Posted on 10/31/2006 4:23:25 PM PST by sionnsar
Let's see now.
(1) TEC Chancellor David Booth Beers recently wrote to the Bishops of Fort Worth and Quincy:
On the eve of Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s investiture as the 26th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, her chancellor, David Booth Beers, has written identical letters to the chancellors of two traditionalist dioceses demanding that they change language “that can be read as cutting against an ‘unqualified accession’ to the Constitution and Canons of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church.
Mr. Beers concludes his letter stating “should your diocese decline to take that step, the Presiding Bishop will have to consider what sort of action she must take in order to bring your diocese into compliance.”
Beers wrote these letters over a week ago indicating that the decision to proceed occurred about that time.
(2) Katharine Jefferts Schori and outgoing TEC Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold recently met in London with the Archbishop of Canterbury. Although Frank described the meeting as warm and cordial, there are indications that the meeting may have been a bit more uncomfortable for both Griswold and Schori than ENS's spin suggests.
Prior to the meeting, sources close to the archbishop told The Living Church that Archbishop Williams intended to ask Bishop Jefferts Schori what her response would be as Presiding Bishop to the recommendations found in paragraph 144 of the Windsor Report. Paragraph 144 states:
Because of the serious repercussions in the Communion, we call for a moratorium on all such public Rites [of same-sex blessings], and recommend that bishops who have authorized such rites in the United States and Canada be invited to express regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of affection were breached by such authorization. Pending such expression of regret, we recommend that such bishops be invited to consider in all conscience whether they should withdraw themselves from representative functions in the Anglican Communion.
The Beers letters do not seem to have come up.
Assuming that (1) Kate's in the loop(and since Beers uses the pronoun "she," I think that's a safe assumption) and (2) neither she nor Frank mentioned the Beers letters during their meeting, Dr. Williams now has the unique experience of being personally lied to by two different American Anglican primates in the last three years. I can't think that this will help TEC's chances of remaining "legitimate" Anglicans.
Here's what I think happened. The Beers letters, like the charges against San Joaquin's John-David Schofield, were a bluff. That is, until Frank and Kate got to London and heard Dr. Williams tell them that the primates had told him that TEC's GenCon 2006 response to the Windsor Report was inadequate. So TEC, reading the handwriting on the wall, finally decided to take the gloves off.
Fort Worth, Quincy and the other Network dioceses should be under no illusions. TEC is not going to play nice, particularly if Kate Schori doesn't get an invitation to or gets thrown out of the February Primates Meeting. There could very well be a deposition here and there particularly since TEC will stack the deck. The real Anglican war looks like it's finally started.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. For one thing, up to now there have been no overt threats to make entire dioceses toe the line.
I keep seeing Fort Worth brought up on these types of articles. My understanding is that several of the Churches in Fort Worth have told Bishop Iker that if he takes the Diocese out of the ECUSA, then they will live the Fort Worth Diocese. I believe Bishop Iker has backed off. At least this is what I have heard from one of the Liberal Churches that my Scouting Unit meets at.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.