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Priests and Members of Episcopal
Church Rebuild After Being Driven Out by Bishops
Januay 2003 Print Edition
By Geraldine A. Hawkins
Remember the Episcopal priests who were
removed from St. Paul's Anglican Parish in Brockton
by their Bishop, along with the congregation, in the
autumn of 1998?
They had voted unanimously to secede from the Diocese
as far back as April 1996, because of "longstanding
and fundamental theological differences."
This spring, they will break ground for a new building,
after years of holding services on the sidewalk in
front of their old church and in churches of other
denominations. They will not reveal where the new
building will be because of concerns with the Diocese.
They
are no longer a member of Episcopal Church USA
(ECUSA) and are affiliated with the Anglican Mission
in America (AMiA). They currently hold services
at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. at a Seventh-Day Adventist
Church in Brockton.
Their former building now operates as St. Paul's
Episcopal Church (ECUSA). The priest-in-charge
at that church, Rev. Michael Hodges, says, "We
have sixty worshippers on a Sunday morning, and
the numbers are increasing. The church is growing
by leaps and bounds."
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| The
priests and members of St. Paul's Episcopal church
in Brockton were driven out by the Mass. bishops
in 1996, but they're now building their own church.
They report that this building is now practically
empty, but the bishops disagree. |
This was agreed to by Kenneth Arnold,
Director of Media Relations for the Episcopal Diocese
of Massachusetts. "There has been a lot of care
around the rebuilding of that community," Arnold
tells MassNews. "The parish continues to do its
work and its ministry. They have a thriving soup kitchen."
When MassNews pointed out that the soup kitchen was
started in 1982, Arnold replied, "Yes, but the
soup kitchen is flourishing."
Bishop John Hewitt Rodgers, Jr., from the AMiA visited
the new parish Nov. 8. He tells MassNews that the
rector, Rev. James Hiles, "has a son who is a
real estate man in California, and he gave the land
to the church, which was a beautiful gift."
According to traditionalist Anglican journalist David
Virtue, the new parish is "starting all over
again with 98% of the original parish and its two
rectors," Fr. James Hiles and Rev. Thomas Morris.
Virtue reports that he is told that only about 12
people remain at St. Paul's Episcopal, and they "are
shipped in from Rhode Island."
"For some time now, ECUSA has been following
drifts in the culture that are contrary to Scripture,"
says Bishop Rodgers, explaining why a parish would
choose to be out of communion with the Diocese and
to give up its beloved church building. These "drifts"
have to do with "human sexuality, abortion and
universalism vs. a need to come to Christ as Savior
and Lord."
The two priests were removed and the church's vestry
was replaced after the congregation withheld payments
to the Diocese for three consecutive years after they
had seceded. The dissidents believed that they had
a right to keep their building because ECUSA had departed
from the doctrine and worship to which the parish
was committed when the church opened its doors in
1882. They claim that the Diocese resorted to outrageous
tactics, including baseless charges against the rector.
This legal battle is still going on.
Homosexuality - One of the battles is what
would an AMiA priest tell a "gay" person
who comes to him for counseling? "The homosexual
community doesn't like to hear this, but there is
a Biblical standard for sexual intimacy and it is
between a husband and wife, period," Rodgers
tells MassNews.
"We [Christians] have done a poor job of welcoming
people with a different orientation, but we need to
make it clear that we expect the same thing from them
that we expect of a heterosexual single person, and
that is to live within the bounds of God's revealed
will."
Rodgers contends that most denominations have adopted
a "don't ask, don't tell" attitude, but
that ECUSA has been most affirming of those with a
"gay" lifestyle, because "this is the
tide in which the culture is moving."
Women as Priests - The AMiA has not yet taken
a stand officially regarding the ordination of women,
because there are people on both sides of that issue
within its fold. AMiA is conducting a study, to be
completed within the next few months, in which Rodgers
hopes that the views of those holding both positions
will be well represented. "We're in a moratorium
until we've completed the study," he says.
The members of St. Paul's Anglican Parish are firmly
against the ordination of women. Rodgers tells MassNews
that there are two reasons for this, the first regarding
Biblical references to "the male headship of
the family... male-female references in Scripture
throughout," and "the symbolic connection
of the priesthood with the revelation of God Himself.
... Obviously, God has both male and female attributes,
but in Scripture, it's always 'He.'"
Rodgers says that many Anglicans feel that the ordination
of women was adopted by ECUSA not because of any concern
for Biblical faithfulness, but rather because of "social
pressure from an increasingly decadent society."
Abortion - Does the Bible have anything specific
to say about abortion? "Yes! The unborn is always
considered a human person in Scripture," maintains
Rodgers, citing the dialogue between Mary and Elizabeth
at the beginning of Luke's Gospel, the call of Jeremiah
("While you were in your mother's womb, I knew
you....") and several other examples. He recommends
the book God and Caesar, by Christian lawyer and clergyman
John Eidsmoe, for a thorough treatment of this issue.
Rodgers believes that the crisis in the Anglican Communion
came about largely because, "We have tried so
hard not to be fundamentalists" that in many
instances the Bible came to be interpreted "according
to secular and enlightenment presuppositions, with
the presuppositions themselves" given more weight
"than serious scholarship. This has left many
people rudderless." Rodgers quotes Anglican philosopher
J.V. Langmeade Casserley: "We have discovered
ways of studying the Word of God by which no word
from God can ever come."
Rodgers tells MassNews that the problem was epitomized
at one of ECUSA's General Conventions, during which
a bishop declared: "Let's face it - we no longer
take Scripture as our norm."
The new organization, AMiA, came about,
according to Bishop Rodgers, when it became clear
that "there are two religions existing within
the same denomination," the first, orthodox,
Scriptural, and traditional, and the second informed
by a school of thought which maintains that God "updates"
His revelation from time to time, usually in conformity
with the direction in which the secular culture is
going. "Not all dioceses have moved in a revisionist
direction, but the vast majority have," he says.
"After the Lambeth Conference [a gathering of
the Anglican Communion in England] in 1998, a bunch
of us went out to talk to the primates to find out
how to minister to dioceses that wanted to remain
orthodox," Rodgers tells MassNews. "The
decisions at the 1998 Lambeth Conference were wonderful
and we were encouraged by this Biblical faithfulness.
Late in 1998 in Singapore, we met with six archbishops
to see what could be done," he says. "If
conservative bishops cross diocesan boundaries [to
serve orthodox congregations] they can be defrocked,"
he says. "They wrote letters to Bishop Frank
Griswold [head of ECUSA] and to the Archbishop of
Canterbury. Then we met in Africa with eight archbishops,
and they wrote more letters.... We needed to take
action. Finally Chuck Murphy [Rt. Rev. Charles Hurt
Murphy III] and I were made missionary bishops to
hold these parishes together until the primates could
work this out."
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Bishop
Rodgers says there are three reasons why more
parishes have not seceded from the Episcopal Diocese
of Massachusetts: "One, there aren't
very many strongly orthodox congre-
gations in New England; most of them
are more institutional and more liberal.
Two, it's not an easy path. Almost all
of the parishes have lost their buildings,
and three, a lot of congre-gations pull
their heads in. There are bishops who
hold way out positions, but some are more aggressive
than others. They don't all force their positions
on individual parishes, so that the bishops can
make their occasional visits, but the parishes
don't pay much attention to the Diocese. Different
bishops and clergy deal with it in a variety of
ways." |
| Three
people in the Mass. Episcopal church decided that
the Catholic church is a threat to our society.
This is a recent example why a whole congregation
has left the Episcopal church. |
Rev. Canon Dr. Michael Green, Senior
Advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury on Evangelism,
writes: "The AMiA came into being reluctantly:
none of its leaders wanted to leave the Episcopal
Church, USA. But because they believe the gospel of
Jesus Christ is revealed in the New Testament, they
have in some dioceses of the ECUSA become targets
for revisionist bishops. They have found it impossible
to stay within an ECUSA that seems to be moving further
and further away from New Testament norms in belief
and behavior. And yet they have determined to remain
Anglicans. ... Its members are not schismatic. They
are not a denomination. They are a mission, and they
owe allegiance to the Archbishops of Rwanda and South
East Asia respectively, by whom their bishops have
been consecrated to further the cause of the New Testament
gospel throughout the United States. When ECUSA returns
to its Biblical roots, there will be no further need
for the AMiA, but until then, it is an authentic and
vigorous expression of Anglican Christianity in the
USA."
Bishop Rodgers is a retired professor at Trinity Episcopal
School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania of which
he is one of the founders. "The seminary was
our first attempt to stop the secular stampede of
the Church," he says, "but we're only one
of eleven seminaries." Rodgers is a graduate
of the United States Naval Academy. He has the highest
regard for Rev. James Hiles, who holds a doctorate
from St. Andrews University in Scotland.
Rodgers told MassNews that the question dividing the
Episcopal Church is "wherein does one find the
anchor to one's faith? In the 39 Articles [a historic
church document found in The Book of Common Prayer]
it is stated that you cannot ordain anything contrary
to Scripture.... There is a perceived collusion between
ECUSA and the secular culture. There is a serious
gap between official pronouncements by ECUSA and Scripture....
This is the cultural captivity of the church."
For more information about St. Paul's Anglican Parish,
write to St. Paul's Parish, P.O. Box 456, W. Bridgewater,
MA 02379.
Mass. Episcopalian Bishops
Condemn Catholic Church; Problems Faced by St. Paul's
Are Clearly Seen
by MassNews
Staff
Last month's example of the condemnation of the Catholic
church by the Mass. Episcopalian church highlighted
the serious problems which faced the former priests
and members of St. Paul's Church.
Last month's condemnation of the Catholics and the
large headlines which resulted from it were the result
of a decision by only three people at the Episcopal
diocese.
According to the Dec. 10 Boston Globe, these three
bishops believe the "danger to gays and lesbians
is so great [as a result of the Catholic church failing
to ordain active homosexuals] that they feel compelled
to speak out."
They believe the danger to be so imminent that the
three did so "despite their reservations about
wading into another denomination's controversy."
The chief bishop and a woman are both married, and
the other is a celibate monk.
The three Bishops expressed concern, according to
the Globe, that a "steady stream of comments
by Vatican officials critical of gays in the priesthood
could lead to hate crimes in the United States."
The three Bishops are M. Thomas Shaw, his suffragan,
Assistant Bishop Roy F. Cederholm, Jr. and Bishop-Elect
Gayle Elizabeth Harris.
They got the publicity they were seeking when a prominent
box was placed on the front page of the Globe, telling
readers about this important story inside the front
section.
The issue of homosexuality is just one
example how the three Episcopalian bishops are forcing
their views on the entire church in Massachusetts.
This, say the priests and members of St. Paul's, is
what caused them to be driven out of their church.
Observers point out that the evidence of hate crimes
against homosexuals is so low that the activists had
to manufacture a lie about the killing of Matthew
Shepard by drunken robbers in Wyoming. This was fully
documented in the May 2002 issue of MassNews, which
can be found in the online archives by searching for,
"The Propaganda of Matthew Shepard." Bishop
Shaw mentioned Shepard and said he was an Episcopalian.
Both the Globe and the New York Times were instrumental
in the original Matthew Shepard story and continue
to repeat it at every opportunity as evidenced in
the MassNews story last May.
The Globe reported in last month's story that Shaw
"said he was particularly upset by a report from
Rome last week that a Vatican cardinal, Jorge Arturo
Medina Estevez, said, 'a homosexual person . is not
suitable to receive the sacrament of holy orders.'"
Lower down in the story, the Globe revealed that the
worldwide Anglican church is itself divided whether
to ordain gay and lesbian priests and not all American
Bishops will do so. But Shaw has been doing that since
his election as Bishop in 1994.
Shaw said, "Suggestions that gays molest children
lead to homophobia and create a dangerous atmosphere
in which hate crimes flourish." He said he is
aware of only two instances of priests of his diocese
sexually abusing minors in recent history and both
were heterosexuals. But observers say that if he really
believes that his church is free of molestation by
homosexuals, then he isn't looking very hard and is
following exactly the same pattern that Cardinal Law
did back in the 1990s.
As for his suggestion that the priests who assaulted
the children in the Catholic church were not homosexuals,
this would be argued strenuously by most people.
This is not a new problem. The publisher of MassNews,
J. Edward Pawlick, reports that when he was a young
Boy Scout in 1940, the scoutmaster, who was in his
twenties and well liked by everyone, was molesting
a scout in his troop. Pawlick's father was in charge
of the Troop Committee. The Scoutmaster was quickly
dismissed but as far as Pawlick remembers, it was
not made a "big deal" by anyone and he doubts
that any criminal charges were pressed.
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