ACNA not in communion with the Mother Church

Another dark day in Duncanville has dawned.

As far as the Mother Church is concerned ACNA is not part of the Anglican Communion. Instead, the General Synod of the Church of England has voted to accept that ACNA wishes to be part of the Anglican Communion. But, that's not the same as is part of the Anglican Communion.

The GS also agreed that there are ways for ACNA to become part of the communion and that those ways need to be followed.

The anticipated resolution was amended to read

(a) recognise and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family.

The votes were

264 in favour
4 Against
2 Abstentions

The resolution also stated that the membership in the AC "raises issues which the relevant authorities of each need to explore further." It also called for more study and another report later this year.

One must wonder how much defeat is enough before the schismatics recognize the facts. But facts mean nothing to schismatics. ACNA and the so called Global South couldn't care less what the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Mother Church thinks about them. The Schismatics are an organization to themselves. Everyone and everything else is irrelevant to them. They have issued their Fiat: "We are the Anglican Communion" and that settles it. Duncan said that back in 2007:

“Never, ever has [the Archbishop of Canterbury] spoken publicly in defense of the orthodox in the United States ... the cost [of not supporting us] is his office. The fact is that the Archbishop of Canterbury has not led in a way that might have saved his office and might have saved Lambeth. In this crisis, we’ve had no leader to lead."

Asked if he thought that being in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury was essential to being Anglican, Bishop Duncan said that being obedient to scripture is of greater importance than being recognized by Canterbury.

The question is, of course, obedience to whose interpretation scripture? Is divorce included in that scripture, or women showing up at Duncanland's shrines wearing pants included?

As for the CoE vote, ACNA wasted no time in putting their spin on the vote. According to their web site, unless one knows the whole story, one would think that the CoE welcomed ACNA with open arms. You may read the spin here.

It's interesting to note that ACNA now claims 800 congregations. The numbers just keep changing in Duncanland.

The Guardian's Savitri Hensman puts it in prospective

In tackling racism, and ongoing opposition to caste inequality in some parts of the world, churches have sometimes had to upset otherwise virtuous people who were oblivious to the evils of certain kinds of demeaning practices. Deep-seated prejudice and institutionalised discrimination against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people also blight not only the lives of those on the receiving end but also, ultimately, everyone. It is time for the Church of England to be bolder in challenging inequality of every kind.

The Lead has a good post on the vote. Mark Harris posts here. There is also an excellent artilce in The Guardian that's worth a read.

Duncan loses property

According to the Episcopal Church News Service, a judge has ordered Duncan and has schismatic group to turn over control of all diocesan assets. The order is dated 29 January.

According to a spokesman for the Diocese of Pittsburgh,

The diocese plans to quickly make arrangements so that all parishes may again have access to their investment funds that were frozen by financial institutions during the legal proceedings.

The group led by Duncan said Oct. 29 that it would appeal the ruling once the court issues a final order directing it to transfer the property to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America

Duncan told the diocese he leads that he wanted "to assure you that we will continue to work diligently for the protection of all our parishes and for the good of our mission and ministry."

The Honourable James' order says that financial institutions and repositories, trustees and fiduciaries must only act on instructions from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, that no real property can be sold or its current occupants removed without a court order, that holders of "altar artifacts" are answerable to the diocese as to their use (and that they cannot be sold or transferred to another location without a court order) and that people or entities who have borrowed money from the diocese (close to $1 million) are answerable to the Episcopal diocese.

Duncan's diocese has 20 days from Jan. 29 to give the Episcopal diocese the financial records, documents and other electronically stored information it needs to hold and administer the property.

There are two versions of the order: a confidential version and a public version from which financial account information has been removed.

The Judge ruled in October that "regardless of what name the defendants now call themselves, they are not the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America."

He ruled that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh "did not cease to exist" after the 2008 convention vote because it was created by the Episcopal Church and the church now recognizes that those Episcopalians who did not follow Duncan now make up the Episcopal Church's continuing diocese.

The most interesting part of the order states that

Recipients of “altar artifacts”.. ,may not sell, transfer, or move the artifacts to another location without the permission of the court.

Apparently the court agrees that memorials to and purchased with funds given to the local parish are the property of TEC, not the local group in power at the moment.

Now that the property is lost - and let's face it, the courts are going to continue to rule in favour of TEC - we'll see another of the schsmatcs' lies exposed. We've heard them repeat the mantra "It's not about the property." Well, we'll see, but Duncan promises to continue the fight to retain what he says doesn't matter.

I think there will be a slight spin to that mantra as the mostly Trinity trained graduates are forced to turn over the keys to Duncan's Kingdom.

Let's see how much aid comes from the Southern Cone and the Africa based non-communion. I wonder how swiftly the funds to build new buildings will arrive. Let's not hold our breath.

UPDATE: The Post Gazette has an article about the decision it today's paper.

The Even of Christmas

Nothing says it better than the sermon Dudley wrote for Christmas Eve in the movie The Bishop's Wife.

Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking.

Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child's cry, a blazing star hung over a stable, and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven't forgotten that night down the centuries. We celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, with the sounds of bells, and with gifts.

But especially with gifts. You give me a book, I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer and Uncle Henry can do with a new pipe. For we forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled, all that is, except for one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. It's his birthday we're celebrating. Don't let us ever forget that.

Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most. And then, let each put in his share, loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shining gifts that make peace on earth.

While you are contemplating the pivotal event of the world, visit Trinity Wallstreet and listen to their presentation of Messiah

A letter from Armstrong's Vestry

My thanks to a friend in st. George's Anglican Church for this letter sent out in on 18 November.

We have a significant challenge before us which is every bit a portion of our collective witness to Christ Jesus, a continuation of our standing for the truth in the public square, and finishing our current fight with the principalities and powers of both the State and the Episcopal Church of Colorado.

As the result of obsessive efforts by the Episcopal Bishop of Colorado and his attorneys, the false allegations against our Rector have escalated into full criminal proceedings. A trial is set for February 22, 2010.

We have always paid Father Armstrong's compensation according to the long standing procedures and practices of our church, and have verified by a forensic auditor that the criminal charges against him are false. We now need to prove these allegations false in a court of law.

It is important to understand these charges are simply part of the attack against our Rector and the parish purposes he has served in Communion-wide theological debates. For twenty years, the minutes of the Vestry praise our Rector for doing our theological and political bidding in the councils and processes of the church. In the same way he was successful in building our parish to a significant stature within the Episcopal Church, he was also successful in bringing together people to clearly articulate an orthodox Anglican theological understanding of the faith.

In the eyes of those who longed to change the gospel of sin and redemption, our parish and our Rector needed to be eliminated to undercut his successful campaign and our funding of this work. An attack was mounted from both a small minority within our previous congregation and the Diocese of Colorado from without. The call for us to fightback continues. It is critical we remain engaged as long as the battle against us rages on.

Our Rector has taken many personal and public attacks on our collective behalf, becoming the focal point in this fight. It is imperative that we participate in this suffering for the Gospel's sake and fully fund his legal defense. We have walked him to the end of the plank, and unless we fund his defense, we will have essentially pushed him off. We cannot allow this to happen.

An immediate $100,000 is needed to hire investigators, expert witnesses, researchers, and mount a case equal to the one funded by the Diocese of Colorado, the DA's office, and Colorado springs Police Department. In difficult economic times, we are asking you to dig deep and help us assure that the Bishop of Colorado and those he has effectively lobbied will not be victorious in their attempt to silence our conservative voices and jail our Rector.

The $100,000 is part of the legal defense included in our debt we are working to retire and is not an additional amount. So the Vestry is again asking those who haven't contributed $1,500 per household to retire our dept, to join us in taking care of our first debt priority -- paying the money to the Legal Defense Fund. When the battle is over and our Rector has been vindicated, our parish will flourish, and we will be in a position to do those things we would all much rather .

but we first need to eliminate this cloud over us and the burden that has befallen us. Your Vestry asks you to answer this call and stand firm in our faith.

Yours in Christ,

John Wroblewski, Senior Warden
Chad Friese, Junior Warden
John Newsome, Chancellor
Gib Weiskops, Chancellor
Marilynn Daring
Curt Emery
Jack Gloriod
Rip Hollister
Jason Huntley
Emily Kline
Phil LaTulippe
Carl Willenbrock

This letter is troublesome for many reasons, and, in my opinion raises some civil issues that the court and the IRS might find interesting.

At any rate, this letter proves the Stockholm Syndrome is hard at work in Colorado.

For background on this issue, see this post.