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This Mutiny Will Fail; the Church Will Abide
Virtueonline ^ | 05/11/2005 | William Swing

Posted on 05/12/2005 12:23:19 PM PDT by newheart

Some words leak out from a meeting between a bishop of another diocese and his clergy. Here is what the bishop reports:

The primate of the Anglican Church of the Province of the Southern Cone [the Most Rev. Gregory Venables] predicts that within three years the dreams of the American Anglican Council with its Network [the Anglican Communion Network of Dioceses and Parishes] will come true. The majority of the primates, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, will disenfranchise the Episcopal Church and acknowledge that the Network is the only Anglican presence in North America.

"That will begin the crumbling . . ." says this hopeful bishop.

[B]ishops and congregations not associated with the Network will soon rush to join. . . Woe to the clergy and the congregations that don't join the Network, for they will be removed from the Network dioceses and left dangling, says that bishop.

Accordingly, bishops and congregations not associated with the Network will soon rush to join. Splinter groups -- like the Reformed Episcopal Church as well as the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) -- will become part of the Network. Woe to the clergy and the congregations that don't join the Network, for they will be removed from the Network dioceses and left dangling, says that bishop.

If anyone should question the legal right of the Network to take Episcopal Church properties, no worry. Network lawyers are going to make that possible. This particular bishop is having a supremacy canon passed so that his diocesan convention will be supreme over actions of the Episcopal Church's General Convention. (Will he be the Supreme Bishop?)

This bishop told his clergy that a three-year wait is not needed nor should they wait until General Convention 2006. The great split that has been engineered is already happening. The bishop gave them permission to take the word "Episcopal" off of their church signs and to add the word "Anglican."

The bishop ends by saying that he will not be mean like liberal bishops. And "the uglier the Episcopal Church acts, the sooner the day of the split will hasten."

We will abide. Although the Southern Cone finds us unacceptable, we will abide. Even though the Archbishop of Canterbury and the primates and Anglican Consultative Council sever us from their fellowship, we will abide.

There have been people inside the Episcopal Church and outside the Episcopal Church who have been plotting our church's demise long before there was an Episcopal election in New Hampshire: for almost half a century. The plotters have been living in a fury of win-lose for generations. Finally, they have assumed that they cannot win and take control of the Episcopal Church so they seek to destroy it and assume control as the orthodox remnant. Timing is everything for them. They see the present moment as the perfect storm where wealthy American ideologues and angry African bishops and cultural divides and shocked ecumenical and interfaith partners converge to assist their victory.

What they don't realize is that the Episcopal Church has more staying power than they suppose. When our bishops, priests, and deacons took a solemn oath at ordination vowing to be loyal to the doctrine, discipline, worship of the Episcopal Church, we meant it. Millions of laity for hundreds of years have confirmed their faith in context of the Episcopal Church -- in good times and bad. Together we gave our sacred honor to the revelation of God in Christ as lived out in the Episcopal Church. Our history has been earned with countless sacrifices. We have all been embarrassed as well as enhanced; won some, lost some. With prayer, sweat, and endurance we have built cathedrals, seminaries, religious communities, youth camps, schools, social ministries, hospitals, and churches. We will abide. Although the Southern Cone finds us unacceptable, we will abide. Even though the Archbishop of Canterbury and the primates and Anglican Consultative Council sever us from their fellowship, we will abide. Personally, I don't think that the Archbishop of Canterbury would ever do that, but should he dismiss us, we will abide.

I genuinely grieve that we have all reached this moment. But this is not the last moment, only a passing moment. There will be fairer days, and in the light I expect to see the Episcopal Church afloat on the deep and sailing. This mutiny will fail. The Episcopal Church will abide.

May God have mercy on us all. And may the unity in the Body of Christ be manifest.

The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing is bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California and the founder of the United Religions Initiative. He may be reached at bishop@diocal.org.


TOPICS: Mainline Protestant
KEYWORDS: anglican; angpost8; ecusa; fallout; homosexualagenda; schism

1 posted on 05/12/2005 12:23:19 PM PDT by newheart
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To: ahadams2; wagglebee; St. Johann Tetzel; AnalogReigns; GatorGirl; KateatRFM; Alkhin; ...
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.

FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this moderately high-volume ping list (typically 3-7 pings/day).
This list is pinged by sionnsar and newheart.

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

Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15

2 posted on 05/12/2005 12:23:57 PM PDT by newheart (The Truth? You can't handle the Truth. But He can handle you.)
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To: newheart

Whistling past the graveyard.


3 posted on 05/12/2005 12:36:24 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . Ministrix of ye Chace (recess appointment), TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary . . .)
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To: newheart
Swing's a liberal's liberal. He's deeply interested in his Diocesan Commission for the Environment, and also The United Religions Initiative - A Non-Religious But Bridge-Building Organization For Peace which he founded and is still their chairman. IOW, he's very busy in everything but preaching the risen Jesus Christ, and the reasons for His sacrifice.

The bishop does sound a little 'shrill':):

But this is not the last moment, only a passing moment.

(We Do Not have a two ton pachyderm in our living room, and besides, he can't hurt us.)

There will be fairer days, and in the light I expect to see the Episcopal Church afloat on the deep and sailing.

(The Titanic analogies are all too easy.)

This mutiny will fail. The Episcopal Church will abide.

(And Captain Bligh never said it better concerning the Bounty.)

4 posted on 05/12/2005 1:13:51 PM PDT by xJones
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To: newheart

Swing and his fellow travelers, limp wrists, sob sisters and lickspittles will "abide" just about anything.


5 posted on 05/12/2005 4:37:37 PM PDT by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: Kolokotronis

Hey K! My thoughts exactly.


6 posted on 05/12/2005 6:41:26 PM PDT by pharmamom (Lost: One Really Great Tagline. If found, please return to its owner.)
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To: AnAmericanMother

He fails to recognize that ECUSA is the "splinter group".


8 posted on 05/13/2005 3:15:45 AM PDT by Huber (Conservatism - It's not just for breakfast anymore!)
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To: Kolokotronis

Except Anglo-Catholicism. We had a wonderful, truly Catholic and fully Episcopal church in my home town. It was what brought me back into the Church. Swing ordered us to take on female priests and we refused, so he took the church building over. This was a Roman-sized parish that exploded into at least five major pieces, only one of which remained in that church.

That is what Bp Swing 'abides'. I pray for his re-conversion. He was good medicine for me, however: he did teach me what was acceptably orthodox and what was not. So now I know and I joy for that.

Thanks, Bill Swing.

In Christ,
Deacon Paul+


9 posted on 05/13/2005 8:17:37 AM PDT by BelegStrongbow (I think, therefore I vote Republican)
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To: BelegStrongbow

He could just "take over" the church? What does that mean exactly? How long has he had this power? Do all bishops have it?


10 posted on 05/13/2005 8:20:44 AM PDT by Zack Nguyen
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To: Zack Nguyen

This is a number of years ago now, early in the '90's. As I understood it, the Diocese owned the church building, which gave him the whip hand.

In Christ,
Deacon Paul+


11 posted on 05/13/2005 10:15:22 AM PDT by BelegStrongbow (I think, therefore I vote Republican)
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To: newheart

Kids say the darndest things!


12 posted on 05/13/2005 2:40:14 PM PDT by polymuser
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