Snubbed Bishop Joins ACNA

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
3/16/2009


Snubbed for more than three years after resigning as Bishop of Southern Virginia, the Rt. Rev. David C. Bane has joined the Anglican Church of North America and has accepted an invitation to serve as Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

In a copy of a letter sent to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Bane told VOL he described his action "as one of the saddest and most unanticipated decisions in my life. On the other hand, I can no longer deceive myself that I can be fulfilled and happy without being engaged in Christian ordained episcopal ministry."
"We were assured by all parties that if I resigned, there would be many and varied ministry opportunities for me in the Episcopal Church. With that encouragement I resigned at the 2006 Annual Council and moved to Elizabeth City, North Carolina."

Then began the snubs. He wrote to the national office offering his assistance in any way he could. "I called Bishop (Clayton) Matthew two years ago to ask to be considered for ministry somewhere in TEC. I asked if I had any geographical restrictions and I said that I did not. Since that time I have watched as time after time retired bishops have been appointed to various ministries all over the Episcopal Church without any contact from Bishop Matthews about any of them."

Before he left Southern Virginia, he wrote and called the Rt. Rev. Clifton Daniel, Bishop of the Diocese of East Carolina, offering his services, but got no response. Bane learned that Daniel took his name out of an interim process at St. Andrew's, Nags Head, but did not tell him. Two years ago, he met with the Rev. Canon Win Lewis, his former Canon to the Ordinary, to ask him to submit his name and resume to the semi-annual meetings of the Deployment Officers. He said he would handle Bane's application personally and get back to him. He never did.

Last year. Bane wrote to thirty-five bishops whom he considered to be friends and colleagues offering to work in their dioceses. He received one response thanking him for the letter and wishing him well.

In a direct appeal to Jefferts Schori, Bane wrote, "Katharine, what would you conclude if this were your experience? I do not know what else I could have done since my retirement to try to find ministry in the Episcopal Church. My father died a priest in the Episcopal Church. I have spent my entire life in this Church and intended to do so for as long as I live. However, it is abundantly clear that, for whatever reasons, I am not welcome to serve as a bishop in the Episcopal Church. Alice and I have been completely baffled by the total lack of care or support of any kind from anyone in the Church we have served in for twenty-five years."

The failure of the church to offer Bane ecclesiastical work made him realize that his days in TEC were numbered. He would never hear from them, again. The gorilla grip of revisionism was now a stranglehold on the throat of the church. Bishop Bane decided to make his own move.

"For these reasons I have joyfully and gratefully accepted an invitation from Archbishop Gregory Venables to be received as a bishop in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. I have also accepted an invitation to serve as Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and to minister in the Anglican Church in North America. On the one hand this is one of the saddest and most unanticipated decisions in my life. On the other hand, I can no longer deceive myself that I can be fulfilled and happy without being engaged in Christian ordained episcopal ministry."

Read it all here

To "Be" or Not to "Be"

This Sunday the Epistle in the 28 prayer book was Eph 5 ... and I went with this:

Be

Shakespeare – To be or not to BE – that is the Question

We have a choice here, To be or not to Be imitators of God.

“Therefore BE imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

“It is good,” God said when He made mankind. “to Be” was understood. Adam didn’t have to ask what God meant. He knew. In the middle of the Garden, God planted the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. “Be,” He said, as He told our first parents not to eat of it, even as the Serpent advertised it with all his power. “Just be.” “It is good,” God said in our Baptism. “To Be” was understood, with no need to ask what He meant. “Be,” He said, even as He sent us out into a world filled with the poisons of that tree that became the world’s first idol, even as the serpent advertises this deadly fruit with all his might. “You are my own redeemed child,” God said. “Be.” “Be,” St. Paul says. He need not say more, although he will. “Be what you are”—an odd command, even an obvious command, like telling the dog to growl, the cow to moo, but a command nonetheless: “Be.” So why command it? He commands it because there are terrible consequences when we are not. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” As Adam’s “Be” went back to creation, our “Be” goes back to redemption. By the cross “you are.” Christ’s “sacrifice for us” redeems us “for Him.” “Be,” because you became what you are at a price, and, if you will not “Be,” you will “not be,” and Christ did not die for you to “not be.”

At The beginning and end of this text are “Be,” with “Be nots” sandwiched in between. “Be what you are, not what you are not, and, if you are what you are, you will not be these things.” “Be not sexually immoral.” Let faith guide your passions lest passions strangle your faith. St. Paul does not say, “Be not sexual,” but, “Be not sexually immoral,” and there is a big difference. St. Paul does not say “Let not sex be named among you,” but “Let not sexual immorality, impurity, or covetousness be named among you” and there is a big difference. Impurity is the fruit of rotten seeds. We desire what we ought not to have, or what we may have, in a way we ought not to have it, and that desire, which ought to be chased out of our heads and hearts like bats in the belfry, if allowed to stew, gives birth to impurity, the surrender of “Be” to “Be not.” Self-gratification suddenly looms larger than salvation; a moment’s indulgence seems a better investment than eternal blessedness. “Such is improper among the saints,” St. Paul says. “Those who would continue in such things without repentance have no inheritance in the kingdom of God.” And it’s true. They’ve let go of their Baptism to take hold of the devil’s fruit. “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place.” Filthiness,

foolish talk, and crude joking are out of place among us for the same reason sexual sins are. These things make insignificant of what God would have us take seriously, make evil what God has called good. Jesus is the Word, and He has revealed the Father to us in words, and to take words and put them in the service of anyone but Him and our neighbor is to abuse them. Such is foolishness, and has no place among God’s saints.

“Let no one deceive you with empty words.” And empty words are just what we want when we are in sin and unwilling to get out of it. But the absolution does not proclaim, “It’s okay in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” but, “pardon and deliver you from ALL your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit,” with a big old cross drawn down the middle. We do right to forgive sin, but only harm to say it’s okay. “Okay” didn’t nail Jesus to a tree. Forgiveness did. Empty words say its okay, whether to false morals or false belief. But such words have no place in the kingdom of God. Such words only “bring wrath.” They are directions to hell veiled falsely in the language of heaven.

As children of God, we only “be” when we “speak the truth in love,” and the two cannot be divorced. Approval or

acceptance is not forgiveness. Forgiveness washes sin away; it does not rename it. There is no love apart from truth and no truth apart from love, because both come from Him who is both. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” Jesus says.

So what, then? “Be.” “But I have not been?” you may think, and you’re right. We have not been. “But be,” St. Paul says. Reclaim your inheritance. The devil’s fruit can rot

in hell without us. Be renewed and regenerated. Jump back into the water of life. Take refuge in the wounds of the Savior who “gave Himself in death as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God,” who still gives Himself for you in remembrance of that sacrifice. Through faith, St. Paul calls us children of God. The Prodigal Son was subject to danger as he wandered, but, before it was too late, he saw his foolishness and came

back to his father, who stretched out his protecting arms like Christ on the cross and received him, who slaughtered the fattened calf to feed him with the sign of his forgiving love.

Your Savior’s arms are still extended, and, in them, your Father longs to embrace you with His protection from the hell that has wooed you, to feed you with the sign of His love, the very slaughtered Flesh and Blood of His only-begotten. You may have been darkness, but, in Christ, God longs again to call you light. “Be light.” Let there Be light in YOU!

“Be.” Break off your associations with what is not. Cling to those associations that make you what you are. Reconnect with the Father through the Son and by the Spirit, and with His fellow children in the Body of Christ, the Church. Huddle

together in the Light and together “Be,” because that is what you do when you are what God has made you. Amen.

US Church to be asked to make marriage service gender-neutral

According to Religious Intelligence

The General Convention of the US Episcopal Church will be asked to authorize rites for the blessing of same-sex unions at their triennial meeting in July. On Jan 31 the Diocese of Newark synod endorsed a resolution asking the General Convention to amend the national Church’s canons governing Holy Matrimony, making them gender-neutral.

Newark’s Resolution 2009-05 asks the national church to amend Canon 18: Of the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony, substituting the words “two persons” where the words “a man and a woman” now appear, and to amend Canon 19: Of Regulations Respecting Holy Matrimony, to substitute the word “spouse” where the words “husband or wife” appear.

Delegates to the Newark synod also asked their diocesan clergy to henceforth record services solemnizing same-sex civil unions in the parish register “in a manner identical to the recording of marriages,” and stated the diocese’s intention of asking the national Church to amend its canons making this innovation church wide.

At their Feb 1-5 meeting in Alexandria, the Primates urged the Episcopal Church to maintain its moratorium on gay bishops and blessings as did the 2008 Lambeth Conference. While many US dioceses have called for an end to the moratorium enacted at the 2006 General Convention, it is unclear whether the church as a whole will repudiate Lambeth, the primates and Dr Rowan Williams’ call for “gracious restraint.”


Read it all.

Ground Breaking Diocese - OFFICIAL

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
3/8/2009

In an unprecedented move, a new Anglican diocese has formed outside of The Episcopal Church, but inside its jurisdiction. This is not a breakaway from the 100 Episcopal dioceses that make up TEC.

A meeting of seventy-three Anglican clergy and wardens in Jacksonville agreed to press ahead and form a new orthodox Anglican diocese. Also present were representatives of non-Alliance congregations interested in joining the Alliance.

Harris Willman, Anglican Alliance administrator, said the clergy and wardens from the twenty-one churches that constitute the Anglican Alliance met and agreed to form the diocese and ally themselves with the new Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) for the next six months, doing the detail work of developing mission and mission priorities and procedures as well as governance structures.

"It is now our intent to move forward as a Diocese in Formation in the Anglican Church in America for the next six months, doing the detail work of developing our mission and mission priorities and procedures as well as our governance structures."

"It is our desire to avoid duplicating the old structure and many of the procedural limitations of our previous denomination (The Episcopal Church). As much as possible we hope to find ways to serve Christ together similar to those described in the book of Acts. At the same time, our confidence lies not in our creating the perfect system, but rather in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Head of the Church. We will also seek to define and describe the role of future episcopal leadership, emulating early church principles."


This is indeed ground breaking news, and symbolic of christian co-operation and Faith. I wish them the very best Blessings in this formation and look forward to following their success.

American Anglican Conference in Southeast.

If you live in the Southeast and are interested in Excellent Anglican Teaching and Workshops, regarding new Parish Life This should be on your or your clergy's "to attend" list. Also recommend that you join the American Anglican Council either as an individual or as a Parish.

Show me the money: The Episcopal Bishop of Western Kansas writes Presiding Bishop, House of Bishops, Executive Council, & General Convention Deputies

BabyBlueOnline: Show me the money: The Episcopal Bishop of Western Kansas writes Presiding Bishop, House of Bishops, Executive Council, & General Convention Deputies

An Open Letter to The Presiding Bishop, House of Bishops, ExecutiveCouncil, and Deputies to General Convention,I really do not know anymore what is coming next. How things are done and not done are as haphazard as people's ideas; or so it seems.Now I read that the "New" Diocese of Fort Worth passed a $632,466 dollar budget for a part-time bishop, a little over 19 priests and 62 delegates who represent way less than a thousand people, and $200,000 is from the General Convention budget!

Interesting letter, and I'd bet that he is no longer on the "A" list in New York .... quite a challenge of what is going on by a Bishop... I wonder what year a response will come?

Read it all at the link above.

Letter From Bishop Duncan

Bishop Duncan - soon to to be Archbishop Duncan of the New Anglican Province outlines First Provincial Assembly.

March 4, 2009

Bishop Robert Duncan has written to the Common Cause Partnership outlining details of the first Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America. The meeting will be held June 22 - 25 at St. Vincent's Cathedral in Bedford, Texas. The text of his letter follows. TO ALL COMMON CAUSE PARTNERS: Beloved in the Lord,

The purpose of this letter is to give formal notice of the Provincial Assembly to be gathered from noon, Monday, June 22nd, to noon, Thursday, June 25th, 2009. This meeting is being convened under the Provisional Constitution of the Anglican Church in North America. The place of gathering is St. Vincent's Cathedral, Bedford, Texas.

The agenda of the Provincial Assembly will include:
1) Worship;
2) Presentations in support of the mission of the Province;
3) Scripture teaching;
4) Addresses by international leaders;
5) Consideration for ratification of the (Provisional) Constitution;
6) Consideration for ratification of a Code of Canons;
7) Reports from committees and task forces.

Each diocese, cluster or network will have representation as provided for in the provisional constitution and initial canons set out by the Common Cause Leadership Council (acting as Provincial Council) on December 3rd, 2008.

The actual apportionment cannot be accomplished until the April meeting of the Council, so this notice is being distributed widely for initial planning purposes.

The actual selection and certification of voting members of the Assembly are to be done diocese by diocese. Most will be represented by their bishop(s), two clergy and two lay persons. Representation is, however, proportional; linked to each additional thousand Average Sunday Attendance.

The hope for the Provincial Assembly is that it be "more like AMiA's Winter Conference than TEC's General Convention." Consideration of matters to be voted will, of course, be limited to the certified representatives. But the gathering as a whole will be open to all.

The expectation is that many more will be present in Bedford than are actually members of the Provincial Assembly. We welcome this and several hundred hotel rooms have been blocked for observer-participants. The Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) airport is a short distance from the meeting site. A list of area hotels accompanies this announcement (pdf file here).

I covet your prayers for this Inaugural Provincial Assembly, and for all that surrounds its preparation. These are momentous days.

Faithfully in Christ,

+Bob Pittsburgh
Moderator