Episcopal bishop defrocks Rosemont priest

AP via Philly.com ^ | 9/5/02 | Bill Bergstrom

[GeneD]

The bishop of the four-county Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania today removed a prominent Main Line priest who says the church has become too liberal on issues such as the ordination of women and recognition of same-sex unions.

Father David Moyer, the North American president of the conservative Forward in Faith movement, didn't immediately return a call for comment. He had said in recent weeks that he expected to be deposed.

Bishop Charles E. Bennison said the document he signed meant Moyer "is deposed entirely from the ordained ministry."

"I find it grievous for him, and for his family. I did everything I knew to make it otherwise," Bennison said.

The Church of the Good Shepherd of Rosemont, where Moyer was pastor, is among a number that have become embroiled in a schism between the Episcopal church and traditionalists who say it has moved too far from the teachings of its parent church, the 77 million-member Anglican Communion.

Forward in Faith nominated Moyer in August to be consecrated as a bishop who would provide oversight for conservative congregations in various dioceses "which hold fast to the Church's historic ministry, and do not accept the ordination of women as priests and bishops."

Bennison has called the movement's bid to have its own bishops consecrated "clearly schismatic." Bennison said the diocese doesn't demand that priests agree with the bishop on issues such as the ordination of women or the recognition of same-sex unions, but does require them to remain loyal to the diocese.

"The issue is a priest's accountability to the larger church; is he willing to be in relation with his bishop and in relation with the larger diocese?" Bennison said.

Bennison has said Moyer refused to allow him and two of his predecessors to make formal visitations to the Church of the Good Shepherd. He said in an August letter to clergy and members of the diocese that Moyer would have to agree to welcome the bishop to visit and preach at his church and confirm new members, agree to disassociate himself from efforts by Forward in Faith to consecrate its own bishop, and agree to withdraw a civil suit against the bishop and the diocese.

John H. Lewis Jr., a parishioner and a lawyer representing Moyer in a civil lawsuit alleging that his suspension by the diocese was a breach of contract, said Moyer didn't intend to issue a retraction and if he was deposed, "There will be a legal reaction and a church reaction."

[LiteKeeper]

He should look up the great, evagelical, conservative folks of the Reformed Episcopal Church. I suspect he would find great fellowship with them.

[Welsh Rabbit]

This is why I am no longer an Episcopalian. It it sad that the church in which I was baptised and christianed has become the Church of What's Happening Now.

[Erasmus]

But first, I think he has some Articles he needs to nail to a church door....

[Erasmus]

And then he's gonna have to go on a diet of worms.

[sweetliberty]

I feel very betrayed by the direction the church has taken in this. I am an Episcopalian who has had the experience of being a part of some very vibrant and conservative congregations where the Scriptures were taught and sin was called sin and not "preference." I used to say that if the leadership of the hierarchy fell to liberalism that I could no longer in good conscience remain an Episcopalian. I guess that my personal experience gave me a strong faith that our church wouldn't fall to these demons. Now, for the past nearly 2 years, living in a new area, I have still not become part of a congregation. I feel very displaced, I guess is the word for it. I know there are other options, but I am pretty strongly liturgical and I have found nonliturgical worship unsatisfying as a steady diet. Any suggestions?

[Welsh Rabbit]

I move around quite a lot myself, so I am always having to find new churches. Since moving here, I haven't found a church either. Sometimes I visit my parents at a nearby military installation, and attend the Protestant worship service. The service is certainly conservative, but not very liturgical. Maybe the best solution would be to find a church headed by a defrocked priest like David Moyer, but that will probably be difficult.

[LiteKeeper]

There is precendent for that, I believe.

[LiteKeeper]

May I recommend the Reformed Episcopal Church. They are liturgical, they use one of the older versions of the Book of Common Prayer - but they also teach the Bible as the Word of God, they are decidedly not liberal...they have been welcoming people such as yourself since 1869.

As an indication of who they are, William Culbertson, former president of Moody Bible Institute, was the Presiding Bishop for a number of years. And Joni Erickson Tada's father is an RE pastor.

[sweetliberty]

There is a Reformed Episcopal Church nearby. I have never been but have been thinking about checking it out.

[LiteKeeper]

I think you would enjoy it. I grew up in the Episcopal Church, left it 25 years ago and served in the US Army as a Baptist ordained, endorsed chaplain. But when I found the RE I really felt like I had returned home.

Grace and Peace to you as you search for your home.

[Coeur de Lion]

I wonder what's going happen to his congregation. I heard his congregation was extremely supportive and that's why they attended that specific church. C.S. Lewis predicted this ages ago what would happen with this continual liberalization of the church. In this case, he was addressing the Anglican church specifically. I don't have the quote here, but he predicted something along the lines that people that desired real religion would leave the church and become either Roman Catholics or Evangelicals, and his prediction has pretty much been proven correct.

[mgstarr]

You might be heartened to hear "the rest of the story":

September 5, 2002

I have today taken action to receive the Rev. David L.
Moyer, SSC, as a priest in good standing of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. Fr. Moyer was received from the Diocese of the Upper Shire in the Province of Central Africa.

Fr. Moyer has been the Rector of the Church of the
Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pennsylvania. Fr. Moyer has been under a sentence of suspension (inhibition) for the last six months and was today "deposed" by the Bishop of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), the Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennison. Many
bishops throughout the world, including the Most Rev.
George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, have refused to acknowledge the validity of either the inhibition or the deposition. In August the House of Bishops of the Province of Central Africa approved David L. Moyer as a priest in good standing there, in order that he might be transferred to Pittsburgh were I
to request it. The request was made yesterday.

Many American bishops and many bishops world-wide have
attempted to mediate the dispute between the Bishop of Pennsylvania and the Rector of Rosemont.
All of this has been to no avail. I have repeatedly
implored my brother bishop not to proceed to depose this priest. I have made it abundantly
clear on several occasions, most recently in person in
June, that, were Charles to proceed as he has now done, there would be no alternative to the kind of action I and others are now taking.

The Rev. Garrin Dickinson, curate of Good Shepherd,
Rosemont, is also a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. I have been informed by him that his license to officiate in the Diocese of Pennsylvania has been withdrawn effective yesterday. I have instructed him to remain at his post, without a license. If the Bishop of Pennsylvania desires that this young priest be
tried for "invasion" due to my pastoral directive, then it will be in the ecclesiastical court at Pittsburgh where he will have to be tried, as the canons direct.

Why have I intervened?

1) Because I have long known Fr. Moyer as a good and godly priest, and he has appealed to me for protection.

2) Because the canon under which the Bishop of Pennsylvania has acted is precedent-setting, opportunistic, and due-process
denying.

3) Because the soul of the Episcopal Church is at stake as innovation supplants received Faith and Order.

4) Because traditionalist witness in the
Episcopal Church will always have my active support and creative encouragement.

5) Because the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal
Church has failed to avert the deposition, nevertheless calling the course undertaken by the Bishop of Pennsylvania "utterly unacceptable."

6) Because I believe there to be an inherent imbalance of power between a bishop and a priest, leading in such a dispute to an abuse of power. The dispute will now necessarily become a dispute between bishops, who are by definition power equals.

7) Because recent actions both by Bp. Charles Bennison and by other bishops, each acting contrary to the expressed will of
the House of Bishops or the Lambeth Conference, have been based on an assertion that the bishop is absolute in his own diocese, an assertion I desire hereby to put to the test.

It is in light of all these factors that I have received, from the Diocese of the Upper Shire, the Rev. David L. Moyer, SSC as a
priest in good standing of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. It is also in
light of all these factors that I assess the inhibition and deposition of the Rev. David L. Moyer by the Bishop of Pennsylvania to be utterly null and void, both legally and morally, and to have no bearing on the decision I have made.

It is anticipated that both Fr. Moyer and Fr. Dickinson will remain resident at Rosemont for the foreseeable future. This circumstance notwithstanding, Fr. Moyer has today been named Priest Associate of Grace Church, Mount Washington, an Anglo-Catholic parish in the City of Pittsburgh. Fr. Moyer's
regular function in our diocese will be based there.

As a sign of our new relationship, Fr. Moyer will
celebrate the 12:05 mass in Trinity Cathedral tomorrow. This site was chosen to recall to everyone the heritage of religious toleration of the founder of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, William Penn, on whose lands Trinity
Cathedral (Pittsburgh) is
built.

The Rt. Rev. Robert Wm. Duncan
Bishop of Pittsburgh
5th September, A.D. 2002

[dighton]

Tsk tsk, Father Moyer tried to interfere with the Episcopal Church's suicide. No wonder they tossed him out.

;-)

[Bob J]

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[sockmonkey]

And then he's gonna have to go on a diet of worms.

I was raised Lutheran, and I can remember as a little child of 6 years old when told about the "diet at Worms". I thought Luther felt so strongly, that to prove his point, he ate worms.

[LiteKeeper]

Here is the Home Page for the denomination:

Reformed Episcopal Church Home Page

[sweetliberty]

Thanks. I'll check it out.