Friday, August 10, 2007
"Humble yourselves,
therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may
lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he
cares for you."
1 Peter 5:6-7
- A Message from the Rev. Canon David C.
Anderson
- AAC Starts Web Videos
- Deadline for Responding to Lambeth
Invitations Extended
- Anglican Churches Petition California
Supreme Court
- Episcopal Diocese Settles Lawsuit
- South Carolina Re-Elects The Very Rev.
Mark J. Lawrence
A Message from the Rev. Canon David C.
Anderson
President and CEO, American Anglican Council
Beloved in Christ Jesus,
These days many folks are asking whether the result of the
Archbishop of Canterbury’s visit to the Episcopal House of Bishops
meeting in New Orleans in September will be the same sort of
nonsense as the committee report on TEC’s compliance which Dr.
Williams pulled out of his miter at Dar es Salaam. The committee
findings, heavily influenced to say what the Archbishop wished them
to say, were that TEC had made substantial progress in explaining
themselves satisfactorily, and that all was OK. The primates didn’t
buy it then. Look for a rerun of the same game at New Orleans, and
the same conclusion: “Although the Episcopal Church has not
completely satisfied the stipulations of the Communiqué, they have
made a courageous and honest effort in that direction given the
limitations of their polity, and more time will need to be accorded
them for full compliance to be realized.” I would like to be proven
wrong about this!
The AAC Communiqué Compliance Office will have a
summary of compliance/non compliance actions available for the House
of Bishops’ meeting and for Dr. Williams and company before the New
Orleans HOB meeting. We do trust that SOMEONE will wish to know the
facts before absolution is pronounced. One of the real problems that
no one on either side of the water seems to wish to address is the
inability of the Anglican Communion Office and the Archbishop of
Canterbury to fund office operations - or the Lambeth Conference -
without massive money from The Episcopal Church. Can you imagine a
trial and conviction where the accused is paying for the court’s
operation on a yearly basis, and yet the judge and court officers
are not judicially deferential? Follow the money, they say. It isn’t
justice, and it isn’t sound theology.
On a happy note, The Very Rev. Mark Lawrence has
been re-elected as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South
Carolina. He will once again have to seek the consents of a majority
of bishops with jurisdiction and diocesan Standing Committees for
the election to be officially confirmed. A previous attempt was
ruled null and void by the Presiding Bishop earlier this year due to
a technicality in how some of the votes were reported, and the
numbers were razor thin. Although South Carolina is officially
optimistic, many are doubtful given the hostile environment and the
inquisitional climate that seems to have only increased since the
last time. It raises a real question: is there hope that South
Carolina can find justice and fulfillment in the present framework?
Time will tell.
In California the former Episcopal congregations
who fled the oppression of the Diocese of Los Angeles and the
Episcopal Church have appealed the Court of Appeals’ 77 page
decision, since it overturned settled California law. The prayer is
firstly that the California Supreme Court will hear the case and
bring coherence to California law, and secondly that the decision
will favor the churches who have left with the property that they
paid for themselves.
In a recent meeting in Tehran, Iran, on the
occasion of the installation of Bishop Azad Marshall, the House of
Bishops of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East accepted
and affirmed the recommendations of the Primates in their Communiqué
from the Tanzania meeting.
My article in last weeks’ Church of England
Newspaper which quoted the Archbishop of York’s affirmation of TEC
has generated some push-back from York Minster. Unfortunately York
himself didn’t reply, but the job was given to Arun Arora, a staffer
who apparently did not carefully read what I actually said, thus
embarrassing himself and the Archbishop. I have been asked to
respond and so will re-address the original issue; I will also
address the points of obfuscation which Arora raised about Hitler
and Nazis and playing games with donkeys, although why any of that
popped into Arora’s mind would beg other questions.
If you are an orthodox Episcopalian and your
revisionist bishop has made crazy statements about Jesus or the
Bible, please send them to us at the AAC with the exact quote, who
spoke it, where and when it was spoken, and any documentation or
reporting of the remarks. We may include them in the CCO reports, or
in articles such as my response to Arora.
The AAC has launched a petition drive directed to
The Episcopal Church calling for transparency in the funding for
TEC’s litigation against the many parishes, clergy and vestry
members who have departed TEC for safer spiritual homes. Since there
are rumors on the street about the source of the funding, it is in
TEC’s best interest to be transparent about who is being sued and
where the money for the litigation is coming from. With that
transparency in place hopefully all can rest easy about TEC’s
dedicated Trust Funds and the Pension Fund (unless of course
something untoward has occurred).
I will be in Kenya and Uganda for the
consecrations of new American bishops and will endeavor to post
photos to our AAC site, God willing and if I can figure out how to
make photos go through the phone. Pray for safe travel for all those
attending the consecrations, and for good weather to bless the
celebrations.
Blessings and Peace in Christ Jesus,
The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson
CEO & President of the AAC
AAC Starts Web Videos
The American Anglican Council (AAC) released its
first video interview for the internet this week. The interview
with the Rev. Canon David C. Anderson is available on the AAC
homepage. The video comes in response to requests for interpretation
of current events in the orthodox Anglican world.
Anderson says the videos are for anyone concerned
with the crisis in the Episcopal Church and Worldwide Anglican
Communion. "What we're trying to do is help people understand what's
happening in the Anglican Communion. Our hope is that these web
videos will keep people informed without making them sift though
endless statements, press releases, or communiqués."
The first video covers the current state of the
orthodox Anglican movement, an analysis of important upcoming
events, and information on how individuals can get involved.
After watching the video, please give your
feedback by clicking the link on the homepage and telling us if
you'd like to see more AAC web videos.
Click here to
watch the video or go to the AAC
homepage.
Deadline for responding to Lambeth
Invitations extended.
Sydney “cannot give an answer until later in the year”
Source: Anglican
Mainstream
Date: August 8, 2008
THE DIOCESE of Sydney’s six bishops has told the
Archbishop of Canterbury he will have to wait to find out if they
will attend next year's Lambeth Conference. While they were grateful
to receive an invitation to attend the Conference, they said they
would not decide until they know the course of action taken by the
American bishops to the demands made by the Primates in their
February Dar es Salaam communiqué.
In a letter dated July 30 addressed to Archbishop
Rowan Williams, Archbishop Peter Jensen and his five suffragans
regretted that they could not give Dr Williams their answer at this
time.
“Unfortunately the timing of the invitation has
proved difficult,” they explained as they were first ‘looking for
the response’ of the American House of Bishops to the Primates’
February communiqué before they could give him their final answer.
Sydney indicated it would follow the lead of the African churches
and decline to attend the conference should the bishops who
consecrated Gene Robinson or who have authorised local rites for the
blessing of same-sex unions be invited to attend.
View the rest of the article here.
Anglican Churches Petition California
Supreme Court to Review Church Property Dispute
Source: St. James Anglican Church, Newport Beach
(Via E-Mail)
Date: August 6, 2007
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - August 6, 2007 - Three
California Anglican churches today announced the filing of petitions
with the California Supreme Court to settle a church property
dispute case that affects countless churches and their members
throughout California. The three churches are St. James Church in
Newport Beach, All Saints' Church in Long Beach, and St. David's
Church in North Hollywood.
In July 2007, the California Court of Appeal,
Fourth Appellate District, Division Three, reversed the Orange
County Superior Court's prior ruling that the three former Episcopal
churches, which ended their affiliation with the national
denomination in 2004, did not forfeit their property by changing
their affiliation to another Anglican church. This division of the
appellate court broke with nearly thirty years of California church
property law applying "neutral principles" (i.e., who holds the
deed, who bought or donated the property, and whether the local
church ever agreed to turn over the property), and instead ruled
that denominations can take over local church property by simply
passing an internal rule - even if the local church is separately
incorporated, bought and maintained the property, and never
consented to the rule.
"Californians respect property rights, and no one,
especially a big church bureaucracy, should have the right to
confiscate someone else's property just by passing a rule. For
nearly thirty years, and based on U.S. Supreme Court precedent,
California courts have respected the property rights of church
members who have bought and maintained their property," said Eric C.
Sohlgren, legal spokesman. "By turning the clock back to cases from
the 1800's, the court's opinion has given big institutional churches
a power greater than eminent domain, and thrown this area of law
into turmoil and uncertainty. California courts, religious
corporations and church members are now left with a patchwork of
conflicting court decisions governing ownership of church property,"
Sohlgren said.
View the rest of the release here.
Episcopal Diocese Settles Lawsuit
Source: Boston
Globe
Date: August 7, 2007
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff
A group of former Episcopalians from Attleboro has
agreed to return an undisclosed amount of money to the Episcopal
Diocese of Massachusetts to settle a lawsuit alleging that the
group, who broke away to protest the denomination's approval of an
openly gay bishop, took cash and property belonging to the diocese.
The lawsuit was one of several around the country
between Episcopal dioceses and departing members in an escalating
dispute over the ownership of parish property. Conservatives have
charged that the denomination is using a nationwide litigation
campaign to intimidate them; diocesan officials say they are simply
trying to protect their patrimony.
In Massachusetts, where the courts in the past
have repeatedly ruled that parish property in hierarchical
denominations belongs to the denominations, the two sides decided to
settle just five weeks after the litigation was filed.
Neither side would disclose the details, but both
said that the departing parishioners, now worshiping as All Saints
Anglican, returned a handful of books and some money to their former
parish, All Saints Episcopal, where the diocese is trying to
establish a new congregation of people who remain loyal to the
Episcopal Church USA.
View the rest of the article here.
South Carolina Re-Elects The Very Rev.
Mark J. Lawrence
Source: Diocese
of South Carolina
Date: August 4, 2007
The Diocese re-elected the Very Rev. Mark J.
Lawrence as the 14th Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina, August
4, at a special called election at St. James Church, James Island.
Lawrence had been previously elected by the diocese in September of
2006, but that election was declared null and void by the Presiding
Bishop in March of 2007.
View the rest of the release here.
