This was our experience at St. Andrew's in Vestal when Bishop Robert Duncan was visiting family in our parish. Bishop Skip Adams denied Bishop Duncan permission to preach in our church. Inclusivity in the DCNY did extend to Marcus Borg, a heretical writer who was sponsered by the DCNY and spoke to the DCNY clergy as well as at a public meeting at Syracuse University. ed.
The Silence of The PA Standing Committee
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
5/28/2009
The Episcopal Church claims it is an inclusive church.
It lies.
If it is inclusive, it does so in a very narrow sense. It includes lesbitransgays and other assorted sexualities to its table of diversity, but it doesn't want orthodox believers. In fact, they are not only unwelcome, they are barely tolerated when they do come. Orthodox priests graduating from seminaries like Trinity School for Ministry are definitely not welcome in the nation's liberal Episcopal diocesan pulpits.
Recently, the evangelical Bishop of Bolivia, The Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons came to Philadelphia to worship at the Church of the Good Samaritan, a thriving, suburban evangelical parish of 2,000 members (ASA 800), in a dying diocese torn apart by the now departed Bishop Charles E. Bennison whose penchant for self destruction only matches his hatred for orthodox Episcopalians whether local, national or international.
In fact, Good Sam, as it is known affectionately, is one of the top two largest parishes in the diocese. It continues to grow even as other parishes, liberal, pansexual and revisionist, slowly die and close their doors.
Good Sam grows because it has a firm fix on what the gospel is and attracts students from nearby universities and young families from numerous neighborhoods. It also has a thriving missions outreach and has supported missionaries to the country of Bolivia and its bishop, The Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons.
Recently, when the Bolivian Bishop came to this parish, he was denied access to the pulpit to preach and perform Eucharistically. He allegedly poses a threat to the PA Standing Committee who thought he would stand up and say the parish should leave the Episcopal Church. (The Diocese of Bolivia is a member of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone whose archbishop Gregory Venables has taken a number of Episcopal dioceses under his ecclesiastical wing and is in impaired communion with TEC.)
However, when I spoke to Bishop Lyons, it was clear he had no interest in or intention of talking about the state of the Anglican Communion nor did he have anything to say about whether the this parish should stay or leave TEC. His sole purpose was to minister the Word of God to the people of the parish. The Standing Committee denied him that right.
This is not the first time archbishops and bishops have been denied access to pulpits. When he was rector of the Church of the Good Samaritan parish, The Rev. Gregory Brewer was told that four visiting archbishops from the Global South would not be permitted to preach or administer Holy Communion. Instead, they were allowed to give brief reports to the congregation on the growth of their respective provinces. An uninclusive action if ever there was one.
VOL wrote the following letter to the PA Standing Committee asking for an explanation for their rejection.
5/18/2009
To all Members of the Standing Committee and concerned Episcopalians of the Diocese of Pennsylvania:
Recently, the Bishop of the Diocese of Bolivia, The Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons was denied the right to preach and perform Eucharistic functions at the Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, PA. Bishop Lyons is an orthodox bishop and Good Samaritan is an orthodox parish.
It is ironic that an heretical bishop like Jack Spong is invited to preach at the cathedral, that the diocese has a significant number of gay and lesbian priests, even a Wiccan priest, but a person of orthodox faith, who came is denied the right to come from several thousand miles away, is denied the right to perform the Eucharist and is only allowed to give a brief testimony of his work and ministry in this parish.
The Episcopal Church prides itself on being an inclusive church, recognizing all baptized believers, especially and including LGBTQ folkpersons. The Church of the Good Samaritan has never said it would leave The Episcopal Church, wishing to remain faithful to the gospel even as TEC accepts the full inclusion of non-celibate pansexuals to its ranks.
Virtueonline, the Anglican Communion's most widely read orthodox Anglican Online News Service read by more than 4 million readers in 212 countries, is asking why the Standing Committee refused to allow Bishop Lyons to officiate at this parish.
We await your response.
David W. Virtue DD
VIRTUEONLINE
VOL has not heard back from one member of the Standing Committee and no explanation has been garnered from anyone in office as to why the Bishop of Bolivia was denied the right to perform ecclesiastical functions at an Episcopal parish known for its orthodoxy.
Inclusivity, it would appear, goes only one way and only so far. If you are a faithful believing congregation, please know that your day in The Episcopal Church may well be over. You have no future in The Episcopal Church except for your check book. The Episcopal Church's vaunted inclusivity is narrow and uninclusive. There will never be another orthodox bishop who will garner consents from the liberal and revisionist HOB. The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence (SC) was the last one.
This summer General Convention will almost certainly pass a resolution affirming the right of dioceses to perform rites for same sex blessings. This, initially, will be optional as was Women's Ordination, but in time it will be mandatory. That is also a given.
END
For another view of Episcopal inclusivity click here:
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10539
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