Posted on 06/11/2006 5:10:14 PM PDT by sionnsar
The Rev. John Yates runs his hand over a pockmarked tombstone in the courtyard of Falls Church Episcopal, touching just a portion of the history embedded on the grounds of the nearly 275-year-old church.
"See these notches?" said Mr. Yates, the church's rector. "During the Civil War, soldiers used this as target practice. There are a lot of little stories like that around here."
The historic church and its congregation soon could be parted, as church leaders weigh joining scores of parishes across the country that have left the Episcopal denomination because of the 2003 ordination of Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the church's first openly homosexual bishop.
According to canon law, a church leaving a diocese must forfeit its property to the diocese, meaning the congregation would lose its $17 million in property and assets -- including its treasured landmarks. The Virginia Senate last year tabled a bill that would have allowed churches to split and retain their property.
Continue reading "Episcopalians pondering leaving fold"
(Excerpt) Read more at aacblog.classicalanglican.net ...
Well you guys can always join the Catholic Church which welcomes members who believe in the sanctity of life and its sacraments.
You're welcome, you're all welcome.
For my part I am happy in my Continuing Anglican church. The faith I was raised in, plus the liturgy I was raised in. (I truly wish the authors of the Anglican Use rite, based on the 1928 BCP, hadn't inserted one of the absolutely clunkiest element of the 1979, into it.)
The majority of those leaving appear to be going to the Roman Catholic church, but others are going to the Continuing churches and Orthodoxy, and some to the Protestant churches.
LOL..which one is that?
They weren't cribbing from the 1979 BCP, they were cribbing from the 1970 English translation of the Roman Missal. They're bits and pieces of the Catholic Mass that were required to be added to get Rome's approval for the Anglican Use.
Hopefully when we get a new translation of the missal, some of the clunkiness will be removed.
The Peace. I hope at least you all have kept it from being a mid-service "social hour", the way it is in the Episcopal church.
I've seen those parts. Yes, they could use a little tweaking to get the language right, but it was pretty clear what was being done. The Peace now... was that also required?
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