It starts out with a collection of quotations from ECUSA's heretics, including this classic statement of the "faith once handed down" (not!) by the former rector of All Saints Pasadena (which shows why that church went the way it did):
"'I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to God except through me.' The first thing I want you to explore with me is this: I simply refuse to hold the doctrine that there is no access to God except through Jesus. I personally reject the claim that Christianity has the truth and all other religions are in error... I think it is a mistaken view to say Christianity is superior to Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism and that Christ is the only way to God and salvation." The Rev. Dr. George F. Regas, Rector Emeritus, All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, California, April 24, 2005, guest sermon at Washington National CathedralAnd of course, it does not fail to include gems from the Presiding Bishop, such as these:
TIME Question: Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?
Katherine Jefferts Schori: We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, TIME Magazine interview, July 10, 2006 CNN
Question: So what happens after I die?The document continues with a section on the "Fruits of TEC's Theology", including "Syncretism", "Promoting Abortion", "Weakening Traditional Marriage", and more.
Jefferts Schori: What happens after you die? I would ask you that question. But what‘s important about your life? What is it that has made you a unique individual? What is the passion that has kept you getting up every morning and engaging the world? There are hints within that about what it is that continues after you die. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, interview by CNN Live, June 19, 2006
It also has a useful compilation of ECUSA statistics, including a nifty graph showing the decline in active membership from 2.32 million in 2002 to 1.95 million in 2010. Then it concludes with a compendium of all the litigation with which ECUSA has harassed its congregations, bishops and clergy since 2004. The list of more than 78 lawsuits initiated by ECUSA and its dioceses demonstrates how their pace has accelerated in recent years.*
It is an invaluable resource, and I commend it to your attention.
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*Note: Even though the catalog of lawsuits was completely up-to-date as of April 10 or so, recent events in the Virginia litigation have already passed it by: Truro Church and St. Paul's (Haymarket) have both reached settlements with the Diocese of Virginia in the last two weeks. Both are paying money to the Diocese; St. Paul's will be vacating its buildings as of April 30, while Truro will stay in its current building for another year.
Wow .. I wish someone in the PC(USA) would put together such a great resource !!
ReplyDeleteThis is totally unrelated, but current with the election of what seems to be a fairly typical heterodox bishop in the Diocese of Western Louisiana.
ReplyDeleteThe diocese had lots of good candidates to consider, but it seems that the orthodox vote and center/center-right Episcopalians split their votes, and that's how the revisionists in WL got a man who is more along their way of thinking. I'm sure a lot of orthodox folks in WL are wondering what to do next.
Remember that Presbyterian court case in Louisiana back in November 2011 where the appeals court cleared the local church to leave PCUSA with all of its property and money? I think there have got to be at least a few orthodox Episcopal congregations in Western Louisiana who might want to begin conversations about whether they want to remain in ECUSA or leave for ACNA. Nothing sudden, just dialogue for now.
As we saw in Georgia, just opening up this topic for discernment and prayer can be difficult, which is why lots of clergy and laypeople have to have these conversations furtively. But because the Presbyterian church won this legal victory against PCUSA, does this mean that orthodox Episcopal congregations can begin having these conversations openly without fear of reprisals?
Or does their newly elected Bishop have other tools for legal intimidation at his disposal? If so, what might they be?
The AAC will have to update this document on a weekly basis in order to keep current with all the lawsuits and heresies.
ReplyDeleteDPK
The collection of statements by TEc leaders should prove useful to those who wish to study the fall of the church or to those who need to present an apologetic for traditional Christianity.
ReplyDeleteLong ago I tired of the sickly, smirky smile of the person with the title and vestment of a priest, who would think,"This rube could never know what my real motive for wearing this collar is".
ReplyDeleteI remember the Rev. Mr. Henry Clay Tompkins Puckett, late canon to the Bishop of Texas who preached one Sunday that "....the danger in America comes not from the left in politics but from the extreme right. Those who cannot tolerate differences in races, in life choices in terms of partners, who cannot seek to solve the disparity in incomes and outcomes, are not fit to have a religion that accommodates you, nor is any religion that would tolerate you be fit to be called a religion.
Next Sunday in Senior Sunday School he asked if we had "questions' about any "misunderstandings' the congregation might have had about his "shepherdly guidance" of the previous Sunday.
I asked if we were not supposed to be more concerned about peoples' souls than their stomachs (an expression of my mother;s and her mother). He literally shrieked at me, demanding to know how I would know what a soul is or if it even exists. "You can see hunger! You can see poverty! I can see that you do not care about other peoples' suffering. You have yours, you are spoiled and accustomed to your comfort. I am here to make you uncomfortable."
What was wierd, the Diocese even then responded to the complaints of St. John's in McAllen with a variation of "The Church is a refuge for all opinions and the home of many thinkerr."
But the Rev. Vicar was careful to point out that he had been informed about what had been said of him and by whom. During the succeeding weeks the grossest rumours began to circulate around the parish....personal things, almost all of them untrue....about the main 6 or 7 "troublemakers" among the acolytes and other stories about various of the adults who had expressed reservations about the lecturing priest.
Now all know why I am saddened but never surprised by the heretical usurpers.
El Gringo Viejo
Look at the lessons coming up for April 29, "Good Shepherd Sunday." In my sermon, I'll be comparing what we hear from David, Peter, John and Jesus with some of the quotes in the first seven pages of this document.
ReplyDelete