Posted on 06/23/2006 5:15:33 PM PDT by sionnsar
Bob Duncan writes orthodox Anglicans:
A new day is dawning. It is a new day for all of us who understand ourselves to be faithful and orthodox Anglicans, whether within the Episcopal Church or gone out from it.
It is with sadness, but also with anticipation, that I write to you now that the General Convention of the Episcopal Church has provided the clarity for which we have long prayed. By almost every assessment the General Convention has embraced the course of “walking apart.”
I have often said to you that the decisive moment in contemporary Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion history occurred at General Convention 2003. At that time, in the words of the Primates, the Episcopal Church took action that would “tear the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level.”
Since that time, the tear has widened. While we had hoped that this Church would repent and return to received Faith and Order, General Convention 2006 clearly failed to submit to the call, the spirit or the requirements of the Windsor Report. The middle has collapsed. For that part of the Network working constitutionally within ECUSA as over against the dioceses represented by the thirty progressive bishops who issued their Statement of Conscience, we are two churches under one roof.Even before the close of Convention, Network and Windsor bishops began disassociating themselves from the inadequate Windsor resolution, and thus far one Network diocese has formally requested alternative primatial oversight.
More initiatives are underway. Pastoral and apostolic care has been promised without regard to geography. All I can tell you is that the shape of this care will depend on a very near-range international meeting. Other actions will follow upon continuing conversations with those at the highest levels of the Anglican Communion. Over the course of the month of July, many of the things we have longed for will, I believe, come to pass or be clearly in view for all.
The Anglican Communion Network has never been more united. We are gaining strength, both domestically and internationally. This is the time for biblically orthodox Anglicans to hang together, supporting one another in solidarity, in prayer and with expectancy.
My prayers are with you all, especially those whose plight is most difficult and whose patience is most worn. Pray for me and for all the leadership in Network, Episcopal Church, and Anglican Communion, and most especially for the Archbishop of Canterbury in this crucial moment in modern Anglican history. Again I say to you that a new day is dawning.
One wonders what this "very near-range international meeting" will consist of and who will be there. But this is a very encouraging letter. It sounds for all the world like the Network is through playing nice and will begin to take some risks. And the boldness of this letter suggests that Bishop Duncan knows he has a great deal of support where he needs it the most.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. I just read this letter on the ACN website. Inetersting. I also watched some of the Stand Firm interviews today. All of this leads me to believe that there is more aready done or in place than has been released to the general public. The Diocese of Dallas has a meeting planned for Monday to discuss the outcome of GC2006 with member parish representatives. Though, now, I can't seem to find where I read that. (It was on the calendar... I *know* I read it on the Bishop's calendar...)
It sounds like you are much more tied into what's going on here than I am (after all, I am long since departed from ECUSA). Please keep me advised of developments....
It looks like they realize it's time to fish or cut bait. I think they are a couple of years late, but it looks like they are finally moving on the issue.
Never underestimate the ability of them to find a reason to continue to wait.
I can't disagree with that.
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