Posted on 05/15/2008 7:47:53 PM PDT by hiho hiho
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori The Episcopal Church USA 815 Second Avenue New York, NY
Dear Bishop Katharine,
I received word of your letter through a colleague who had seen it on the internet. Without the internet, I may never have known that you had written such a personal, yet sadly ironic, letter to me.
Unfortunately, you appear to have been misinformed about key matters, which I hope to clear up in this letter.
1. I am not visiting a church in the Diocese of Georgia. I am visiting a congregation that is part of the Church of Uganda. Were I to visit a congregation within TEC, I would certainly observe the courtesy of contacting the local bishop. Since, however, I am visiting a congregation that is part of the Church of Uganda, I feel very free to visit them and encourage them through the Word of God.
2. The reason this congregation separated from TEC and is now part of the Church of Uganda is that the actions of TEC's General Convention and statements of duly elected TEC leaders and representatives indicate that TEC has abandoned the historic Christian faith. Furthermore, as predicted by the Primates of the Anglican Communion in October 2003, TEC's actions have, in fact, torn the fabric of the Communion at its deepest level.
3. May I remind you that the initial reason the Lambeth Commission on Communion was appointed was because of unbiblical decisions taken by TEC in defiance of repeated warnings by all of the Anglican Instruments of Communion. The Windsor Report was produced and accepted in amended form by the Primates at our meeting in Dromantine, Northern Ireland, in February 2005. It is, therefore, quite ironic for you to be quoting the Windsor Report to me. Nowhere in the Windsor Report or in subsequent statements of the Instruments of Communion is there a moral equivalence between the unbiblical actions and decisions of TEC that have torn the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level and the pastoral response on our part to provide ecclesiastical oversight to American congregations who wish to continue to uphold the faith once delivered to the saints and remain a part of the Anglican Communion. Your selective quoting of the Windsor Report is stunning in its arrogance and condescension.
4. You and your House of Bishops rejected outright the Pastoral Scheme painstakingly devised in Dar es Salaam, and to which you agreed. You have, therefore, left us no choice but to continue to respond to the cries of God's faithful people in America for episcopal oversight that upholds and promotes historic, biblical Anglicanism.
5. An important element of the Dar es Salaam agreement was the plea by the Primates that "the representatives of The Episcopal Church and of those congregations in property disputes with it to suspend all actions in law arising in this situation." This was something to which you gave verbal assent and yet you have initiated more legal actions against congregations and clergy in your short tenure as Presiding Bishop than all of your predecessors combined. I urge you to rethink, suspend litigation and follow a more Christ-like approach to settling your differences.
Finally, I appeal to you to heed the advice of Gamaliel in Acts 5.38ff, "Leave these [churches] alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop [them]; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."
Yours, in Christ,
The Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi ARCHBISHOP OF CHURCH OF UGANDA.
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May 12, 2008
The Most Revd Henry Luke Orombi Archbishop of Uganda and Bishop of Kampala PO Box 14123 Kampala UGANDA EAST AFRICA
My dear brother,
I understand from advertising here that you plan to visit a congregation in the Diocese of Georgia on 14 May of this year. The diocesan, Bishop Henry Louttit, has not given any invitation for you to do so, nor received any information from you about your planned visit. I must protest this unwarranted incursion into The Episcopal Church. I am concerned that you seem to feel it appropriate to visit, preach, and exercise episcopal ministry within the territory of this Church, and I wonder how you would receive similar behavior in Uganda. These actions violate the spirit and letter of the work of the Windsor Report, and only lead to heightened tensions. We are more than willing to receive you for conversation, dialogue, and reconciliation, yet you continue to act without speaking with us. I hope and pray that you might respond to our invitation and meet with representatives of this Church.
I remain
Your servant in Christ,
Katharine Jefferts Schori
cc: Bishop Henry Louttit Archbishop Rowan Williams
African missionaries, here to bring the Word to us benighted savages...
Whatever it takes.
“TEC has abandoned the historic Christian faith.”
This is the first Primate I have seen that has put this breach of the Preamble to the TEC Constitution in writing and is a major step in advancing the argument for Parishes coming out of TEC.
Ping
Just WOW.
From a non-practicing member of the TEC who studied under Bishop John-David Schofield before he became Bishop of San Joaquin.
May God bless and keep Archbishop Orombi.
May God bless and keep Archbishop Orombi.
Amen.
Go Orombi!! Fire-breathing Man of God.
The church of Wasington and many of the Founders, and the one I grew up in, is NOT THE SAME as the one 'presided' over by Katharine Jefferts Schori.
Not withwout precedent. St. Augustine was an African Christian (Hippo) whose influence on western Christianity is still felt today.
Not even Griswold was dumb enough to leave himself open to such a primatial smackdown. Of course he never conducted a service while wearing an oven mitt miter.
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
It's beautiful, we reap the blessings of all the Anglican missionaries to Africa. The leaders of the Church of England and ECUSA have abandoned the faith once imparted to them, but the African converts have not!
Did you see the Archbishop speak when he visited King of Kings in Charlotte several years ago?
As an aside, regarding the Nigerian catholics and their Cardinal Arinze (who some thought was going to get the nod as pope), in the sixties the Nigerian government expelled foreign missionaries, forcing the local church to develop its own, homegrown clergy.
This had a salutary effect. I don’t know if that applied equally to the Anglicans but I’m betting it did.
“Yes, and they speak better English too!”
Have you ever heard him? Last night I had the absolutely incredible privilege of participating in a worship service with him. We (the music team) met with him before the service and prayed together. His voice is magnificent, and it is easy to picture him addressing thousands without needing a microphone. The words that he said were even more precious.
I am so proud to be able to say that he is my archbishop. His visit was very very special.
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