[AnalogReigns]

“If you and your congregation pursue an effort at secession, you will at that moment be in violation of your ordination vows,” Bishop Mathes wrote. “By this pastoral direction, you will be, by that very act or by your participation, an inhibited priest and deprived of standing or canonical or legal authority to do the very action you purport to effect."

This sounds a lot like the personal loyalty vows to Hitler demanded of German officers before and during WWII. Many hated the man...but because they had vowed to defend him, fought on.

More big reasons why lay leadership is needed to put the apostate bishops out of business. See Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion : http://www.layepiscopal.org/

[AnAmericanMother]

But they are putting laypersons under church discipline in an attempt to short-circuit just that.

The bishes are indeed running ECUSA like a mob enterprise.

Now is the time for all believing Christians to get the Hell (and I use that advisedly) out of ECUSA. What are you waiting around for?

[r9etb]

More big reasons why lay leadership is needed to put the apostate bishops out of business.

Bp. Mathes is entirely within his authority as bishop to ask for these things -- that's what "Episcopal" is all about, after all.

Then again, no bishop should ever need to resort to exercising that authority within a normally-functioning diocese. To have to resort to widespread threats and force is to admit failure -- which is even worse when the threat is made against long-established orthodoxy.

Even if we quite reasonably assume that some of these parishes and rectors are hard to work with, it's quite clear that Mathes has failed.