Diocese of PittsburghSeptember 11, 2007 - Today, the Diocesan Council of The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh began formal process that could lead to changes in its diocesan constitution by forwarding resolutions to Pittsburgh’s Diocesan Convention Nov. 2-3. If ultimately passed by Diocesan Convention, those changes will open the door for the diocese to remain within mainstream Anglicanism even as the wider Episcopal Church continues to cut those ties.
“We are praying that the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops makes these votes unnecessary by unequivocally accepting all the requests of the worldwide Anglican Communion when they meet in New Orleans Sept. 20-25,” said the Rev. David Rucker, president of Diocesan Council. “While we continue to pray for the House we must also prepare for the very real possibility they will not respond favorably. Thus, we are beginning the process that will allow our convention to consider this action in the event the Episcopal Church does not turn back,” he added. The release of convention resolutions conforms to Pittsburgh’s internal rules of order that require any proposed resolutions to be made public well in advance of the meeting itself.
To maintain the Episcopal Church’s standing in the worldwide communion, the House of Bishops has until September 30 to take a number of steps. Among the actions requested of the House of Bishops by the leadership of the worldwide communion is an agreement to participate in a specific oversight plan for American Episcopalians who do not accept the liberal direction of the Episcopal Church.
Acting in March 2007, the House of Bishops rejected in advance the creation of this system of oversight for conservatives and hinted that they would not be able to act on the other requests. Actions by The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council in June further signaled the church leadership’s decision to allow no internal solution.
The Episcopal Church has been steadily moving away from biblical Christianity for more than 30 years. Church leaders are on record denying basic Christian truths, especially concerning the uniqueness of atonement and salvation by Jesus Christ and the primacy of Scripture in determining moral and theological teaching. The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, as well as a number of other dioceses, has worked for years to reconcile its differences with The Episcopal Church, or, failing that, arrange for an orderly and charitable parting of ways. Those efforts have been unsuccessful.
This press release is available online here.
The full text of the proposed resolution is available here as a pdf here.
Bishop Robert Duncan’s Pre-Convention Report is here.
3 comments:
"To maintain the Episcopal Church’s standing in the worldwide communion, the House of Bishops has until September 30 to take a number of steps. "
BB, this is not exactly true.
You saw, I believe, blogposts of a couple of weeks ago having to do with the Constitution of the ACC which suggest that only that body can truly expel a province from the Anglican Communion, and imply that the Primates Meeting has taken on power it has not been granted.
It is true, of course, that the Primates may act unilaterally, without consultation to the ACC, but without ACC action, TEC will remain a constituent body of the Anglican Communion past September 30th no matter what the HOB says.
Padre Wayne
Rowan Williams has an interesting quote in the National Catholic Reporter (I'll put up a link). From the Catholic Reporter:
“I do accept that there are moments when people say, truth before unity. I understand why the Reformation happened, why in the 1930s the German church divided so violently, where the only unity that could have survived the acceptance of Hitler’s racial laws was a unity which absolutely undermined the integrity of the church.” He commented: “Clearly some people in the United States have seen this as that sort of moment. I don’t.”
TEC has all ready been benched by the ACC, as we all know (but sometimes seem to forget). The ACC, funded by TEC, is of course the one "instrument of unity" TEC has left, but a reading of the ACC constitution focuses on the ACC, not the other instruments. What can the ACC enforce? Is the ACC going to go to war with the other instruments of unity, for example, the Primates themselves? Don't think so. As my Brother The Methodist reminds me, "the Episcopal Church has no Navy." And the question remains, metaphorically speaking, who does?
bb
Good questions, BB.
Padre Wayne
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