not. To remain in the Episcopal Church is to pretend that I am not a participant in this abomination before the Lord. To remain in the Episcopal Church would be to knowingly violate my conscience, and that I cannot do and keep my soul intact. To remain in the Episcopal Church and take communion with those who teach and practice this false teaching would be a clear violation of the Scriptures (For example, 1 Cor.5).

Some say that I must stay and fight for reform and change the direction of the Church. This has been my battle cry for the past 24 years. I have come to the conclusion that the best way to reform it is to leave it and allow the devastation of embracing sin to run its course. I must be about preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and teaching the principles of the Word of God. My calling from God is not to lead or participate in an ecclesiastical fight which will evolve to litigation in the secular courts over sacred idols and mammon. While that may be the call from the Lord for others, my calling is to help people discover the most wonderful gift in the world - a living, dynamic, personal, and saving relationship with Jesus. I cannot do this and be a part of an organizational structure which now, at its core, denies the very things which I hold dear. The Apostle James wrote that to know the right thing to do and not do it, is sin (James 4:17). For me this is the right thing to do and not to do it would be sin before God.

In apostolic times there existed many churches but one Church, since there cannot be more than one "pillar and foundation of truth."

1 Timothy 3:15
if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

Paul repeatedly condemns schism. Schism is logically impossible without orthodox teaching and a visible teaching authority.

Romans 16:17
I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
1 Corinthians 1:10
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

There is also scriptural evidence for Petrine primacy. Consider the following three passages and the parallel structure:

Isaiah 22:22
I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
Revelation 3:7
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
Matthew 16:19
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

In Isaiah 22, we see the succession in office of the vice-regent of the House of David. The vice-regent was second-in-command to the King of the House of David and held full plenary authority in the King's absence. His authority was represented by a key which was kept in a pouch and hung around his neck.

In Revelation 3:7, we see that Jesus is the eternal King of the House of David and is the ultimate "power behind the key."

In Matthew 16:19, we see Jesus give the "keys of the kingdom" to Peter, thus bestowing on Peter the office of "vice-regent" or vicar of Christ in Christ's "absence."

I essentially agree with what you've now said and, if I read some nonexistent glee into your initial post, I apologize.

It's truly amazing how the militant gay activists have been somehow able to turn scandalous child abuse, and as importantly the breaking of Sacred Vows, by their fellow-travelers into a "Catholic" outrage when the Church has virtually stood alone among major social institutions in opposing their twisted agenda.

As for theological error, the attempted cover-ups and outright enabling in the face of same by some members of The Eparchy, such as Boston's Cardinal Law, IMHO, most definitely fly in the face of fundamental teachings such as those found within Matthew:18 vs 1-10.

Personally, I greatly miss a lot of the traditional Anglican Observances and Hymns and would literally crawl to a Parish anywhere near my locale which offered the Anglo-Catholic sub-Rite authorized by the US Church in the 70's.
(As long as I live, not kneeling to receive the Holy Sacraments will never feel duly proper!)

However, as I was Confirmed/Chrismated and subsequently married within my wife's Eastern Rite community, I don't find its liturgical practices, other than its use of two languages, as "different" as those of mainline English Catholicism.

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