An example of Conservative Anglican Response

The Falls Church ^ | 29 August 2003 | Rev. John W. Yates II, Rector

[ahadams2]

Letter to the Family of The Falls Church

From John W. Yates II

August 29, 2003

To the Family of The Falls Church from John Yates:

On Monday, August 25, two hundred or so parishioners met in the church sanctuary to discuss our response to the recent General Convention decision to approve as a bishop a man living in sexual sin. Many will remember this as the “cornfields meeting” because of one parishioner's remark that he'd rather worship in a cornfield than go along with the decisions of the General Convention. In thoughtful, measured remarks, dozens of parishioners expressed their sense of solidarity with the many Anglican leaders around the world who have repudiated the General Convention's action. It was clear to the vestry that there is extremely strong feeling in the parish that our church must act decisively in rejecting the General Convention's action supporting same sex unions. People expressed particular dismay that Bishop Lee and our diocesan delegation voted to support Mr. Robinson's election and also acknowledged the legitimacy of liturgies unionizing people of the same sex, thus rejecting not only the historic teaching of the Bible and the church but also our own diocesan policies. Saddened, angered, dismayed, embarrassed, parishioners urged the vestry to act decisively in its opposition to these decisions.

At the vestry meeting that followed, it was unanimously decided that all financial giving to the work of the Diocese of Virginia and to the National Church would be suspended, with the money to be set aside in designated accounts indefinitely. The vestry also voted to disassociate our church from the decisions of the General Convention, to rebuke Bishop Lee for his votes on these issues, to develop a contingency plan for our church and to participate actively in the various initiatives of the worldwide Anglican community. A straightforward letter will be sent to Bishop Lee, expressing our decision to disassociate ourselves from the General Convention actions.

$10,000 will be given immediately to the American Anglican Council to aid Third World archbishops in attending an October meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury in London, and a preliminary meeting in Nairobi. Many of these Primates who are most concerned to discipline the Episcopal Church in the USA for departing from biblical norms come from poor countries and need our financial support. Perhaps some parishioners would also like to make contributions to support these archbishops in their travel.

Members of the vestry have been involved this week in 3 days of meetings with other concerned Episcopal leaders, in preparation for what promises to be a major gathering in Plano, Texas, October 7-9. At that time, under the leadership of a number of bishops on the board of the AAC, a formal request will be made of the Archbishop of Canterbury and all the archbishops who lead the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion, to reject and repudiate the General Convention's actions, and to sanction and encourage the development of a new North American Anglican province for those who find they can no longer support ECUSA. We cannot predict what will be the final form of this request or what will be the outcome, but many bishops, and, of course, parishes across the country, more and more every day, are uniting in their expressions of their conviction that ECUSA no longer represents them or represents the beliefs of the Church around the world.

In these sobering times, it is incumbent upon us to pray for Christ's clear leading in these matters and for us daily to recommit ourselves to making Christ King in our life and the lives of others. You would have been pleased to know that he rest of the evening was devoted to spirited discussion of exciting plans for evangelism and the starting of daughter churches as well as major missionary initiatives, both locally and around the world.

In the Family,

John Yates

[LiteKeeper]

Hearty spiritual support from an ex-Episcopalian (left 1972)

[RobbyS]

Wow! Doesn't sound like skim-milk Episcopalianism! Go at it.

[Unam Sanctam]

Somehow I doubt anything dramatic will happen with the Episcopalians. There will be some more defections, but mostly I bet they'll just muddle along tossing out Christianity little by little as they have been doing all along. They have been compromising the apostolic faith for years, not least by being the first denomination to bless artificial birth control in the 1930s, and all down the line through affirmation of divorce, fornication, abortion, practicing homosexuality in the laity, etc. Why after all the rot that has gone on for decades should the Anglican church collectively wake up now and start promoting apostolic teachings of Christian morality just because a practicing homosexual who broke his marriage vows is elected bishop? If they haven't cared before, they're not going to care now. It's just not going to happen. I just hope the few stray holdouts for Christian morality in that communion will be able to find their way to the Barque of Peter and strengthen our communion and apostolic unity.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Rome is waiting. Bring your parishes on over.

[trad_anglican]

I just hope the few stray holdouts for Christian morality in that communion will be able to find their way to the Barque of Peter and strengthen our communion and apostolic unity.

Given the charity and humility exhibited in your post, how could they not?

[AZhardliner]

One can hope and pray that the conservatives/evangelicals in the ECUSA and the WWAC really do something of substance - like church discipline. Throw the liberals out of the WWAC and re-align the ECUSA. We've had enough symbolic responses!

[Unam Sanctam]

I see charity as relating to treatment of individuals, not eliminating any discussion of general societal trends. I would therefore consider your barbed and sarcastic response directed at me personally more uncharitable than the general statement I made. I was merely stating my impression that Episcopalians as a whole do not seem particularly committed to upholding Christian truth. I don't think it uncharitable to say that and I am sorry if you took it as an uncharitable statement. I believe it more a statement of fact. I have criticized or judged no individual. Does charity require that I not express an opinion about a general trend in another denomination? In the end, I have no say over what you Episcopalians do, although I am saddened to the extent that you move further and further from the Body of Christ. It's a free country and if the Episcopalians want to invent a new religion to replace Christianity, that is their prerogative. Nor do I say that the Catholic Church does not have its problems with those who wish to sell out Christian principles to modernity. So I can be perfectly humble on that score. However, only the Catholic Church has so far preserved the apostolic faith whole and entire, a fact of which that great Anglican and Catholic convert John Henry Newman was certainly aware.

[Unam Sanctam]

And I would say further that charity does not trump sound doctrine as the liberals constantly try to claim. Both charity and doctrine are important and should complement each other.

[ahadams2]

I expect that, one way or the other, by the end of October ECUSA will no longer be a functional member of the Anglican Communion. I guess my only question at this point is this: what are the 'pew potato' ("my grandmother donated that light bulb!") sorts going to do when that happens? Will they be capable of leaving, or will they simply go down with the ship? That should be interesting to see.

[trad_anglican]

I was merely stating my impression that Episcopalians as a whole do not seem particularly committed to upholding Christian truth. I don't think it uncharitable to say that and I am sorry if you took it as an uncharitable statement.

Had you merely stated just that, your post would not have been uncharitable. But you didn't "merely" state that. Your post was derogatory and inflammatory and more likely to turn the "few stray holdouts" away from Rome rather than towards it.

[Unam Sanctam]

What I said in my second post was simply a summary of what I said in my first post. I do not believe it was derogatory or inflammatory. I was just calling things as I see it. I'm sorry if you do not care to hear what I say. Obviously it is not possible to discuss this issue with you, so I will zip my lips and let you Anglicans henceforth stew in your own juices. Actually, I can understand your pique to some extent, since I sometimes object to the things outsiders say about my communion. Anyways, I wish you well in your communion and bid you good day sir.