Apparently stung by the massive media coverage of people who no longer want any part of it, 815 launches a counteroffensive:
The 30 or so members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Heathsville, Virginia, who opposed a recent vote by the majority of the congregation and the rector to join the Anglican Church of Nigeria say they want to continue as the Episcopal presence in their community.
"We are prepared to continue to operate St. Stephen’s as an Episcopal Church, and I think we have people who will agree to accept leadership positions and to continue to carry on the work of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church," said Dawn Mahaffey, one of the people who voted against what some members are calling "the secession."
Sandra Kirkpatrick referred to that slowly organizing group as a "large, viable remnant."
Thirty people is a "large, viable remnant." Membership-wise, that's probably a little bit under par for the Episcopal course these days. But why did St. Stephen's vote this way in the first place? Easy. The leadership.
"This is not personal. These people have been my family, and I, and I don’t think any of the others that have come to me, would harbor any evil feelings toward our fellow parishioners," she said. "This has been an issue around leadership and it’s just been the way in which it has been handled. I don’t think it’s been done in a kind and equitable and fair way."
She called the actions of the vestry and the rector, the Rev. Jeffrey Cerar, "divisive, irresponsible and manipulative."
Translation: Cerar wouldn't stop talking about the real world.
Both Mahaffey and Kirkpatrick said that the decision at the 2003 General Convention to consent to the election of Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire prompted a change in the attitude of St. Stephen’s leadership, which only got more determined with time.
Mahaffey said that Cerar initially said at a congregational meeting late in 2003 that he would try to work within the framework of the Episcopal Church to make changes but that he would leave if he felt he could not continue in the church. He said at that meeting that if he left and if others joined him, they would not attempt to take over St. Stephen’s property, she said.However, Mahaffey recalled, the perceived failings of the Episcopal Church "became the topic of his sermons from that point forward. It did not matter what the liturgy was for any given Sunday or what the Gospel was, there was always a way to bring the topic around to that issue. We very often got the message that the Episcopal Church had sinned and needed to be repentant."
"It got to the point that our needs for pastoral oversight and ministry were not being met because of the single-minded focus on this issue. We were not hearing the Word and how that was applicable in our daily lives. I don’t think we were being ministered to in all of our needs."
Which prompted the "real" St. Stephen's folks to leave the parish and a bunch of fundie carpetbaggers to come in.
There was a "steady outgo of people who found this message intolerable," Kirkpatrick said, and a "steady influx" of people who approved of the leadership’s position.
"Everyone down here knew that St. Stephen’s was taking this stance," she said.
Everyone knows this has been planned for a long time.
Mahaffey said the growing disaffection with the Episcopal Church "has been very well staged."
"I think it has been sold to the congregation," she said. "Three years of hearing it week after week after week."
The Episcopalians at St. Stephen's just wanted to remain Episcopalians and didn't want to have to, you know...actually believe stuff.
The issue of homosexuality was the "precipitating event but it has gone so far beyond that that I haven’t even heard that mentioned in probably the last year," Kirkpatrick said. "The first year it was an issue, but not since. It has been: ’We know the truth and we are telling it to you. If you don’t accept this truth then you really don’t belong here."
"It is biblical inerrancy – taking the Bible seriously as a primary source, taking the Bible literally in a lot of cases. There’s very much been from the pulpit and from everyone connected with the leaving-the-Episcopal-Church-side that there is one way, there is one truth and that they know what that one way and that one truth is… that anyone [who] believes, says, [or] accepts the idea that anyone could find truth in a religious life any way except through Jesus Christ in this particular narrow revelation of him is not a Christian."
Awfully telling passage, that.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Exactly right. So what is the big deal? All pagans, please meet at the door. The busses are now loading for Anaheim, Azuza, and Cucamonga.