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THREE LECTURES ON THE PRESENT STATE AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION AND THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH The Rev. Dr. Philip Turner Springfield ILL. February 2009 Lecture One The Gathering Storm I have been asked to lead a discussion of a matter of central importance both to The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Communion (TAC). It is a matter whose outcome will determine whether or not Anglicanism remains a credible form of Catholic Christianity. Its outcome will also determine whether or TEC remains a part of that catholic expression of Christian faith and practice or becomes no...
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A Probe into the Present and Future State of the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church The Rev. Dr. Philip Turner An Address to Anglican and Episcopal Students at The Duke Divinity School February 19, 2009 In 2006 Ephraim Radner and I published a collection of essays entitled The Fate of Communion. In that collection we sought to address the threats that now hang over the Anglican Communion. We sought to indicate that the crisis in which Anglicans find themselves, though theological and moral at its root, in fact involves church order as well. We attempted, though too briefly I believe...
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We note with concern the petition filed by the Presiding Bishop's chancellor seeking to intervene in the ongoing litigation in Pittsburgh. The Anglican Communion Institute has posted several articles over the past year critical of actions of the Presiding Bishop which are widely perceived to be contrary to the constitution and canons of The Episcopal Church. In just the past year alone, she has called diocesan conventions on her own authority and held them without proper notice or quorums. She has dismissed members of diocesan Standing Committees without any authority to do so (or any due...
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We write as Bishops of The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion and the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We are joined by distinguished theologians known for their long service throughout the Anglican Communion. The Historic Episcopate has always been recognized as an essential non-negotiable element of our Anglican identity, including by the Bishops of The Episcopal Church “in Council assembled as Bishops in the Church of God” and recorded in the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral. Bishops are successors to the apostles and upon their consecration receive the authority and...
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The Rev'd Mr Harris has released via his blog confidential emails not addressed to him. We assume him to be a man of civility and honor, in view of his role as a member of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church. The Anglican Communion Institute has long been on record as supportive of the Anglican Communion, the Covenant process, and the flourishing of the Episcopal Church and the defense of its Constitution. We have welcomed the Pastoral Visitors idea as emerging from the Communion's common life, and have been engaged, through Communion Partners, with a plan that would honor the polity...
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Fr. Mark Harris has published today a further article on his blog, "Preludium," concerning the "Bishops' Statement on the Polity of The Episcopal Church," published yesterday by the Anglican Communion Institute, Inc. Fr. Harris is a member of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church. Fr. Harris had previously disclosed on his blog obviously confidential communications, including material protected by the attorney-client privilege, concerning the Bishops' Statement. Today, in addition to defending his publication of the privileged communications, Fr. Harris also criticizes the Bishops'...
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The posting of a stream of private emails that came from an unnamed source, including the correspondence of senior Bishops of this church and their lawyer, has added considerable heat to the debate that has followed publication on the ACI Website of the Bishops' Statement on the Polity of The Episcopal Church. To date, the discussion that has taken place on the Web has served more to cloud than clarify the significant issues now faced both by The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. If one reads carefully the comments of those who find themselves in disagreement with the Bishops'...
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Originally posted at CommunionPartners.org. A group of Bishops of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion have issued a statement on the polity of the Episcopal Church with which we as Rectors of churches in the Episcopal Church are in full agreement. Our understanding of the seat of authority in the Episcopal Church, as elaborated by the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, is consistent with that elaborated in the Bishops' statement. We also find the arguments supporting the statement to be compelling and worthy of intentional study by the sundry dioceses, bishops...
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Friday's session of the Anglican Consultative Council is an embarrassment to Anglicans everywhere, and a sad display of procedural confusion. Members were given complex resolutions right before the vote without sufficient time to study them and understand their consequences. Resolutions that had been distributed earlier were replaced by resolutions drafted by a committee largely composed of members from provinces known to be opposed to the Ridley Cambridge Draft. Before a vote could even be taken on these resolutions, however, Archbishop Aspinall introduced a third resolution that not even the...
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A number of persons from around the Communion have asked me for my perspective on the recent ACC meeting's treatment of the proposed Anglican Covenant. There are at least two reasons, I suppose, why my opinion might be solicited. First, I have been a member of the Covenant Design Group that, over the past two and half years has worked at the drafting of this document. Obviously, I have a particular stake in what happens to the work we have spent over 30 full days in prayer, study, and labor producing. But second, I have long argued that doctrinally traditional Anglicans like myself should both...
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