Saturday, February 14, 2009

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH: TEARING THE FABRIC OF COMMUNION TO SHREDS ...

... is the title of what our friends at the American Anglican Council have sent as a kind of "Valentine" to the Primates of the Anglican Communion.






You may or may not want to read it all here (it is 42 pages, so give yourself some time ... and you many need the BIG bottle of Rolaids).

If you want the Clif Notes version, start here, from the Executive Summary:


In the following sections we describe how the leadership of The Episcopal Church has been systematically destroying the foundations of Anglican Christianity within the United States, and tearing the fabric of the Anglican Communion to shreds.


Then I've put together kind of a "Hit Parade" -- a selection of just what exactly "the leadership of The Episcopal Church" said that rose to the level of "systematically destroying the foundations of Anglican Christianity within the United States, and tearing the fabric of the Anglican Communion to shreds."
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My understanding of idolatry includes the assumption that I can know and comprehend the way in which God saves people who are not overtly Christian. I understand that Jesus is my savior, I understand that Jesus is the savior of the whole world. But I am unwilling to do more than speculate about how God saves those who don't profess to be Christians. I look at the fruits of the life of someone like Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama and I see Christ-like features …
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Virginia Theological Seminary, May 25, 2007


"One of the tragedies afflicting the church right now," he said, "[is that] so many of us seem to think that salvation depends on our theological correctness."
The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Lee, Bishop of Chicago, Chicago Tribune, Feb 3, 2008


It is not something of which I should repent and I have no intention of doing so. I have been led to understand that I am loved by God just as I am. That is not to say I am perfect but it is my belief that my orientation is value-neutral. It is what I do with my relationship that God really cares about … We worship a living God, not one locked up in the Scripture of 2,000 years ago…
Bishop Gene Robinson to the Guardian November 4, 2008


The creeds are not about checking off a bunch of propositions. They are about giving our heart to a sense that Jesus shows us what it looks like to be a divine human being.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Parabola, Spring 2007

For almost forty years, members of the Episcopal Church have discerned holiness in same-sex relationships and, have come to support the blessing of such unions and the ordination or consecration of persons in those unions. Christian congregations have sought to celebrate and bless same-sex unions because these exclusive, life-long, unions of fidelity and care for each other have been experienced as holy. These unions have evidenced the fruit of the Holy Spirit: joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Episcopal Church Center, "To Set Our Hope on Christ," 2005

I would be a fool to regret that decision. Gene Robinson is one of the finest priests that I've ever known and one of the finest bishops I've ever known. There's no way, shape, or form that I could not have voted for Gene Robinson.
Jon Bruno, Bishop of Los Angeles, The Advocate, October 26, 2004

It‘s very unfortunate and embarrassing that the [Christian religion] is in large part responsible for this act of bigotry.
The Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Episcopal, Pasadena, Ca. referring to the vote in favor of California’s Proposition 8 which prohibits same-sex marriage, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 8, 2008
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UPDATE: See "The Anglican Insurrection 101"

12 comments:

JCF said...

I believe that anyone who would DISAGREE w/ those quotes, is a heretic.

[But I'd still share Communion with them, anyway. ;-/]

Elizabeth Kaeton said...

I think most of the content of their "Report" has been posted on a wall (or two) in Viagraland.

It just screams drama, doesn't it? Ya gotta love it. TEC isn't just 'tearing the fabric of the Communion.' Nooooo, we're tearing it (you can almost hear the sniff) 'to shreds'.

All I can say is, "Well, Cinderella, if the shoe fits . . ."

Rev. David Justin Lynch said...

We Christians sometimes have a hard time with recognizing our preferences as just that: preferences. My preferences and my opinions about the preferencess of others are not equal to absolute truth. God speaks to us and we communicate with God in many different ways. To see Jesus in non-Christians only fortifies my belief in His Real Presence, not only sacramentally, but corporeally within the human community.

Ecclesia Anglicana said...

The AAC paper (published on the web and disseminated widely) openly and publicly states that ++Katherine Jefferts Schori is a heretic - the section specifically referring to her is headed "Heresy of the Presiding Bishop". It then openly states 5 heresies of which she is guilty. This is libellous and constitutes written "defamation per se" - i.e. an allegation or imputation "injurious to another in their trade, business, or profession" - unless the quotations which follow can be proved without doubt to be 'heretical' and examples of the 5 declared heresies. They cannot. ++Jefferts Schori should strongly consider bringing an action against Matt Kennedy, David Armstrong and the Council of AAC.

Anglican

SUSAN RUSSELL said...

Anglican ... Just an FYI ... It's David ANDERSON ... (if there ever IS a slander suit, let's just make sure the right guy gets sued! :)

Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG said...

Just skimmed the whole thing. What a lack of charity; what a narrowness of self-righteous nitpicking! And the "Heresy of the PB" section is ludicrous; I mean, after giving rather precise definitions of some real heresies, they (I should say, he, shouldn't I) takes the broadest possible twisting of the PB's statements to make them fit. I especially like the twist on Pluralism -- her statement is a classical example of Rahner's inclusivism, even as they define it just before.

Quelle croque!

Caminante said...

Thank you for doing the unpleasant work. I am already sick so don't need their hysteria to further aggravate things.

make of it as you will, the word verification is...
suctions

David and John said...

I read the whole thing, beginning to end, and am so sorry that I did.

That was 15 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, and was beyond a doubt, the biggest waste of time I have ever spent. This latest emmission from the schismatics takes quotes out of context and uses them to lay a foundation for their house of cards.

Erp said...

I very much doubt that a libel trial in the US court system for calling someone a heretic will succeed since being a heretic is very much a matter of opinion (or an internal church affair).

Unknown said...

How bizarre is this list of heresies! Back in my days as a conservative Roman Catholic (and we're talking WAY back in the days) we learned in theology that salvation can be reached (more or less) by anyone who lives a just life and works to do good (see Vatican 2 document: Lumen Gentium). Now, if that is the teaching of a fairly conservative church, how much more radical is the position of the AAC!
I love that the very first "heresy" quoted (none other than that of our own George Regas) is a "heresy" that the Roman Catholic Church would firmly defend.
The RCC & TEC teaching the same doctrines... isn't this a sign of the apocalypse? ;-)

Unknown said...

In communion with this crowd! Does anyone want so much as to give them the time of day? They left. Good riddance to bad rubbish. End of story.

JimB said...

Proving that my pancreatitus is passed, I managed to read it. The funniest section has to be the personal attack on the PB. "Bishop Minns" oops, I mean "the unkown author," will find her heretical statements whether she made them or he simply has to lie about them.

I am not a fan: I can not get past B033 and the 'crucified place.' Call me one of the PB's critics from the left. (Yes there are others who are a bit less out -- those collars choke sometimes.) But(!) at least she did say 'crucified place' and she did push B033 up {not a typo} the collective throats of the HoD.


FWIW
jimB