TEC Division Continues - Ft. Worth Standing Committee Submits Resolutions to Leave Province VII of The Episcopal Church

THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF FORT WORTH

July 24, 2006
STANDING COMMITTEE RESOLVES TO LEAVE PROVINCE VII

FORT WORTH, Texas – The following Resolution was unanimously adopted today by the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and will be presented to the Diocesan Convention in its annual meeting on Nov. 18, 2006.

WHEREAS the Archbishop of Canterbury in light of the actions of General Convention 2006 has proposed that the “best way forward” for the Anglican Communion is to have in the future both “constituent” and “associated” members, necessitating “ordered and mutually respectful separation between ‘constituent’ and ‘associated’ elements” within local Churches; and

WHEREAS the stated aim of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth is to be a constituent member of the Anglican Communion as provided for in the Constitution of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America; and,

WHEREAS the Bishop and Standing Committee believe it necessary for the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth to dissociate itself from those actions of the 75th General Convention which constitute a decision of the Episcopal Church to walk apart from the Anglican Communion; and,

WHEREAS the Bishop and Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth in good faith appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates of the Anglican Communion, and the Panel of Reference for immediate alternative Primatial oversight and pastoral care so that a unifying solution can be found to preserve an authentic Anglican community of witness within the United States of America and provide pastoral and apostolic care to biblically orthodox Anglicans in this country regardless of geographical location;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, pending final ratification by its 24th Annual Convention, withdraws its consent, pursuant to Article VII of the Constitution of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, to be included in the Seventh Province of the Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth consists of 55 congregations serving 24 north central Texas counties. The major cities in the diocese include Fort Worth, Arlington, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Wichita Falls, Grand Prairie, Richland Hills, Brownwood, and Stephenville. The Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker has served as the third Diocesan Bishop of Fort Worth since 1995. The diocese enjoys companion relationships with the Dioceses of Northern Malawi and Northern Mexico.

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Note from BB

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.

Martin Luther King, Jr.