Posted on 10/23/2005 10:36:47 AM PDT by Crackingham
An Episcopal group has a doomsday plan that calls for ousting conservative bishops and seizing church property if they attempt to break from the denomination over its increasingly liberal position on homosexuality.
The so-called "Day After" plan could kick in as early as June, when the Episcopal Church USA holds its General Convention in Columbus, Ohio, according to minutes from a closed steering committee meeting of the group Via Media.
Joan Gunderson of Aspinwall, who served as recording secretary for committee meeting in late September, said nothing from the strategy session has been approved by the group's leadership.
"The minutes from our meeting were not meant to be public," said Gunderson, who is vice president for policy of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, formed to counter the conservative movement in the church. "It's a rough draft, and nothing in it has been finalized. We were just looking at possible worst-case scenarios."
Many in the church are bracing for a possible announcement by conservative bishops during the convention that the Anglican Communion Network be "recognized as the only legitimate expression" of Anglicanism in North America.
The Network was created by Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan and other conservative bishops after the denomination consecrated an openly homosexual man, V. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.
The denomination also angered many traditionalists by granting tacit approval for blessing services for same-sex couples.
Duncan believes the groundwork being laid to block conservatives from returning the church to its traditional roots is an extreme measure.
"If authentic, and we believe they are, the minutes of this meeting show how far the progressives are willing to go to appropriate what is not theirs," Duncan said. "I trust that the people in the Diocese of Pittsburgh will see clearly who is serving their best interest."
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
If you call yourself a Christian pastor than you had best get it through your ehad who you serve and work for.
So who do they work for, the Church hierarchy, or God?
Fyi. Please go to the link and read the whole article.
This needs to be sent to all of our Episcopal friends who may have bought into the Via Media mess.
FYI
The Episcopal Church has been becoming more and more just a "club for sinners" who like sin and want to stick with it, and not saved from it.
Question: If we ( conservatives) are ONLY 10%, as they say, then why are they so concerned..?
it looks like this takeover plan has been thwarted in spades
Apparently they can't tell a bishop from a queen.
"Question: If we ( conservatives) are ONLY 10%, as they say, then why are they so concerned..?
Obviously, their focus groups or real surveys are telling them to worry.
Also that recent lawsuit in the LA area that said the parish members owned the local church not the Diocese has them very scared.
"Unbelieable!"
Amazing, also works.
Miss Marple, who is not an E member, warned us about the homosexuals going after church property and funds shortly after the perverted one was made into an illegal Bishop.
"it looks like this takeover plan has been thwarted in spades,"
The good news about this article (pun intended) is where it was published. It didn't come from the internet or some so called outcast Anglican group. This came from a newspaper.
Now we can forward this article to our friends and allies in our local parish and diocese.
"The Episcopal Church has been becoming more and more just a "club for sinners" who like sin and want to stick with it, and not saved from it."
This started shortly after the Cuban Crisis and the Nam War when the Methodists and others fell in love with Castro and Ho Chi Minh.
It is a problem with many if not most churches today.
Ha! Those people don't want to be caught worshipping in a high school gym and listening to an electronic keyboard! They are too "sensitive" and therefore you OWE them that large building with the stained glass windows and pipe organ; you conservative Episcopalians can go have your antique services down the road at the VFW hall.
Oh, and by the way, don't think that that endowment money your great-grandparents gave will go with you. They want that money to advance their agenda (which is not anything that Christ would recognize, if you ask me). And when their congregations diminish, they will sell off the land and buildings to a developer, so that the money will go for a "good cause."
I am sorry to say I was right about this. I hope this plot has been foiled. That decision out in California about who owns the property was a really important one, as I noted at the time.
Although I still consider myself an Episcopalian (baptised and confirmed), and though my Letters of Transmittal remain active by payment of pledge in my local parish, I have not attended a service in an Episcopal diocese since the summer of 2002. Consequently, if anyone actually POLLS the membership, I cannot be counted.
One wonders what the proportions would be if intentionally "dormant" and "absent" Episcopalians were surveyed.
I remember your astute warning very well, and that is why I copied you on that reply.
Your comments below will be saved and used if needed out here:
"Those people don't want to be caught worshipping in a high school gym and listening to an electronic keyboard! They are too "sensitive" and therefore you OWE them that large building with the stained glass windows and pipe organ; you conservative Episcopalians can go have your antique services down the road at the VFW hall."
"Oh, and by the way, don't think that that endowment money your great-grandparents gave will go with you. They want that money to advance their agenda (which is not anything that Christ would recognize, if you ask me). And when their congregations diminish, they will sell off the land and buildings to a developer, so that the money will go for a "good cause.""
I have told people who have left and are thinking about leaving, that they are doing exactly what these Church Killers have wanted them to do. If you love your church, stay and fight for it.
Thanks as usual.
Dave
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