"Why I am Leaving the Episcopal Church" a priest's explanation

The Gwinnett (GA) Citizen (scanned) | January 20, 2004 | the Rev, Dr, Foley Beach

[Leroy S. Mort]

Why I am Leaving the Episcopal Church

 

I am forty-five years old and for thirty-four of those years I have been an active participant in the Episcopal Church. I was baptized, confirmed, married, ordained a deacon, and ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. It has served to shape and form me spiritually and it has taught me tremendous aspects into the worship of Almighty God. The Church has been a place of stability and refuge, although it has always been in need of reform.

 

 But recent actions of the Episcopal Church have taken spiritual depravi­ty to new depth for the modern era. The Church which taught me the Gospel has now adopted a new Gospel which reduces Jesus to nothing more than one option among many. The Church which introduced me to the Word of God has now rewritten the Word of God to placate cultural and political pressures put upon it by intellectual extremists. The Church which taught me to confess and repent of my sins has now embraced and endorsed certain sins which have become culturally accepted.

 

The actions of the 2003 General Convention in approving the consecration of a non-celibate homosexual person to be a bishop in the Church, and its approval of a method by which liturgies may be used for same-sex unions in the Church, is the presenting issue of a much deeper theological and moral problem within the Church. While these decisions are clearly in contradiction to the teaching of the Bible, the lessons of Church History and Tradition, and the mind of the world-wide Anglican Communion, they demonstrate a clear obsession with reinterpreting the Scriptures and an amazing disregard to the consequences of their actions on other Christians throughout the world whether Anglican or not. A revisionist philosophy has overtaken the ethos of the Church which interprets the Scriptures, Church History and Tradition not according to what they actually say, but according to how one is made to feel and in order to be pastorally sensitive. I cannot be apart of such forsaking of Christian teaching and morality.

 

To remain in the Episcopal Church is on some level affirming the direc­tion the church has taken whether I agree or not. To remain in the Episcopal Church is to pretend that I am not a participant in this abomination before the Lord. To remain in the Episcopal Church would be to knowingly violate my conscience, and that I cannot do and keep my soul intact. To remain in the Episcopal Church and take communion with those who teach and practice this false teaching would be a clear violation of the Scriptures (For example, 1 Cor.5).

 

Some say that I must stay and fight for reform and change the direction of the Church. This has been my battle cry for the past 24 years. I have come to the conclusion that the best way to reform it is to leave it and allow the devastation of embracing sin to run its course. I must be about preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and teaching the principles of the Word of God. My calling from God is not to lead or participate in an ecclesiastical fight which will evolve to litigation in the secular courts over sacred idols and mammon. While that may be the call from the Lord for others, my calling is to help people discover the most wonderful gift in the world - a living, dynamic, personal, and saving relationship with Jesus. I cannot do this and be a part of an organizational structure which now, at its core, denies the very things which I hold dear. The Apostle James wrote that to know the right thing to do and not do it, is sin (James 4:17). For me this is the right thing to do and not to do it would be sin before God.

 

(signed) The Rev, Dr. Foley Beach

[Leroy S. Mort]

from the same source:

Popular Priest leaves Episcopal Church

As national Episcopal denomination splinters

By Betty Camp

MONROE - The Rever­end Doctor Foley Beach of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Monroe, GA., one of the leaders of the traditional and conserva­tive faction in the Episcopal Church, has announced that he will leave the Episcopal Church as of February 1, 2004. Dr. Beach has gar­nered a lot of community support from Gwinnett, Walton, Clark, Newton, Oconee, and Rockdale Counties and is forming a new Community Church that will have both a con­temporary and a tradition­al Anglican service. The first services of the new church will be held in Walton County at Loganville Middle School on Sunday, February 8 at 9:00a.m. (traditional) and 11:00a.m. (Contempo­rary). Future plans are underway for a building is be located centrally for Walton and Gwinnett Counties.

The rift among the con­servatives and the liberals in the Episcopal Church in America is careening down the course to its most dev­astating split in its history. About 90 percent of its Mother Church, the Anglican Church world wide, has strongly denounced the American Episcopal Church's arro­gance and tolerance of what it considers sin going unchecked in the Church. The Primates of the Anglican Church (Archbishops of Anglican Provinces all over the world) have spoken very strongly against allowing a change in Church doctrine and Biblical Interpretation. Many Episcopal Dioceses in America are conserva­tive and are struggling with the new Liberal direction the church has taken. A large group is consider­ing trying to re-align with the Anglican Communion or with other conservative Dioceses.

[cripplecreek]

you aren't alone. i am/was a methodist untill the church strayed so far from the faith in knew it may as well be wiccan.

when the reverends started making political statements of the anti gun bent, that right and wrong were objective to each individual, and any number of politically correct concessions to outsiders, it was simply over the line.

frankly ice found a greater freedom as a christian separate from the church. my faith has strengthened.

[TheGeezer]

Isn't the action of the majority of bishops evidence of the loss of the apostolic succession in the ECUSA? The teaching authority lost at the Henry VIII's apostasy and Elizabeth I's heresies has finally been made irrevocably evident, don't you think?

[Leroy S. Mort]

Just as a clarification, I'm not Rev. Beach, but my 84 year old Mom is planning to join his new congregation.

[Leroy S. Mort]

No.

[TheGeezer]

Just curious: how far will liberal ECUSA bishops have to go until it becomes evident that a single authority - e.g., papal - inherited from St. Peter and his successors - is necessary for true preservation from error?

Regards.

[Unam Sanctam]

FYI

[ahadams2]

Thanks to U.S. for the ping Ping.

[Leroy S. Mort]

Ahhh..I thought that's where you were heading, Sorry, but I'm not interested in playing.

God Bless....

[AnAmericanMother]

I've spoken with Rev. Beach.

He is an extremely kind and very faithful man.

I am sorry that his new church will be over an hour from our house.

[ahadams2]

I'm not Leroy, but since you asked "evident that a single authority - e.g., papal - inherited from St. Peter and his successors - is necessary for true preservation from error?"

er, well the Anglican Communion exists because of abuses of papal authority in establishing errors... Besides remember that the episcopal church not only does NOT accurately reflect Anglican theology, but also has been largely cut off from the rest of the Anglican Communion as more and more Provinces (that's what we call our geographic area defined portions of the Anglican Communion) have been and are continuing to distance themselves, even at significant cost to themselves.

[jocon307]

Thanks for taking the trouble to post this. This man sounds very sad, and I don't blame him. He is doing the right thing though, and that is most important. Godspeed to him in his new ventures.

[cavtrooper21]

Ping.
Very sad state of affairs for all.
The Episcopal Churches in Lawrence(although there is a large/vocal gay community in Lawrence) have both sided with the conservative side of the break. For which I am truely thankful.

[ahadams2]

Good for your mom! Rev. Dr. Beach is a theological heavy hitter who is also a great preacher, or so I've heard anyway...never met the guy personally, but he's got a rep that just wont quit.

[GMMAC]

"Isn't the action of the majority of bishops evidence of the loss of the apostolic succession in the ECUSA? The teaching authority lost at the Henry VIII's apostasy and Elizabeth I's heresies has finally been made irrevocably evident, don't you think?"


Well, speaking from the point of view of a former Anglican and now for several years a convert to Catholicism, I don't agree and find your statement unduly simplistic, highly uncharitable and definitely not in keeping with the respect which His Holiness John Paul II extends to those within the Episcopal Communion whom he rightly refers to as "our separated brethren".

There was plenty of right and wrong on both sides at the time of the reformation. Just as today, countless lawsuits certainly attest to grave problems related to homosexuality hardly being the exclusive province of the Episcopalians!

[PetroniusMaximus]

***a single authority - e.g., papal - inherited from St. Peter and his successors - is necessary for true preservation from error?***

Good question, but consider this...

Why did the Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem disappear, (the o­ne James headed as alluded to in Acts 15, Gal.1&2 and Eusebius)?

The HQ of the Church was in Jerusalem. But that changed. Probably for prophetic reasons (Jerusalem was to be destroyed), the Holy Spirit ended that geographic work and started a new thing (in Antioch and Alexandria).

The point is - a geographic church tradition can end, it may fade out into apathetic formalism or it may drift into error. The Lord may then decide to cut that church (used in the wide geographic sense) off. An example of Jesus threatening this very thing is in Rev 2: 4-6.

Paul also warns that such a thing can happen in Rom. 11:17-24

From my point of view, it is a mistake is to assume that o­ne can be preserved from error by holding allegiance to a bishop of a specific geographic location (bishop of Rome). As we have seen above, there were churches which were threatened with being "cut off" or having their candle removed from the heavenly menorah.

Jesus was speaking to a church. Paul was speaking to a church (Rome in it's infancy) So the Roman church was warned of the danger of being cut off. They wouldn't be warned of the danger of something if it was an impossibility.

And as a side point. The ECUSA is apostacising because they have rejected the authority of the Bible.

PS What is the RC position o­n the apostolic status of the Eastern Orthodox church?

[bethelgrad]

Yes! Much agreed with your assesment. It seems to me that the Holy Spirit has come full circle (literally) from Jerusalem 2000 years ago to China today. I don't think our light is out yet, but the future of the church definately lies in the East, as far as I can tell.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Indeed.

The spirit of the Antichrist is walking amidst the ruins of the altars and sanctuaries of "mainstream" denominations (Episcopalian and Catholic alike). One wonders if the "abomination of desolation" can be that far away... With the smoke of Satan pouring in, sincere Christians now must struggle with their consciences in the unfolding drama.

[ahadams2]

my appologies for the return shot I took at the geezer...it was meant only to give him a statement to contemplate that was at least as over the top as his own...

[PetroniusMaximus]

Doesn't it seem like the nexus of vital faith has moved something like...

Jerusalem > Antioch/Alexandria > Rome > Germany > England > America > China/Africa...

I may have left out some...

Interesting also to note the forceful nature by which the Holy Spirit directed Paul to the West (Acts 16) - effectivley closing the door on the East for a while...