(Episcopal) Bishop Steenson Will Become a Roman Catholic

The Living Church Foundation ^ | 09/23/07

[monkapotamus]

Bishop Steenson Will Become a Roman Catholic
09/23/07

The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey N. Steenson, Bishop of the Rio Grande, will resign from his position and become a Roman Catholic, The Living Church has learned.

In a letter to the clergy of his diocese, Bishop Steenson said a pastoral letter to all the people of the diocese would follow in a few days. He said he had invited Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to attend the Rio Grande clergy conference Sept. 26.

“I … have sensed how important it is for those of us in this position to model a gracious way to leave The Episcopal Church in a manner respectful of its laws,” he wrote.

Bishop Steenson was attending the House of Bishops’ meeting in New Orleans and plans to make an announcement concerning his decision on Monday.

In an interview with The Living Church to be published in a forthcoming issue, Bishop Steenson said the meeting of the House of Bishops at Camp Allen in the spring had a major effect on his decision.

“The spring meeting of the House of Bishops, when the majority said that The Episcopal Church was fundamentally autonomous and local,” he said. “This is not the Catholic doctrine of the Church, and it will lead to many unfortunate consequences.”

The bishop has been the diocesan in the Albuquerque-based diocese since 2005. He was canon to the ordinary under Bishop Terence Kelshaw for five years before being elected to the episcopate. Prior to that, he was rector of All Saints’ Church, Wynnewood, Pa., Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pa., and St. Andrew’s, Fort Worth. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Nashotah House and the Board of Directors of the Living Church Found

“My conscience is deeply troubled,” he said in a statement prepared for the House of Bishops, “because I sense that the obligations of my ministry in The Episcopal Church may lead me to a place apart from scripture and tradition. I am concerned that if I do not listen to and act in accordance with conscience now, it will become harder and harder to hear God’s voice.”

Bishop Steenson said he had spoken with the Presiding Bishop “for her counsel and prayers,” and said he would ask the House of Bishops for permission to resign as the ordinary of his diocese. He said he would do this by the end of the year, and added that he hoped then to be released from his ordination vows in The Episcopal Church.

He called the bishops’ meeting last March “a profoundly disturbing experience for me. I was more than a little surprised when such a substantial majority declared the polity of the Episcopal Church to be primarily that of an autonomous and independent local church relating to the wider Anglican Communion by voluntary association. This is not the Anglicanism in which I was formed, inspired by the Oxford Movement and the Catholic Revival in the Church of England … honestly, I did not recognize the church that this House described on that occasion.”

Regarding his move to the Roman Catholic Church, Bishop Steenson said, “I believe that the Lord now calls me in this direction. It amazes me, after all of these years, what a radical journey of faith this must necessarily be. To some it seems foolish; to others disloyal; to others an abandonment.”

Bishop Steenson will be the third bishop of The Episcopal Church to become a Roman Catholic this year. Bishop Dan Herzog of Albany moved shortly after his retirement in January. Bishop Clarence C. Pope, retired Bishop of Fort Worth, returned to Roman Catholicism in August.

[diamond6]

“Our Lord created one Church and promised that it would be guided by the Holy Spirit and the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. Two thousand years, and still counting.”

Amen sister!!!

[monkapotamus]

http://www.dioceserg.org/index.php?option...

Jeffrey N. Steenson was elected the eighth bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande on October 24, 2004.  He was consecrated as the 1000^th bishop in the Episcopal Church on January 16, 2005, and installed on October 8, 2005, at the Cathedral Church of St. John in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

 Church Experience 

            Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande (2004-present).

Canon to the Ordinary, Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande (2000-2004)

Rector, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, Texas (1989-2000).

Rector, Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pennsylvania (1985-89).

Assistant, All Saints’ Church, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania (1983-85).

Tutor and Adjunct in Theology, General Theological Seminary, New York (1983-85).

Lecturer in Anglican Theology, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia (1985-86).

Assistant, All Saints’ Church, Highfield, Oxford, England (1980-83).

Episcopal Church Foundation Fellow at Christ Church, Oxford (1979-83).

Ordained to the Anglican Priesthood by the Bishop of Oxford (June 29, 1980).

 Education 

D.Phil. (Theology), University of Oxford, (1979-83). Thesis: “Basil of Ancyra and the Reception of the Nicene Creed.”

M.Div., Harvard Divinity School (1976-78).  Major: New Testament and Early Christianity.

M.A. (church history), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1974-76).

B.A. (history), Trinity College (1970-74). 

Associations 

Board of Directors, Living Church Foundation (publishes the Living Church Magazine).

Board of Directors, Nashotah House (Episcopal Church’s Anglo-Catholic seminary).

Board of Directors, Hillspeak (publishes the Anglican Digest, Episcopal Book Club). 

Personal 

Birthdate: April 1, 1952.

Family:  Married to Debra J. Arnold in 1974.  Three children: Kristina (30), Eric (28), John Mark (22).

Interests:  Flying (commercial, instrument-rated, ASEL & ASES).

[vladimir998]

Thanks for the Beckwith info!

[baa39]

Thanks for that info, usually I don’t watch that show, but that is one I will like to see.

[baa39]

Funny and sickening, really epitomizes in one picture the lowest, vainest, most perverse level two men can sink to.

[Huber]

Thanks to Tax-chick for the ping.

Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.

FReepmail Huber or sionnsar if you want on or off this moderately high-volume ping list (sometimes 3-9 pings/day).
This list is pinged by Huber and sionnsar.

Resource for Traditional Anglicans: http://trad-anglican.faithweb.com
Humor: The Anglican Blue

Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15

[k omalley]

Welcome home Bishop Steenson!
I was baptized in the Episcopal church as an infant. I discovered the Catholic church when I was 13 years old. No amount of persuasion could bring me back to ECUSA. A few years after I left Spong became the rector of the parish. Need I say more.
Today I am one happy Catholic!

[PAR35]

It appears that he is abandoning his flock to the wolves.

[lightman]

It appears that he is abandoning his flock to the wolves.

It is a tragic betrayal of the holy office when the Shepherd of a Diocese proves to be a mere hireling.

[sitetest]

Dear Tax-chick,

“That’s a hysterical picture.”

I don’t know. I think that photo affects men differently than it affects women.

It doesn’t seem humorous at all to me.

It just makes me want to hurl.

sitetest

[steve8714]

This blows up the old “gay men know how to accessorize” myth.

[A.A. Cunningham]

"To be deep in history is to cease to be protestant."

[k omalley]

One of my patrons, soon-to-be-a-saint, I hope.

[Tax-chick]

I think that photo affects men differently than it affects women.

Probably. There's generally a difference in men's and women's perceptions of homosexuality. I have theories about the reason for this, but it's way off topic.

[sionnsar]

I thought Anglicans were supposed to have really good taste.

Well, for the most part I think Anglicans still do. Episcopalians (my apologies to the orthodox among them) are today quite another matter.

[sionnsar]

There are a jazillion “anglican” denominations mostly tiny which dont get along with each other.

You need to revisit the Anglican world, that or go to work for the New York Times. Or Pravda.

In case you haven't been paying attention, while various divisions continue the predominant element of Anglicanism today is coalescence, exemplified by the APA/REC merger and and the increased cooperation between the APCK/UECNA/ACA, to the point of opening the APCK seminary to UECNA & ACA postulants.

The "one-man" bishop churches have about as much significance in the Anglican world as the self-professed Roman Catholic women priestesses have in theirs.

[dighton]

Paging Mr. Blackwell!

[Tax-chick]

The "one-man" bishop churches have about as much significance in the Anglican world as the self-professed Roman Catholic women priestesses have in theirs.

Good analogy! And don't forget the moonbat in Nebraska (Wyoming? Kansas?) who says he's the true Pope!

[Tax-chick]

If there were really Fashion Gods, these two would have gotten the Zot before anyone could take their picture.

[AnAmericanMother]

I dunno . . . there's certainly a "ewwwww! gross!" factor in that picture for me, but those two doddering old fools ARE funny.

In a sad sort of way.

And they're Exhibit "A" for destroying the myth that "gay men have great fashion sense."