My friends in Connecticut told me that their pastor was removed by the ECUSA Bishop of Connecticut because of the pastor's objections to ordaining a gay Bishop and putting openly gay pastors in charge of churches. The response was to remove him from his church -- he was replaced by an openly lesbian pastor. The parishioners are reeling over this action, but have nowhere to go. The few other pastors who are against ordaining gays have probably been removed as well, but I don't know for sure. The national leadership of ECUSA and the Lutherans and the Presbyterians and Methodists are all walking down this same path. Reminds me of back in the day when Jesus went up against the corrupt leaders of the synagogues, only this seems much worse. The actions of these Christian leaders is in direct contradiction to all that God, Jesus, and the Church have ever stood for. What to do that would actually make a difference????
The removal of that Priest and replacement with a lesbian fake priest breaks every canon law of that church as the church was siezed by the bishop.
Our bishops can't decide for us what priests we hire or fire at our local parish level. The parish vestry does a search after the members participate in a profile of the priest they want. Then, the vestry votes on the list of candidates and selects the new priest.
The bishop may make suggestions re whom to hire as our priest, they can't order the parish vestry to hire one.
The Bishop can remove a priest of immoral reasons like sexual abuse. However, what was done in Conn. was not correct.
And it isn't just Episcopalians that are dealing with this. All of the mainline demoniations are struggling with these types of takeovers.
Interestingly, it is only the denominations which have property owned by the chhurch organization that are in danger (Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc.) Denominations in which individual congregations own their churches are not bothered. This is what led me to believe that this is more about the money and property than it is about anything else. They are using gay/lesbians as the method to drive people away. The few who are left are easy to steamroll into funding whatever these leftists want to support.
HUH? They can go ANYWHERE else.....don't need the building....just a Bible and a place to meet. I can't believe this.
The Conn. Bishop "fired" the Rector of St. John's Church, Bristol and replaced him with a sock-puppet of his own choosing. The bulk of the StJ congregation went to the other, like-minded E church in Bristol -- they'll probably be next. This is an odd kind of revolution where the powers that be overthrow the people and expropriate their property. See www.ctsix.org for a look at the six parishes that make up the dissenting movement in Connecticut.
This former member of the ELCA is now joining the LCMS and happy about it!
A friend belongs to one of the so-called "Connecticut Six" Episcopal churches who opposed the gay Bishop. The congregation, not the diocese, owns this particular church building but the members aren't certain that the diocese either knows or respects that point. In the event of the diocese trying to come in and take over, there are standing orders with the local police that they are to arrest anyone, bishop included, who is trespassing or otherwise impeding church business. This particular church is loaded for bear, legally speaking, and the diocese had best tread softly.