Bishop Jack Iker — ‘Lion of Fort Worth’
Bishop Jack Iker at GAFCON 2008 in Jerusalem.
“The Rev. Rt. Jack Iker, also known as the ‘lion of Fort Worth,’ died Oct. 5 at the age of 75. …
Iker became the third bishop to serve the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth on Jan. 1, 1995. …
On Nov. 13, 2008, after 13 years in the role, Iker left the Episcopal Church. He became the face of the split within the local diocese that made Fort Worth a focal point in the widening national schism among Episcopalians with opposing viewpoints on ordaining women and gay priests and blessing same-sex unions. …”
– from The Fort Worth Report.
In 2008, Bishop Iker clarified the issues during his address to the Fort Worth diocesan convention:
“‘Contending for the Faith’ is the theme of this year’s Diocesan Convention, and it aptly describes what lies at the heart of the controversy that surrounds us.
Others have argued that it is a matter of contending for property, or contending for the authority of The Episcopal Church over us, or contending for homosexual rights in the church. But these are simply some of the side issues confronting us.
The real issue is the faith. We are taking a stand for the historic faith and practice of the Bible, as we have received them, and against the continuing erosion of that faith by TEC. This Diocese stands for orthodox Christianity. TEC stands for a revisionist and compromised version of what the Church has always taught. …”
See also many previous posts on our website.
Bishop Jack Iker’s Address to the Diocese of Fort Worth
“We here in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth intend to be who we have always been, to believe what we have always believed, and to do what we have always done.
We are not going away, nor are we abandoning anything. We are not leaving the Church – we are the Church. We will remain an orthodox diocese of catholic Christians, full members of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Above all else, we remain committed to serving and obeying the Lord Jesus Christ, upholding the authority of the Holy Scriptures as the revealed Word of God and our ultimate authority in all matters of faith, morals and doctrine.”
– Read Bishop Iker’s full address at the Diocese of Fort Worth.
Stand Firm interviews Bishop Jack Iker
“I fully expect that I’ll receive notification from the Presiding Bishop’s office, within days of our diocesan convention, that I’ve been inhibited. Of course by then it will be irrelevant, because I won’t be under the authority of the Episcopal Church. But they’ll play that out in the same that they did with Bishops Schofield and Duncan.…”
– Bishop Jack Iker is interviewed by Greg Griffiths for Stand Firm.
See also this report by David Virtue. (Photo: Stand Firm.)
Bishop Jack Iker urges period of prayerful discernment
As the date approaches for our momentous Diocesan Convention vote in November, many parish clergy have attempted to make certain that their parishioners understand the issues surrounding the proposal that we separate from the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. …
As your bishop and chief pastor, I am inviting and urging that every congregation in this Diocese enter into an intentional 40-day period of prayerful discernment to be concluded the week prior to our Convention on November 14 and 15. …
– Bishop Jack Iker writes to all clergy, vestry members, and convention delegates in his Diocese of Fort Worth.
Bishop Iker and Diocese win All Saints Fort Worth case
“News has just been received that Bishop Iker and his Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth are the victors in the separately-tried lawsuit to determine the ownership of the grounds and property of All Saints, Fort Worth…”
– A S Haley has some good news on the Diocese of Fort Worth. Photo: Bishop Leo Iker.
(This is referring to the real Diocese of Fort Worth, not the new one created by TEC – from the latter comes this news –
Bishop Rayford B. High, Jr. , said, “…I am disappointed in the decision but I know this will be appealed…”)
Fort Worth Bishop Iker to Schori: It’s you who are meddling
Bishop Jack Iker of the Diocese of Forth Worth has responded to TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s letter to Archbishop Greg Venables.
Bishop Iker points out that Archbishop Venables is in his diocese by his invitation.
And he has more to say –
April 30, 2008
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017Dear Katharine,
I am shocked and saddened by the rude letter you released yesterday to Archbishop Greg Venables, concerning his visit this weekend to the Diocese of Fort Worth. Far from being “an unwarranted interference,” he is coming at my request as an honored visitor and guest speaker.
You should know that under the canons this does not require either your approval or your support. You have no say in this matter. A diocesan bishop is free to invite other bishops to visit and speak in his diocese.
There are no efforts at reconciliation proceeding within this Province, which is one reason why faithful people continue to leave TEC in droves. Your attitude and actions simply reinforce alienation and bring further discord.
Once again, you are the one meddling in the internal affairs of this diocese, and I ask you to stop your unwelcome intrusions.
Faithfully in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker
Bishop of Fort Worthcc: The Archbishop of Canterbury
See the PDF file. (Photo: Diocese of Fort Worth.)
Bishop Iker: TEC HOB is ‘Toxic Environment’
… Bishop Iker described the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church as a “toxic environment,” and said he will not be attending the meeting at Camp Allen March 7-16.
“In recent years I have increasingly dreaded the thought of attending another meeting of the House of Bishops of TEC,” he said. “For me, the small-group table discussions are places of hostile confrontation, not support and affirmation.” …
Report from The Living Church. (Photo: Diocese of Fort Worth.)
Bishop Iker of Fort Worth to attend GAFCON
The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, announced today that he plans to participate in the Global Anglican Future Conference, to be held in Jerusalem, June 22–29, 2008. Read more
Bishop Iker receives another letter threatening discipline
“Bishop Jack Leo Iker of Fort Worth informed The Living Church on Jan. 15 that he has received a second letter from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori threatening him with new disciplinary action.
“Unlike her November letter, it did not imply a charge of ‘abandonment of the communion of this church’, but it said that I would be liable for charges of violation of my ordination vows if I continue ‘any encouragement of such a belief’ (i.e. that parishes and dioceses can leave The Episcopal Church),” Bishop Iker said.”
Full report from The Living Church.
See also this Message from Bishop Iker to all Clergy and Convention Delegates in his Diocese.
The Dennis Canon Dead in Texas
“With its denial of certiorari (review) this morning to two of the Episcopal Church in the USA’s (“ECUSA’s”) groups in Fort Worth, Texas, the United States Supreme Court has put to rest the multiple adverse claims made for the last twelve years against the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.
All of those various claims, and the stages of their ups and downs, have been chronicled on this blog, which began just before the legal disputes emerged.
It is gratifying, therefore, to report that this blog has managed to outlive, along with (retired) Bishop Jack Iker and his faithful flock, the Machiavellian intrigues of the schemers at 815 Second Avenue to hound and intimidate them into surrender of their properties…
The success in Texas leaves just one long-standing ECUSA dispute still festering: its pursuit of Bishop Mark Lawrence and his Diocese of South Carolina.”
– Read it all at The Anglican Curmudgeon, the blog of Christian lawyer A. S. Haley.
And much earlier, on our website …
Diocese of Fort Worth: Living with litigation – Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker, September 2013.
“Living with litigation has become a way of life for us as members of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. For the past 4 ½ years, we have been under the cloud of a lawsuit brought against us by The Episcopal Church and its local supporters, seeking to deprive us of our buildings and assets.”
Also, most of these post are relevant to Fort Worth.
And on South Carolina, most of these posts are relevant.
‘Texas Supreme Court Repudiates ECUSA’s Sophistries’
“In a comprehensive and unanimous thirty-page decision filed Friday morning, May 22, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of Bishop Jack L. Iker and reversed the Court of Appeals’ earlier decision to the effect that ECUSA’s rump diocese, and not Bishop Iker’s diocese, controlled the Texas corporation which holds title to the properties of those parishes which in 2008 voted to withdraw their diocese from the unaffiliated and unincorporated association that historically has been called the (Protestant) Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
The decision is as straightforward an application of “neutral principles of law” (espoused by the U.S. Supreme Court in Jones v. Wolf) as one could find among the courts to which ECUSA has presented its “hierarchical church” sophistries. It repudiates those sophistries in a succinct passage (pp. 24-25) …”
– A S Haley, The Anglican Curmudgeon, reports on the latest legal decision concerning The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Fort Worth.
Pictured: The recently-retired Bishop Jack Iker, Fort Worth.
Diocese of Fort Worth: Living with litigation
Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth reflects on the lengthy legal battle imposed on his diocese.
“Living with litigation has become a way of life for us as members of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. For the past 4 ½ years, we have been under the cloud of a lawsuit brought against us by The Episcopal Church and its local supporters, seeking to deprive us of our buildings and assets. Read more
Fort Worth: Fourth lawsuit arrives
“With three suits pending in two Texas counties, members of the minority that chose to stay in The Episcopal Church (TEC) two years ago have launched another assault on much the same grounds as the first three. Today All Saints’ Episcopal Church on Crestline Road in Fort Worth has sued Bishop Jack Iker personally, in federal court.
There can no longer be any doubt that this litigation is intended to harrass, intimidate, bankrupt, and divert the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, its Corporation, and its leadership – particularly Bishop Iker – from carrying out the mission of the Church.
Ironically, only this weekend Bishop Iker made several comments in jest to a gathering of clergy and laity of the Church of England in London, saying that he had “not checked the Internet today” to see whether he had been sued again…”
– from the Diocese of Fort Worth.
(Bishop Iker has only just published his response to the third lawsuit.)
Beyond the Elizabethan Settlement
Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth delivered this address on Friday at the Mere Anglicanism Conference in Charleston, South Carolina –
“Have you noticed how nearly everything we speak of in today’s world is global? …
The consecration of a partnered homosexual bishop in the Diocese of New Hampshire impacts the life of the Diocese of Jos in Nigeria. The blessing of same-sex unions in a growing number of North American dioceses send shock waves throughout the Anglican world. To speak of Global Anglicanism is to speak of fragmentation, division and schism… ”
– Read his full address at the Diocese of Fort Worth website.
Ft Worth to Schori: Stop border crossing
Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth has responded to his supposed inhibition by the TEC Presiding Bishop:
“Katharine Jefferts Schori has no authority over me or my ministry as a Bishop in the Church of God. She never has, and she never will.
Since November 15, 2008, both the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and I as the Diocesan Bishop have been members of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. As a result, canonical declarations of the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church pertaining to us are irrelevant and of no consequence.
The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker
Bishop of Fort Worth”
And from the Fort Worth Standing Committee: Read more
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…