Posted on 05/02/2007 6:25:57 PM PDT by Huber
Dear Friends:
The Episcopal Church is in the midst of a challenging time. As in times past, we will get through it and emerge renewed in our faith and refocused on our mission and strengthened for service to our Lord. I regret, however, that there are impatient forces seeking to provoke conflict when humility, respect and patience are in order.
In the run up to this weekend you no doubt will read news accounts of the impending visit of the Archbishop of Nigeria the Most Rev. Peter Akinola to preside at a service of installation of the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns. This weekend’s ceremony will provide false comfort to those who seek certainty in an uncertain world. But in truth, it will serve only to inflame the differences we have been struggling with. When there is so much that brings us together as brothers and sisters in Christ, in a Church that has always celebrated and respected a wide variety of opinions, it is painful to see our shared ministry and faith overshadowed by our differences.
We are fortunate in the Diocese of Virginia, however, to be able to give witness to the things that unite us despite the challenges we face from those now non-Episcopal congregations which seek to divide us. Later this month we will consecrate the Very Rev. Shannon Sherwood Johnston as our Bishop Coadjutor. When I retire he will become the 13th Bishop of Virginia, marking the continuity of our heritage in this our 400th year as the Church in Virginia. In June some 1,500 people will gather at Jamestowne Island to celebrate our heritage in a commemorative Eucharist under a ship’s sail, just as our church ancestors did in 1607. And this summer hundreds of young people will spend time at Shrine Mont at our summer camps and hundreds more young people and adults will be commissioned and sent forth as missionaries of the Gospel to live out their baptismal covenant in service to others here and around the world. All of this at a time when there are those who seek to diminish the work that we do.
The disagreements within The Episcopal Church are ours to resolve. As reaffirmed at the recent House of Bishops meeting, the Episcopal Church is a self-governing, autonomous and undivided church that cannot accept intervention in the governance of our Church by foreign prelates.
The Church of Nigeria, like The Episcopal Church, is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion with clearly defined boundaries. Bonds of affection in the Anglican Communion hold that provincial boundaries are not crossed by bishops without expressed invitation. Bishop Akinola’s effort to establish the Church of Nigeria within the boundaries of The Episcopal Church through something called the Convocation of Anglicans of North America (CANA) has occurred without any invitation or authorization whatsoever and violates centuries of established Anglican heritage. As the Archbishop of Canterbury has made clear, CANA is not a branch of the Anglican Communion and does not have his encouragement. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori also has expressed her concerns over the visit by Bishop Akinola without invitation, a violation of a centuries old practice and decorum.
Our Diocese is committed to meet the needs of all Episcopalians, especially the congregations abandoned by their vestries and clergy. I ask you to continue to pray for them and for our Church, for the Anglican Communion, for the Primates, for those who suffer oppression, for the poor, the needy and for all who seek the redeeming love of Christ. We thank God for 400 years of the Church in Virginia and we remain committed to its faithful mission.
Faithfully,
–(The Rt. Rev.) Peter James Lee is Bishop of Virginia
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. I hate to see good people get overthrown by this stuff.
Peter James Lee, unfortunately my bishop, better be glad he wasn't around 400 years ago--he'd have been tried for heresy, defrocked and excommunicated!
My sister and I were confirmed in TEC several years ago and still have the Prayer Book that we received, with his signature.
...without any invitation or authorization whatsoever and violates centuries of established Anglican heritage.
Of course, and ordaining a flagrant homosexual as a bishop doesn't violate millennia of established Christian theology.
As the Archbishop of Canterbury has made clear, CANA is not a branch of the Anglican Communion and does not have his encouragement.
CANA is part of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, a constituent of the Anglican Communion. Hence, it follows that CANA is part of the Anglican Communion.
The Episcopal Church is in the midst of a challenging time. As in times past, we will get through it and emerge renewed in our faith and refocused on our mission and strengthened for service to our Lord. I regret, however, that there are impatient forces seeking to provoke conflict when humility, respect and patience are in order.
Yes, and your “Church” is on a deadline to be ejected from the Anglican Communion itself…funny how you failed to mention that. Impatient? I’d say over 40 years of struggle against those in leadership utterly irreverent to sacred scripture—and a complete failure to discipline total apostates (like Pike, Spong, or Robinson) is quite long enough. There’s a difference between patience and foolishness.
In the run up to this weekend you no doubt will read news accounts of the impending visit of the Archbishop of Nigeria the Most Rev. Peter Akinola to preside at a service of installation of the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns. This weekend’s ceremony will provide false comfort to those who seek certainty in an uncertain world. But in truth, it will serve only to inflame the differences we have been struggling with. When there is so much that brings us together as brothers and sisters in Christ, in a Church that has always celebrated and respected a wide variety of opinions, it is painful to see our shared ministry and faith overshadowed by our differences.
Without the obedience to Holy Scripture—in ETHICS no less--(sexual behavior is about ethics at a most basic level) there is no possibility of being “in Christ” with people willingly disobedient to His Word, Tradition, and Reason.
We are fortunate in the Diocese of Virginia, however, to be able to give witness to the things that unite us despite the challenges we face from those now non-Episcopal congregations which seek to divide us. Later this month we will consecrate the Very Rev. Shannon Sherwood Johnston as our Bishop Coadjutor. When I retire he will become the 13th Bishop of Virginia, marking the continuity of our heritage in this our 400th year as the Church in Virginia. In June some 1,500 people will gather at Jamestowne Island to celebrate our heritage in a commemorative Eucharist under a ship’s sail, just as our church ancestors did in 1607. And this summer hundreds of young people will spend time at Shrine Mont at our summer camps and hundreds more young people and adults will be commissioned and sent forth as missionaries of the Gospel to live out their baptismal covenant in service to others here and around the world. All of this at a time when there are those who seek to diminish the work that we do.
Interesting number, for the 13th Bishop of Virginia, is it not? And right at another interesting number, the 40th decade in the New World, when the Worldwide Anglican Communion will mete out judgment on an apostate American Church.
The disagreements within The Episcopal Church are ours to resolve. As reaffirmed at the recent House of Bishops meeting, the Episcopal Church is a self-governing, autonomous and undivided church that cannot accept intervention in the governance of our Church by foreign prelates.
So who gives a d*mn about the unity or judgment of the greater Anglican Communion anyway? Obviously you don’t, bishop.
The Church of Nigeria, like The Episcopal Church, is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion with clearly defined boundaries. Bonds of affection in the Anglican Communion hold that provincial boundaries are not crossed by bishops without expressed invitation. Bishop Akinola’s effort to establish the Church of Nigeria within the boundaries of The Episcopal Church through something called the Convocation of Anglicans of North America (CANA) has occurred without any invitation or authorization whatsoever and violates centuries of established Anglican heritage. As the Archbishop of Canterbury has made clear, CANA is not a branch of the Anglican Communion and does not have his encouragement. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori also has expressed her concerns over the visit by Bishop Akinola without invitation, a violation of a centuries old practice and decorum.
CANA is a legitimate mission of the Nigerian Church…to the lost in America—-left forlorn with a counterfeit Anglican “witness.” Just when did the 1st amoung equals ABC disavow CANA?
Our Diocese is committed to meet the needs of all Episcopalians, especially the congregations abandoned by their vestries and clergy. I ask you to continue to pray for them and for our Church, for the Anglican Communion, for the Primates, for those who suffer oppression, for the poor, the needy and for all who seek the redeeming love of Christ. We thank God for 400 years of the Church in Virginia and we remain committed to its faithful mission.
What a LIE. No vestry or clergy have “abandoned” any member of any congregation…The congregations, by a process set up and approved by YOU Bishop Lee, have stayed FAITHFUL to historic Episcopalianism, by finding oversight faithful to Christ-—it is you and your fellow pansexual, pharisaic, and disobedient bishops who have abandoned any claim to authority over God’s flock.
Faithfully,
–(The Rt. Rev.) Peter James Lee is Bishop of Virginia
When I encounter an entire sentence of duckspeak I take it as a sign to quit reading.
Episcopal Cult Alert
Like proceeding with lawsuits against lay individuals despite the clear instruction of the Anglican Communion to not do so.
From the acting Rector of Truro Church in Virginia:
Irony Abounds
Richard Crocker
Episcopal Presiding Bishop Schori this week called on Archbishop Akinola not to proceed with Martyn Minns’ Installation as Missionary Bishop to CANA. She cited three reasons for her request. “First, such action would violate the ancient customs of the church which limits (sic) the episcopal activity of a bishop to only the jurisdiction to which the bishop has been entrusted, unless canonical permission has been given. Second (sic), such action would not help the efforts of reconciliation that are taking place in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion as a whole. Third (sic), such action would display to the world division and disunity that are not part of the mind of Christ, which we must strive to display to all.”
This is frankly bizarre! CANA has emerged to deal with the very points she says she wants to uphold. It was the Episcopal Church which violated not only ancient customs, but also the apostolic faith, by its consecration of self confessed active homosexual Gene Robinson as Bishop in 2003. It was the Episcopal Church that, ignoring calls by the worldwide church, created the need for reconciliation by this action. As they were told, such action would tear the fabric of the Anglican Communion at its deepest level. Thirdly, would that there would have been a similar concern for division and disunity before the Episcopal Church embarked on its unnecessary and damaging course. One of the Episcopal commentators had this succinct response to her letter: “Beyond parody!” As so often in recent history, The Episcopal Church is asking for listening while exhibiting deafness; calling for humility while demonstrating arrogance; and expecting cooperation while trumpeting autonomy.
But back to Saturday’s celebration, and the question on everybody’s lips-What is an Installation? The custom in many Anglican Provinces is for Bishops to be ordained at a central national place. The Bishop is then presented to his Diocese by the Archbishop or his representative at a local Installation, where his ministry is recognized and commissioned. From now, Bishop Martyn will devote himself to leading us, to preach the Gospel and make disciples, within a Convocation that will seek to build a new American expression of faithful Christian witness within the Anglican Communion.
That’s what we are about. Let’s ask God for his vision and guidance as we set out on this road.
Your brother in Christ,
Richard
If the Episcopalians dither around long enough, the muslims will have taken over everywhere. The Episcopal church isn’t worth a hill of beans.
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