A Statement from the President Forward in Faith North America

Forward in Faith North America ^ | 8/7/2003 | The Revd Dr David L Moyer SSC

[trad_anglican]

The revisionist majority has taken the Episcopal Church out of the Christian religion and severed it from any claim to uphold Biblical, Catholic, Apostolic, and Evangelical Faith and Order. This departure, open rebellion, and act of schism is decades old, beginning with the ordination of women to the priesthood and reaching a climax with a mockery of God’s moral order for sexual relationships. False teachers and teachings reign; and the men, women, and children who seek to be obedient to and humble before God and His divine revelation for their health and salvation have been misled and misused by so many of those solemnly entrusted with authority and loving care for Christian souls. The Episcopal Church has ignored and dismissed the counsel of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and has rejected the mind of Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church as a denomination has willfully created a new religion.

[Ray'sBeth]

Thanks to the maker of this list, and those posting.Our church has just posted our response, which may be viewed at http://www.resurrection.org/question.htm . I think we need to be in deep prayer as we contemplate our next steps.

[trad_anglican]

I grew up in the Episcopal Church. I was an Acolyte or altar boy for 5 years.

Same here, though I still do acolyte duties from time to time. I have been in the "continuing" Anglican church since 1978.

[bonfire]

Please add me to your ping list. Thanks.

[Credo]

Grampa, I was in on the AAC in one of its original formation meetings.

Parishes cannot linger waiting for this Plano conference.

There can be no accomodation with the liberals.

[FreeRep]

A statement from american anglican.org:

1. Do NOT say you are leaving the Episcopal Church
3. DO say you are NOT leaving the Anglican Communion.

Respectfully Disagree

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting this excellent response.

[AnAmericanMother]

A statement from american anglican.org:

1. Do NOT say you are leaving the Episcopal Church

3. DO say you are NOT leaving the Anglican Communion.

Respectfully Disagree

I understand where they're coming from. This is about property. Why should faithful Episcopalians just leave, and leave the considerable wealth and property of the church in the hands of the apostates?

I think a good argument can be made that that's what the liberals in the denomination want -- to be left in possession of the field, with the considerable property that's been built up by generations of the faithful.

Property in the Episcopal church is generally owned by the bishop in trust for the diocese. The national church IIRC doesn't own anything and is essentially an administrative body. At the very least the bishops who voted "NO" should be given time to make a good legal effort to bring their diocese into a "reformed" ECUSA intact.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

?

[AnAmericanMother]

Continuing the contact list . . .

Anglican Province of Christ the King - website here

Diocese (now Province) formed in 1977 in response to prayer book revision of 1976. Have own bishop, ordained by a retired ECUSA bishop. Parish directory here

Forward in Faith - website here

International loose association of individual parishes, NA branch founded 1999 originally to oppose ordination of women. "Affiliated" parishes drawn from Episcopal Church in the USA (ECUSA) - Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), Anglican Mission in America (AMIA), and Traditional Anglican Church (TAC). "Associated" parishes drawn from Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC), Anglican Province of America (APA), Independent (Ind), Reformed Episcopal Church (REC), United Anglican Church (UAC), and United Episcopal Church (UEC). Parish directory here.

[LiteKeeper]

I am a retired Army officer (artillery, MI, and chaplain). I have the privilege of teaching several classes in Colorado Springs to high school, college, and adults on comparative worldviews (biblical vs secular). As I read the various threads, some impress me as good for illustrating different worldviews. So, using some Army terminology, I mark "incidents" as "SPOTREPS" (spot report) and "descriptions of the current world scene" as "SITREPs" (situation reports). INTREP (Intelliegence Report) provides information of an event involving those of the "opposition;" INTSUM (Intelligence Summary) provides more general information. When I get home, I download these SPOTREPs and SITREPs to a database for future use.

Does that help?

[AnAmericanMother]

Excellent Mark Steyn column on the state of the Episcopal Church: Anglicans seem to take a sacrament as whatever turns you on.

He gets in some zingers, as per always.

[q_an_a]

Thanks for organizing the list. What a terrible mix religion AND politics. We can't have dinner too that would really be the cause of great emotional havic.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

As a future military officer, I should have been a little quicker and indentified that. Definitly familiar with SITREP, just not SPOTREP, thank you, I like it.

[Grampa Dave]

Actually that has been the problem, the banning of politics at the parish level.

Conservatives can't plead their case, but it is okay to bring enviral whackos in to plea their case. It is okay for a so called homeless advocates to plea their cases. Yet if we plead our side, that was considered to be political and a no no due to our non profit status.

Even with a conservative priest, the game has been stacked against a diocese if the bishop was left wing. Our priest got flack for having the names of relatives and friends involved in the Afghan invasion on a prayer list for each service. He stood his ground. In the Iraq war, we had 3 men who were sons or sons in law in harms way. He bought 3 special candles out of his own pocket, and those 3 men received our prayers during the prayers during each service. He lit the candles before each service and had the accolytes extinguish them after each service. He still got some flack from the left wingers of the church.

So like the cultural war that our nation battles each day with one arm tied behind its back with the left wing, we have had the same problem in about every parish for the past 3 decades.

[Grampa Dave]

The American Anglican Council has just posted a signable
"Statement of Repudiation and Disassociation from the Actions of the 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church."

To read and sign the statement online, please visit:

http://www.americananglican.org/petitions/Petition.cfm?petitionID=7

You can also print out a version of this statement that can
be distributed in your parish. To read and print the parish
version, please visit:
http://www.americananglican.org/News/News.cfm?ID=661&c=21

[sweetliberty]

Thanks Grampa. I normally don't sign online petitions and such but made an exception in this case.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks, ping your E friends on Free Republic and discuss this with your local E friends.

[NYer]

Seems to me you have more in common with the Catholic Church. Please excuse my ignorance on this, as I am neither an Episcopalian nor an Anglican, but, wouldn't a change in apostolic teaching be a rejection of sacred scripture?

The document issued by the Catholic Church clearly spells out the scriptural references for the institution of marriage and the rejection of homosexual unions. Here are some extracts:

In the first place, man, the image of God, was created "male and female" (Gen 1:27). Men and women are equal as persons and complementary as male and female. Sexuality is something that pertains to the physical-biological realm and has also been raised to a new level — the personal level — where nature and spirit are united.

Marriage is instituted by the Creator as a form of life in which a communion of persons is realized involving the use of the sexual faculty. "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife and they become one flesh" (Gen 2:24).

Third, God has willed to give the union of man and woman a special participation in his work of creation. Thus, he blessed the man and the woman with the words "Be fruitful and multiply" (Gen 1:28). Therefore, in the Creator's plan, sexual complementarity and fruitfulness belong to the very nature of marriage.

Sacred Scripture condemns homosexual acts "as a serious depravity... (cf. Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10). Nonetheless, according to the teaching of the Church, men and women with homosexual tendencies "must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided".7

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING PROPOSALS TO GIVE LEGAL RECOGNITION TO UNIONS BETWEEN HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS

How does this Episcopalian group of homosexual supporters justify their position? Holy Scripture is complete, there are no new books with new or different messages. What am I missing here?

[bonfire]

Your questions are the same as ours. To date, I still haven't seen any argument justifying this travesty. This is the second question I'm planning on asking my priest right after: Is the Bible our authority?

If I hear "diversity" "inclusion" or "big tent" from him I plan on smacking him senseless. Church tomorrow should be quite interesting.....

[hellinahandcart]

What am I missing here?

Their utter determination to have their sin acclaimed by one and all as a virtue. To do that, they have to deconstruct the church AND God.

Which will be good for the communists, too. No standards, no morals, nothing eternal, nothing anyone can even count on from day to day.