Posted on 11/17/2003 4:37:20 PM PST by ahadams2
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 16, 2003
Contact: The Rev'd Canon Warren Tanghe
404-872-4169
Fort Worth: Forward in Faith, North America, today is releasing the attached letter and Council Resolution. These documents were sent via Federal Express to The Most Rev'd Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, and to certain select Primates of the Anglican Communion. Fed Ex tracking reported that the letter was delivered to Lambeth Palace on November 9. No reply has yet been received.
The Resolution and letter were written and approved unanimously by the Council of Forward in Faith on November 5, 2003. FIF/NA is now releasing this letter and accompanying Resolution for distribution. It is being sent both as an attachment and as a part of the body of this e-mail.
Faithfully,
Cris Fouse
November 6th, 2003
The Most Rev'd and Rt. Hon. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace, London SE1
UNITED KINGDOM
Dear Archbishop Rowan;
I write on behalf of the Council of Forward in Faith, North America, which approved the texts of this letter and of the resolution which accompanies it at its meeting yesterday morning.
Mercy, grace and peace be to you in these difficult times. We hope you know that we are praying for you, and deeply appreciate your prayers and concerns for us.
We are writing now to share the stark urgency of our situation. While the position in ECUSA is stark for all those who have not embraced the innovations epitomized in the decisions of the General Convention to recognize same-sex blessings and consecrate someone living openly in a sexual relationship outside Holy Matrimony, it is particularly perilous for those of us who maintain historic discipline concerning ordination. Not only are unbiblical innovations being pursued; those who do not accept the ordination of women are denied ordination and office. By canon of the General Convention, implementation of the ordination of women is required.
The decision of the 74th General Convention and the subsequent consecration of Canon Gene Robinson in New Hampshire have created a great rift and separation because of dramatic departures from Biblical and historic teaching. In addition, formal decisions of the Convention require all members and leaders to implement women's ordination, a further separation from historic faith and practice of the church catholic. It is now utterly impossible for those who maintain historic order to be consecrated.
This horrifying situation has been exacerbated by the systematic persecution of traditional Anglicans by Episcopal Church leaders in many dioceses, where unrighteous discipline is being increasingly inflicted. In addition, the Chancellor of the ECUSA, David Booth Beers, appears to have launched a legal assault by repeatedly making it clear that in any conflicts or attempts to pursue oversight beyond existing structures, all properties and resources will be awarded to any remnant, no matter how small, who agree with the actions of the General Convention.
We draw great comfort from the promise:
"A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice." Isaiah 42.3
We also draw great encouragement from the insistence that you and the other Primates have offered for Adequate Episcopal Oversight to be provided. In order to provide that we are utterly convinced that consecrations must proceed of candidates who fully maintain historic disciplines. To that end, and in consultation with the American Anglican Council, we have carefully vetted appropriate candidates and submit them to you and the Primates for consecration.
Our people need care, our clergy need encouragement, the practice of our faith needs protection, and the mission of the church must be pursued. These can only be done with the support and authentication of you and other primates.
Yours sincerely,
The Rev'd Canon) Warren Tanghe, SSC
Secretary, Forward in Faith, North America
Resolution adopted by the Council of Forward in Faith, North America on November 5th, 2003
At the 1998 Lambeth Conference the Bishops of the Anglican Communion declared that homosexual practice was incompatible with Holy Scripture (Resolution 1.10); that all its member Provinces must provide for appropriate episcopal care for parishes and clergy in conflict with their diocesan bishops over the ordination of women (Resolution 3.2); and that the Primates could intervene upon request in the internal affairs of member Provinces in emergency situations (Resolution 3.6).
The Episcopal Church USA has not only ignored these Resolutions, intended to strengthen our unity as Anglicans, but has willfully acted in open defiance of them. Resolution 3.2 has been contravened and further abused by ECUSA's allowing escalating persecution of classical Anglican parishes and their clergy to take place. Furthermore, ordination and other office are forbidden to those unable to accept the ordination of women. Resolution 1.10 has been contravened by ECUSA's consenting to the election in New Hampshire of a practicing homosexual bishop and by permitting the blessing of same-sex unions by action of its General Convention held in August 2003. This departure from the resolutions is forbidden by the foundational documents of ECUSA, which do not allow us to depart from "the doctrines of the Gospel as now held by the Church of England".
In response to calls from many quarters to discipline or even to expel ECUSA from the Anglican Communion for these schismatic acts, for its willful disobedience, and for its demonstrated contempt of collegiality, the Primates met in emergency session at Lambeth Palace on October 15 and 16, 2003 to deal with these threats to their unity. Their resulting statement, unanimously adopted by the Primates attending (including ECUSA's Presiding Bishop) calls for the creation of a commission to address within 12 months the structural realignment of the Anglican Communion to recover greater accountability of maverick Provinces to the integrity of the whole. Also, without even the necessity of a 12-month study period, the statement calls for the Provinces of the Communion to make long-overdue "adequate provision for episcopal oversight of dissenting minorities in consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury on behalf of the Primates".
Most importantly, the Lambeth statement asked ECUSA to forbear consecrating a practicing homosexual as the Bishop Coadjutor of New Hampshire to avoid jeopardizing the future of the Communion and tearing "the fabric of our Communion at the deepest level". ECUSA's blatant and unconstitutional disregard of the Primates' plea by its New Hampshire consecration on November 2 must be construed as a formal act of intentional schism from the Anglican Communion. This has resulted in the immediate need for adequate episcopal oversight for faithful, classical Anglicans in those dioceses where the diocesan bishop either voted for or participated in the consecration of the practicing homosexual bishop, a man whose false teaching and sinful behavior make him canonically unfit to fulfill a bishop's role in Christ's church. In other words, a swift and unity-destroying act must be met by an equally swift and unity-enhancing response if Anglicanism is to survive as a credibly Christian vehicle.
At its June 2003 meeting, the legislative Assembly of Forward in Faith, North America resolved that if the New Hampshire "election is confirmed by General Convention it will signal the total departure of ECUSA from the traditions and standards of Anglicanism and of the Universal Church.
Without immediate and decisive action by orthodox bishops in ECUSA, and/or the Primates of the Communion in response to our request, Forward in Faith will be left with no choice but to secure the consecration of these [two] men to give that sound teaching, sacramental assurance, and pastoral care which is the birthright of those Anglicans who have otherwise been abandoned."
It is thus now hereby resolved that Forward in Faith, North America urgently request a consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury to ask his support for our plan to appropriate and implement the Primates' resolve to make adequate provision for episcopal oversight by the consecration of the two men previously nominated as episcopal candidates. These men would minister to classical Anglican parishes and clergy upon their request in the said schismatic ECUSA dioceses, with the following adequate powers:
a) To confirm, receive, preach, minister the sacraments, officiate, and hold any public service, notwithstanding any contrary interpretation of the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church;
b) To oversee the search and call of a new Minister, the accepting of Letters Dimissory or the granting of licenses to officiate to such assistant Ministers as may be called to serve congregations in such schismatic dioceses;
c) To admit postulants to the ordination process, to oversee them and to ordain them upon the approval of either the Standing Committee of any diocese or of any equivalent body in any province; and
d) To license lay ministers and help plant new congregations.
Such provision is urgently needed by the faithful as a necessary part of any plan to avoid the total collapse and disintegration of classical Anglicanism in North America. We seek the Archbishop of Canterbury's determination as to the appropriate relationship between any such bishops and the leadership of the Anglican Communion, so that further fragmentation does not take place.
The above resolved action and its Lambeth underpinnings are premised upon:
1) the need for a renewed sense of unity among the members of the Anglican Communion so that it will not disintegrate into an Anglican "federation";
2) the need immediately to assure the faithful of institutional freedom from theological error;
3) the need to support orthodox Christian teaching for ecumenical purposes; and
4) the need interdependently to support our fellow Anglicans in the two-thirds world.
For the sake of posterity as well as the salvation of our souls we must join with all who cannot allow God's eternal Word to be subordinated to man's ephemeral experience in our time.
We submit this resolution for your serious consideration with humble gratitude to Your Grace and your brother Primates of the Anglican Communion for your labors and sacrifices, and urge your continued pursuit of the work you have begun.
Resolved by the Council of Forward in Faith, North America, this fifth day of November, 2003.
This is not looking good. Hope somebody can come up with a workable alternative soon.
now the church has hundreds of women priests that support relationships not the rules set done by the Word of God. mars and venus have come to the church instead of the tradition of the church. if we want it back we must do what has been done since the early fathers, RE turn, Re Establish and Re New our spritual dedication to the savior.
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