‘Judgment day’ coming for TEC Rectors

Posted on May 21, 2011 
Filed under Opinion

In his weekly column, Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, outlines likely consequences of a far-reaching change to the Episcopal Church’s disciplinary canon.

“In July of this year, less than six weeks from now, the changes to the disciplinary canon (Title IV) go into full force and effect, and revisionist bishops will be able to remove parish leaders on the flimsiest of charges. Likewise, if a bishop doesn’t fully go along with Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori’s agenda, she will be able to remove the bishop on the flimsiest of charges. It no longer is required that someone has done something to damage “the church,” only that they intend to do so, or that they might do so, as determined by the Presiding Bishop.”

Read it all here –

“Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,

Many within the American Episcopal Church (TEC) have been sheltered from the worst of TEC’s spiritual and theological innovations. Moderate to conservative bishops and stalwart orthodox parish rectors have often sheltered their people from the harsh reality of the new Episcopal Church, but those days are soon to end.

In July of this year, less than six weeks from now, the changes to the disciplinary canon (Title IV) go into full force and effect, and revisionist bishops will be able to remove parish leaders on the flimsiest of charges. Likewise, if a bishop doesn’t fully go along with Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori’s agenda, she will be able to remove the bishop on the flimsiest of charges. It no longer is required that someone has done something to damage “the church,” only that they intend to do so, or that they might do so, as determined by the Presiding Bishop.

Rectors will no longer be able to protect their flock, nor will bishops, for the long arm of the national church will reach down even into the pew where Mom and Pop sit. If you are intending to stay in TEC for at least five years, I predict you will see the adoption of homosexual marriage with official prayer book liturgy accommodating it coming to your local church.

How can that happen when your priest doesn’t permit it? A TEC priest has the right to refuse to marry any couple without offering an explanation. If, however, the implied reason is that the priest is opposed to homosexual Christian marriage, and he clearly refuses based on a “discriminatory attitude,” then he or she would be liable for removal by the bishop, and could possibly be subject to a civil lawsuit.

Here is an example: Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones come to Father Brown to request marriage. They are not members of your local church, but they are Episcopalians. They are willing to go through the required marriage preparation that Father Brown has for all couples, but Father Brown discriminates against them based either openly or by implication because they are gay. TEC doesn’t tolerate discrimination against gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgendered people, so a complaint is filed with the bishop by the couple. The bishop investigates, finds out the Father Brown did in fact refuse to allow Messrs. Smith and Jones to wed at your local church based on his beliefs about the spiritual impropriety of same-sex unions, and so suspends (inhibits) Father Brown, and he is subsequently removed from ministry (deposed). Meanwhile, an interim priest is placed by the bishop in your parish, who proceeds to wed the couple.

The story isn’t over, though, because the same-sex couple, still feeling un-affirmed by Father Brown and the vestry, bring a lawsuit against the former priest and vestry for discrimination, and the diocese and TEC’s own theological stand on same-sex marriage is used as evidence in court that the denomination does believe in such, therefore the priest can’t rely on his own denominations’ faith standards as a defense for his actions.

The coercive nature of this new disciplinary canon makes it the equivalent of “ecclesiastical waterboarding.” Churches that aren’t ready to be manhandled and taken over by such rough treatment newly available to the Presiding Bishop and her ecclesiastical apparatus have waited until perilously late in the process to do much about it, although there are a few things that can be implemented that could provide some help. Immediate action would be required.

Although same-sex issues are used as an example, they are not the crux of the immediate problem for orthodox TEC dioceses and parishes. The immediate problem is how the change in Title IV will redistribute authority and power and strip away safeguards and protections previously available. The crux of the matter is the change in governance, and the impact on the local church will be manifested in this changed system of governance.

On the positive side of the spiritual ledger, new dioceses are in the formation process in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). Churches that are in definable geographic areas are coalescing into proto-dioceses, and are preparing to adopt a constitution and canons, and have episcopal elections. In existing ACNA dioceses, new congregations are being formed and are growing. Even in these difficult times, where the full and complete Gospel is preached with conviction, the power of the Holy Spirit causes changed and redirected lives. I thank God that I have been honored to live in these times of new reformation and renewal of His church, and with my own eyes to see the bravery and faithfulness of so many Anglicans.

Once churches move out of the TEC ecclesiastical structure and leave the threats and punishments of TEC behind, they are free to practice their faith with a new freedom, and to define themselves in positive terms for what they believe in and hope for. If a church comes out of TEC, but continues to define itself by what it is against, it quickly withers; negativity is counter to growth. But a church that comes out of TEC, and defines itself in terms of the Gospel imperatives that are historic to the church experiences a new zeal and new growth. Let us all walk in the light of the Gospel, and rejoice in what God is doing both in his church and in our lives.

Blessings and Peace in Jesus,

+David

The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr.
President and CEO, American Anglican Council.”

(Photo: Jim DeLa, ENS.)