Posted on 11/11/2005 4:14:26 PM PST by sionnsar
The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio is keeping tight-lipped about the four Northeast Ohio parishes that have left his diocese and the Episcopal Church USA.
In a letter to the clergy and lay leaders in the diocese, which covers the northern 48 counties of Ohio and includes 20,750 communicants in good standing, Bishop Mark Hollingsworth wrote, ``I want to assure you that I am committed to working collaboratively with these congregations toward a faithful and just resolution.
"The clergy of these congregations have agreed with me to say nothing more publicly about this situation, and I ask that you support our efforts by doing the same.''
The letter was a follow-up to a press release issued Wednesday by Hollingsworth and the four clergy leaders of St. Luke's in Fairlawn, Church of the Holy Spirit in Akron, St. Anne's in the Fields in Madison and St. Barnabas in Bay Village.
The release announced that the four congregations, with about 1,300 active members, had voted to leave the Episcopal Church and affiliate with the Diocese of Bolivia in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
At least two of the local pastors -- the Rev. Roger Ames of St. Luke's and the Rev. Scott Souders of Church of the Holy Spirit -- and Bishop Lyons, who leads the South American diocese, were in Pittsburgh on Thursday for the first international conference of the Anglican Communion Network, a theologically conservative group.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Interesting, given what Vicky Robinson had to say about Pope Benedict the other day.
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