The Episcopal Declaration of Independence

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The Episcopal Declaration of Independence

Last week, the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops met and let the world know just what they think of the rest of the Anglican Communion. The official text of their resolutions ran to several thousand words, but for the effect they are likely to have on the church’s relations with the rest of the Anglican world, the bishops could just as well have taken a page out of General McAuliffe’s playbook, saved everyone a lot of time, and issued a simple one-word response: “Nuts!”

At last month’s meeting of Anglican primates in Africa, the Episcopal bishops were asked to do three things: participate in the creation of a church-within-a-church for Episcopal conservatives, promise not to consecrate any more actively homosexual bishops, and promise not to conduct any more church blessings of same-sex unions.

If they did not, the African meeting clearly suggested, the Americans would in effect be choosing to “walk apart” from the wider Anglican Communion. It was rightly described as an ultimatum but nevertheless was quite measured—no one asked Gene Robinson (the actively gay bishop of New Hampshire) to step down, and no one required anything of the Episcopal Church’s numerous openly gay priests. Essentially, the Anglican primates told the Episcopal Church that it would be allowed to push the boundaries, but within limits.

Unfortunately, last week the Episcopal Church apparently decided that it will be bound by nothing beyond itself—not Scripture, not tradition, not worldwide Anglican councils, not anything. And it said so with a vehemence that was surprising, even to many of its supporters.

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The Episcopal Church’s actions have been clear for years. Again, TEC has successfully sent the ball into the court of the Communion. Will the Anglican Communion blink and find a way to “get along” with the Episcopal Church or will it finally say, after years and years, that “enough is enough”. If I were a betting many, I’d look for the wink and nod.
 
I had two Episcopalian candidates in RCIA last year, and have received recent phone calls from inquirers who are Episcopalian. All have mentioned this issue as a factor in their consideration of the Catholic Church.
 
puzzleannie said:
I had two Episcopalian candidates in RCIA last year, and have received recent phone calls from inquirers who are Episcopalian. All have mentioned this issue as a factor in their consideration of the Catholic Church.
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When I was going through RCIA we had an Episcopal couple as well who were becoming Catholic because of these issues. The Episcopal diocese where I live is actually quite conservative, but the national Episcopal church was driving them away.
 
since I participate in an informal regional gathering of youth ministers as part of my job, I have become aware of a deep split between two Episcopal congregations in the next town, one very conservative, one very liberal, which has at times made the local news for its bitterness and sad effects. Very sad. Since the more conservative congregation is looking for a new pastor results should be interesting. An Episcopal church in my former town has closed because the congregation could not find a pastor to suit them and rejected those sent by the Texas bishops. I also experienced this deep divide a couple of years ago when I took a pastoral Spanish class, and most of my classmates for the 6-week class were Episcopal seminarians, some from a very liberal seminary (they were all women), some from a conservative one. It was their consensus at the time that the schism in the international Anglican community was already a permanent reality and would not change, and even predicted that many conservatives would end up in the Catholic or Orthodox Churches.
 
I have heard that this, really, is about money and real estate.

The TEC is maneuvering to maintain control of buildings and chattels in the (some say likely) event that they end up getting kicked to the curb.
 
This controversy is not actually new, it has been going on for at least 30 years. The differences have been exacerbated more recently with the ordination of a gay bishop. The doctrinal concerns on both sides are sincere. The legal manuvering is often about real estate and money, but that is understandable, as the members of a church will not want to have to give up their church building because of their religious beliefs.

I am among those who have left the Episcopal church in America for my local Roman Catholic parish. Within the RC church, there are now a scattered number of married priests (the married Episcopalian priests that became Roman Catholic priests) so this is not a new thing. I think the Episcopal Church in America is going in the wrong direction, but they may believe that they are leading the way to the future.

Melanie
 
This whole event reminds me of a famous phrase that historians on TV love to quote by Abraham Lincoln (in reference to the civil war):A house divided against itself cannot stand
If they only knew Jesus was the one who came up with that.
 
All of this because of secular ideas. I pray that those conservative Anglicans can find it in their heart to return back to Rome. This is a perfect example of why secularism should not be tolerated in any Roman Catholic or Orthodox Church. Why secularism is a weapon for Satan to attack God’s people. By distorting our minds on the meanings of scripture. I also still hope some day that the Archdioceses of Cantebury and York along with other now Anglican dioceses in England and other parts of the world will return home. Unity in a common faith is what God wants.
 
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