HOME | CONTRIBUTE A STORY! | ABOUT MMI | CATEGORIES OF INTEREST | CONTACT ME

image

Episcopal Church Fires 61 Anti-Anti-Homosexual Clergy

Orginally published on Monday, June 01, 2009 at 8:08 AM
by Todd Rhoades


According to the Washington Times, national leaders of the Episcopal Church have ousted 61 clergy who aligned with a former bishop in California when he broke with the national church in a dispute over the Bible and homosexuality.

Former Bishop John-David Schofield led the Diocese of San Joaquin to become the first full diocese to secede from the U.S. denomination in 2007. Four years earlier, Episcopalians consecrated their first openly gay bishop, setting off a wide-ranging debate within the church and upsetting conservative congregations.

Schofield ultimately was removed as head of the diocese and barred from performing any religious rites. He maintains he is an Anglican bishop under the worldwide church.

Episcopal leaders said Wednesday they were deposing all clergy who severed their ties and joined Schofield in affiliating with an Anglican archdiocese in Argentina...

Jerry Lamb, the new Episcopal Bishop of San Joaquin, called the decision to oust the clergy “heartbreaking.”

“But, the fact is, they chose to abandon their relationship with the Episcopal Church,” he said.

Schofield said in a statement Wednesday that Anglican leaders across the globe recognized the deposed clergy as priests and deacons in good standing.

“Clearly, the traditional understanding of what it means to be a member of this historic Communion has been tragically altered by this action,” he said. “The Episcopal Church needlessly isolates itself from their brothers and sisters around the world.”

What do you think?


image


You can read the whole article here...


This post has been viewed 435 times so far.


  There are 4 Comments:

  • Posted by Peter Hamm
    Monday, June 01, 2009 at 9:53 AM

    The Episcopal Church in the USA, by their unbiblical and relativistic actions, has in fact “spiritually” and “practically” severed itself from the Anglican Articles of Religion, and therefore, imho, from the “true faith”.

    They have openly ordained a bishop who feels that Scripture is no rule for life at best and not inspired perhaps…

    Would you ordain a bishop who says these words (exact quote)?

    “Just simply to say that it goes against tradition and the teaching of the church and Scripture does not necessarily make it wrong. We worship a living God, and that living God leads us into truth.”

    Well, Gene, what exactly DOES make something wrong then?

  • Posted by
    Monday, June 01, 2009 at 6:14 PM

    This particular issue hits home.  Bishop Schofield lives in my community and during particular months over the past few years this has been the lead story in our local news.

    Todd, I think the headline you chose misrepresents what happened, as it implies that the Episcopal Church acted based on nothing more than “anti-gay” views of these bishops.  As I understand it (and I’ve followed very closely), Bishop Schofield and 61 other clergy members eventually came to the difficult conclusion that they could no longer align with the US denomination and so they all seceded and aligned themselves with an Anglican archdiocese of Argentina (I applaud them for this clearly heart wrenching decision BTW).  They felt compelled because of official actions of the US church. 

    As I understand it, the action taken last week by the US church is simply formalizing the severing of the relationship which was initiated by Schofield and the other bishops.  Perhaps this action was unnecessary, but I certainly understand why the US arm of the church would feel it necessary to remove from their official roles those clergy who have made such a loud statement of disagreement through their public succession. 

    I’m not an Anglican and understand very little about the polity of this denomination, so if I’ve got something wrong here I’ll be happy to be corrected.

    Wendi

  • Posted by runescape gold
    Saturday, June 06, 2009 at 2:49 AM

    1.Do you know the runescape power leveling, in the game you need the runescape gold. it can help you increase your level. My friends always asked me how to buy runescape accounts, i do not know he spend how much money to buy the runescape money, when i see him in order to play the game and search which the place can buy it. i also happy with him.

  • Posted by
    Monday, June 08, 2009 at 11:00 AM

    Two good comments. Please remove the 3rd one!
    Thanks for wendy’s comments. there is not much else you can say. Those who left are probably happy for clear seperation.

    • Page 1 of 1 pages

Post Your Comments:

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Live Comment Preview:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below: