Church Planting For The 21st Century - The Christian Challenge

violated this provision by consecrating openly homosexual New
Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson and electing “a presiding
bishop who supports this and other innovations.”
Bishop Duncan voiced his hope that, both as bishop and
as ACN’s moderator, he could work with Presiding Bishop
katharine Jefferts Schori “to come to some mediated disengagement
that will allow all of us to get on with the mission
as we understand it.”
Fort Worth
Meeting in convention November 17-18, the Episcopal
Diocese of Fort Worth endorsed the appeal for alternative
primatial oversight made by Bishop Jack Iker and his Standing
Committee shortly after the election of Jefferts Schori at
June’s Episcopal General Convention.
The diocesan convention, meeting in Arlington, Texas, also
ratified a July 24 Standing Committee action withdrawing the
diocese from TEC’s internal Province VII. Both actions garnered
the votes of four-fifths of the clerical and lay orders.
THE CONVENTION did, however, declare that the minority
who disagree with these steps remain “valued members”
of the diocese, and approved a two-part substitute resolution
providing for congregations, clergy and laypeople to withdraw
from the conservative ACN, to which Fort Worth also belongs.
The substitute provided a more detailed procedure for parishes
to effect that withdrawal than an original resolution submitted
by two pro-TEC clergy, which was ruled out of order by the
Resolutions Committee. Under the successful resolution, a
parish’s withdrawal from the Network must be supported by
two-thirds of the vestry and of qualified voting members.
A resolution proposed by the same TEC loyalists, calling for
the establishment of a Diocesan Commission on Human Sexuality
“that includes Episcopalian members of the gay and lesbian
community” also was ruled out of order. Adopted instead was a
substitute resolution, affirming the traditional Christian teaching
on human sexuality affirmed at the 1998 Lambeth Conference.
Approved as well were a canonical change barring clergy
resident or licensed in the diocese from performing ceremonies
blessing same-sex unions “in any venue,” and the first
PREACHING at Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh, during that diocese’s convention
November is the Rev. Dr. John Senyonyi, Deputy Vice Chancellor
of Uganda Christian University. The university and the Pittsburgh diocese
entered a partnership in 200 . Photo: Peter Frank
reading of a constitutional change reducing the diocese’s
number of General Convention deputies from four to two
in each order.
In his convention address, Bishop Iker emphasized that,
“Our highest loyalty is not to a denomination but to the Lord
Jesus Christ,” asserting that anything else is idolatrous. He
went on to assure that the diocese would remain part of the
Anglican Communion.
No mention appears to have been made during the convention
of the letter sent to the diocese this fall by TEC’s national
chancellor, David Booth Beers, warning of unspecified action if
Fort Worth did not rescind certain elements of its regulations
that appear to qualify its accession to the authority of General
Convention. Given that the “spirit of Gonzales” (“Come and
Take It”) is far from a dead letter in Texas, it is unlikely that
such threats will cause the diocese to change course. n
Sources: Diocese of Pittsburgh, Diocese of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Episcopal
News Service
Dallas: Not Leaving - Yet
Report/Analysis By The Rev. Samuel L. Edwards
The Episcopal Diocese of Dallas’ convention October 20-21
turned down proposals to leave The Episcopal Church (TEC)
immediately, though the exit door was left unlocked.
In his address to the gathering, Bishop James Stanton, a
conservative who opposes the endorsement of homosexuality
but ordains women, asked that there be no precipitate departure,
saying that “separation is never a strategy.” He suggested
that leaving would undermine the Archbishop of Canterbury’s
work to introduce an Anglican covenant to provide structure
and order to the Anglican Communion.
BISHOP STANTON heads a growing diocese that is
largely conservative, but conflicted about the best way to
distance itself from TEC’s policies.
In September, Christ Church, Plano - TEC’s largest parish
- departed the national church and the diocese. The 275member
Anglo-Catholic parish of St. Matthias, Dallas, is also
leaving, hoping to negotiate a settlement for its property as
Stanton allowed Christ Church to do. A handful of other
parishes are believed poised to pull out. (Diocesan officials →
caused a bit of a stir at deadline, though, by saying they would
not consider any new applications by congregations desiring
to leave until after the February 14-19 meeting of Anglican
primates.) A small number of clergy have also left. Overall, one
reporter estimated, on the basis of voice votes, that one-third
of delegates at the recent diocesan convention is in favor of
a rapid withdrawal.
However, others in the diocese, while strongly agreeing that
TEC is on the wrong road, had no great interest in leaving
it. The bishop, who had met with the leaders of 76 of the 77
churches in the diocese in the months since the latest General
Convention, said that by and large they were less interested in
separation than in having more time to think about it.
The solution seemingly favored by the largest plurality of
Dallas Episcopalians is some sort of linkage directly to the Anglican
Communion, though it remains unclear how this would
be accomplished. The means of unlinking with TEC, however,
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www.challengeonline.org The Christian Challenge November-December 2006 2