Anglican Schism over Homosexuality Widens

LifeSiteNews.com ^ | August 31, 2007 | Hilary White

[monomaniac]

Anglican Schism over Homosexuality Widens

Two American Episcopal Church Bishops re-ordained for service in Kenya Anglican Church

By Hilary White

NAIROBI, August 31, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two American Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the US were re-ordained for service in the Anglican Church in Kenya on Thursday. The Times' Ruth Gledhill reports that the ordination, while seen as "valid," will likely be condemned as a further step towards a complete separation of what many now perceive as two Anglican Churches.

The Right Rev William Murdoch and the Right Rev. Bill Atwood, formerly of Massachusetts and Texas, respectively, were consecrated at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi by Kenya's Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi. They will serve the needs of the Anglican community in Africa and those of the congregations in North America that have joined the ecclesial structures set up for those who have rejected the secularized leadership in the US and Canada.

"The gospel ... must take precedence over culture," said Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, who attended the ceremony. "Homosexual practice violates the order of life given by God in Holy Scripture."

The response to the ordinations has followed the now-usual pattern with "conservatives" welcoming the move. Gledhill reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams will now be under pressure from both sides to invite or bar the new bishops from the next Lambeth conference. Williams has asked African archbishops not to consecrate U.S. priests to help avoid a schism.

More than 30 members of the Church of England's General Synod sent a message of welcome to the two new bishops while acknowledging the move is "out of the ordinary". The letter said, "You will represent vibrant and growing Churches in Africa in their love and care for those in the United States who are suffering for their commitment to the faith once delivered to the saints, in the face of a determined capitulation by The Episcopal Church to the forces of contemporary North American culture."

In most of the developed west, the Anglican Communion has been characterized by two main streams of development; on the one hand, increasing secularization and embracing of the post-Christian sexual morality; and on the other, plummeting attendance and aging membership. In the meantime, the largest, youngest and most active sections of the Worldwide Anglican Communion are also the most fervently orthodox and are found largely in the developing world, whose leadership is called the Global South bloc.

This schism is growing in the US and Canada with some groups determined to retain Christian teaching. This week, the Anglican news service Virtue Online reports that the pastor and leadership of the Church of the Holy Comforter in Broomfield, Colorado resigned en masse and informed the diocese that the "theological innovations" of the Episcopal Church had made it impossible for them to continue to serve in it.

Rev. Dr. Charles Reeder, his staff and most of the 200-member congregation will form a new Anglican parish as of October 1. "We are saddened by the current state of The Episcopal Church in the US which we believe has strayed from the orthodox, scriptural beliefs of the worldwide Anglican Communion," said Reeder.

The parish's senior warden, John E. Basio told Virtue Online that the parishioners had voiced their opposition by withholding financial contributions. "No one has left the church," he said. "The people are withholding their financial support because of national church issues. We can no longer support the diocese and the national Episcopal Church with our monies."

[PAR35]

Ping.

I wouldn’t think that re-ordination would be required, just an installation.

[Huber]

Thanks to PAR35 for the ping.

Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.

FReepmail Huber or sionnsar if you want on or off this moderately high-volume ping list (sometimes 3-9 pings/day).
This list is pinged by Huber and sionnsar.

Resource for Traditional Anglicans: http://trad-anglican.faithweb.com
Humor: The Anglican Blue

Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15

[The story may have been misreported. My understanding is that they were Episcopal priests, not bishops, and were concecrated as bishops for the first time in Kenya --Huber]

[PAR35]

My understanding is that they were Episcopal priests, not bishops, and were concecrated as bishops for the first time in Kenya

I think you are correct. At first glance, I knew the story was wrong, I just didn't know where it was wrong.

[Little Bill]

I think that this is outstanding, it has long been my contention that Cromwell, in a sense, will march in America before Marx.

[txzman]

Heard an Episcopal pastor (woman) saying this was all a media event - that only 68 of more than 7200 congregations had voted to leave over the issue.

14 of them are in North Texas - I don’t believe her numbers.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Once upon a time church schisms used to be over things like the Sacraments.

[PAR35]

The ECUSA is still trying to get a handle on the numbers. And, of course, they wouldn’t count a congregation as leaving if a handful of folks stayed and kept the building, as has happened throughout north Florida as well in other parts of the country.

[mkleesma]

To those of you not familiar with the Anglican (or Episcopalian) church, it is a wonderful place, with a rich history and faith-inspiring litirgies. I have been Anglican since birth, and came to the Episcopal church when I moved from Сanada 12 years ago. Since childhood, I attended church services every week, and found comfort and reassurance in singing the Venite or the Te Deum Laudamus. The words, the music, the hymns...had a refreshing power beyond belief. It's the only initmacy with God that I've ever known. However, the recent homosexuality schism has forced me to leave my church; and living in New Hampshire (of all places), has been especially tough. I can't put into words how much it hurts to be separated from one's faith. I do not blame Gene Robinson alone - he is but a small part of a wider, more sinister agenda to remove God's teachings and Commandments from the Episcopal Church, and replace it with a more "feel good" Secular Humanist version. I've tried to return to God in other ways; my wife is Russian, and I've since been baptized into the Russsian Orthodox church. It's a good and holy church, and in line with my own values, but it just isn't me, if you understand my meaning. There is a gaping hole in my soul. I wish I could find a local congregation of Anglicans to worship with.

[sionnsar]

However, the recent homosexuality schism has forced me to leave my church; and living in New Hampshire (of all places), has been especially tough. I can't put into words how much it hurts to be separated from one's faith.

As a cradle Episcopalian who left for a Continuing Anglican church almost a quarter-century ago, I think I know something of what you're going through, though I will also note that the Orthodox church is where I would go if there were nothing Anglican even if most are a bit "ethnic."

Check the website in my tagline -- there may be non-Episcopal Anglican churches in your area.

[jammer]

That’s two I know of in Colorado (one here in Springs).

[mkleesma]

Thanks for the link.
I don’t feel absolutely alone anymore!

:-)

[Ronaldus Magnus]

I thought each of you might be interested in some of the comments.

[mkleesma]

Found a church!
Thanks again.
Here’s a little gift in return. Hope you like it - from one Pravaslavni (True Believer) to another:
http://www.ancientfaithradio.com/

[AnalogReigns]

There is a gaping hole in my soul. I wish I could find a local congregation of Anglicans to worship with.

Look around for Churches with "Anglican" in the title. Episcopal churches in America don't use "Anglican" and as far as I know, only (small "o") orthodox congregations the USA do, either as part of one of the now several African mission churches (African only in the sense of their oversight) which are typically evangelical and low church, or those of the continuing Anglicans (technically not now part of the Canterbury centered Worldwide Anglican Communion) which are usually more Anglo-Catholic/high church in form.

Many of these congregations will meet in non-traditional places, a gymnasium or school for example, for all the African overseen groups only date to no earlier than 1999....but of course congregations MUCH older are now a part of them (example: Truro Church in Northern Virginia dates to the 1750s) too, usually fighting tooth and nail in legal battles for their properties. Still the freedom and love--without the gloom of being part of the USS Titanic-called-TEC, along with biblical preaching AND ancient liturgy is tremendous.

I say this as a Presbyterian-becoming-Anglican, won over by the beauty and God-glorifying essential nature of traditional Anglican worship.

[Huber]

I wish I could find a local congregation of Anglicans to worship with.

Resource for Traditional Anglicans: http://trad-anglican.faithweb.com

[beejaa]

Gay rights advocates think that it is fine to break up the Episcopal Church, force the Catholic Archdiocese in Boston to discontinue adoptions, attack the Boy Scouts and the Salvation Army and alter traditional marriage beyond recognition. They do this because they feel that they are helping oppressed people.
It’s hard to get into their mindset. Maybe it revolves around a very narrow focus combined with ego, i.e., I am heroic for helping oppressed people. I’m thinking out loud here. Why do they think that all this social destruction is helpful?

[AnAmericanMother]

No, they don't feel that they are helping oppressed people.

Here's the condensed version: homosexuals who are o.k. with themselves don't make all this noise. They live pretty quietly and don't bother other people. They make legal arrangements for the disposal of their property and health care, something that is perfectly possible and has been for years, without "civil partnerships" or "gay marriage".

The noisy ones are making all the noise because the still small voice of their conscience is whispering to them that what they do is wrong. They are trying to silence that voice.

They try to co-opt authority figures and social traditions like marriage, the church, the schools, the Boy Scouts, etc. as another way to try to silence that voice. They figure if "the authorities", the church, the schools, tell them that their behavior is A-OK, it will shut that voice up.

It won't of course, but that doesn't stop them trying.

[PAR35]

Why do they think that all this social destruction is helpful?

They don't want to have their 'lifestyle' accepted, they want it affirmed. And anything that stands in the way of that goal, including a Bible based church, must be destroyed.

[PAR35]

Found a church!

If that doesn't work out, you might also look for a Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (NOT ELCA!). There are a few PCA churches that would be liturgical enough that you might be comfortable, but many are more modern in worship style.

Or, you could try to get some folks together and start a church plant.