Howe To Griswold: I Can't Live In Discord Pluriformity Any Longer
---
Bishop Howe of Central Florida Writes the Presiding Bishop
The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church Center
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017-4594
Dear Frank,
Well, the deed is done. My heart is breaking over yesterday's
consecration of the Bishop Coadjutor of New Hampshire.
By virtue of this action, we in the Episcopal Church, USA have ignored
the counsel of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Meeting of the Anglican
Primates (as recently as two and a half weeks ago, which you yourself
signed!), the Anglican Communion Council, the most recent Lambeth
Conference (in 1998), and the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops.
We have ignored the clear teaching of scripture, 5,000 years of
Judaeo-Christian tradition, the last seven General Conventions of the
Episcopal Church (prior to this summer's 74th General Convention), the
pleas of Primates and Provinces of the Anglican Communion from around the
world, and those of our ecumenical partners, including the Holy Father in
Rome, and the Conventions of (at least) six of our dioceses.
We have ordained and consecrated, as a bishop in the Church of God, a
non-celibate homosexual man, openly living in a "partnered"
relationship with another man for the past thirteen years.
We have thus repudiated the promise of the House of Bishops' Study
Document of 1994 to ordain "only persons we believe to be a wholesome example to
their people, according to the standards and norms set forth by the
Church's teaching [which is] that...the standard found in the New Testament of
lifelong, monogamous, heterosexual union as the setting intended by God
for sexual relationships between men and women is the foundation on which
the Church's traditional teaching is built."
We have violated the commitment made in that same Study Document to
"commit to ongoing consultation concerning these matters with the wider
Anglican Communion and with our ecumenical partners" before proceeding with such
innovations.
We have betrayed tens of thousands loyal Episcopalians, bewildered the
Christian world, and grieved the Holy Spirit.
Frank, I believe that for all these reasons, those bishops who
participated in yesterday's consecration, and those who supported it, should
immediately resign their positions in the Episcopal Church, USA.
(Sadly, I believe that resignation call should include you. It grieves
me to even think this, let alone say it, for I have honored and trusted you.
But I believe you have betrayed that trust. You are my friend, but as I said
on the floor of our House at the General Convention, I cannot, and will
not, follow you in this schismatic action.)
Since, of course, these resignations will not be offered, I believe I
need to step away from several responsibilities of my own.
I hereby resign my participation o the Theology Committee of the House
of Bishops. I have put in six years of hard work, and to have our
unanimous recommendation - that we NOT legislate regarding these very divisive
issues - ignored only serves to prove the uselessness of further
participation on that Committee. (I salute my fellow members for their
sacrificial efforts to preserve the Church's unity.)
Similarly, I resign my participation on the Pastoral Letter Committee
of the House of Bishops. I have no interest in trying to speak for a House
that has abandoned any recognizable commitment to the authority of Holy
Scripture.
I am saddened by these decisions. Up until now it has been an honor to
serve. But Frank, I even question the value of attending any more
meetings of the House of Bishops. I believe they have become manipulative and
duplicitous.
You have helped us learn to be civil with each other, and for that I am
grateful, but you have led us deeply into a world of "pluriformity" in
which there is, ultimately, no truth on which we can rely. And hence many are
hailing yesterday's consecration as a "new thing God is doing" in spite
of its contradiction of what God has actually said!
Frank, there is a scene in the move Braveheart in which William Wallace
captures one of his opponents following one of the great, bloody
battles of that remarkable film. He pulls the hood off his adversary to discover
it is...Robert the Bruce. Wallace staggers to the ground, dumbfounded, and
unable to speak, because...he trusted this man.
I had just such a moment on October 16th, when you signed onto the
unanimous statement of the Anglican Primates that declared:
- Scripture is the basis for our decisions, particularly doctrinal,
- We reaffirm the Lambeth Resolution that "homosexuality is incompatible
with scripture,"
- We deeply regret the decisions of the General Convention, and
- If the consecration of Gene Robinson precedes it will tear the
Anglican Communion at its deepest level...
and moments later you stated in a press conference that unless the
Second Coming were to intervene, the consecration of Gene Robinson would
proceed (as it now has) on November 2nd.
In all honesty, I cannot imagine how you hold all of these "pluriform truths"
together in your mind. I cannot.
With the deepest grief of my life,
John W. Howe
cc: The Bishops of the Episcopal Church, The clergy of the Diocese of
Central Florida
---
---
Bishop Howe of Central Florida Writes the Presiding Bishop
The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church Center
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017-4594
Dear Frank,
Well, the deed is done. My heart is breaking over yesterday's
consecration of the Bishop Coadjutor of New Hampshire.
By virtue of this action, we in the Episcopal Church, USA have ignored
the counsel of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Meeting of the Anglican
Primates (as recently as two and a half weeks ago, which you yourself
signed!), the Anglican Communion Council, the most recent Lambeth
Conference (in 1998), and the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops.
We have ignored the clear teaching of scripture, 5,000 years of
Judaeo-Christian tradition, the last seven General Conventions of the
Episcopal Church (prior to this summer's 74th General Convention), the
pleas of Primates and Provinces of the Anglican Communion from around the
world, and those of our ecumenical partners, including the Holy Father in
Rome, and the Conventions of (at least) six of our dioceses.
We have ordained and consecrated, as a bishop in the Church of God, a
non-celibate homosexual man, openly living in a "partnered"
relationship with another man for the past thirteen years.
We have thus repudiated the promise of the House of Bishops' Study
Document of 1994 to ordain "only persons we believe to be a wholesome example to
their people, according to the standards and norms set forth by the
Church's teaching [which is] that...the standard found in the New Testament of
lifelong, monogamous, heterosexual union as the setting intended by God
for sexual relationships between men and women is the foundation on which
the Church's traditional teaching is built."
We have violated the commitment made in that same Study Document to
"commit to ongoing consultation concerning these matters with the wider
Anglican Communion and with our ecumenical partners" before proceeding with such
innovations.
We have betrayed tens of thousands loyal Episcopalians, bewildered the
Christian world, and grieved the Holy Spirit.
Frank, I believe that for all these reasons, those bishops who
participated in yesterday's consecration, and those who supported it, should
immediately resign their positions in the Episcopal Church, USA.
(Sadly, I believe that resignation call should include you. It grieves
me to even think this, let alone say it, for I have honored and trusted you.
But I believe you have betrayed that trust. You are my friend, but as I said
on the floor of our House at the General Convention, I cannot, and will
not, follow you in this schismatic action.)
Since, of course, these resignations will not be offered, I believe I
need to step away from several responsibilities of my own.
I hereby resign my participation o the Theology Committee of the House
of Bishops. I have put in six years of hard work, and to have our
unanimous recommendation - that we NOT legislate regarding these very divisive
issues - ignored only serves to prove the uselessness of further
participation on that Committee. (I salute my fellow members for their
sacrificial efforts to preserve the Church's unity.)
Similarly, I resign my participation on the Pastoral Letter Committee
of the House of Bishops. I have no interest in trying to speak for a House
that has abandoned any recognizable commitment to the authority of Holy
Scripture.
I am saddened by these decisions. Up until now it has been an honor to
serve. But Frank, I even question the value of attending any more
meetings of the House of Bishops. I believe they have become manipulative and
duplicitous.
You have helped us learn to be civil with each other, and for that I am
grateful, but you have led us deeply into a world of "pluriformity" in
which there is, ultimately, no truth on which we can rely. And hence many are
hailing yesterday's consecration as a "new thing God is doing" in spite
of its contradiction of what God has actually said!
Frank, there is a scene in the move Braveheart in which William Wallace
captures one of his opponents following one of the great, bloody
battles of that remarkable film. He pulls the hood off his adversary to discover
it is...Robert the Bruce. Wallace staggers to the ground, dumbfounded, and
unable to speak, because...he trusted this man.
I had just such a moment on October 16th, when you signed onto the
unanimous statement of the Anglican Primates that declared:
- Scripture is the basis for our decisions, particularly doctrinal,
- We reaffirm the Lambeth Resolution that "homosexuality is incompatible
with scripture,"
- We deeply regret the decisions of the General Convention, and
- If the consecration of Gene Robinson precedes it will tear the
Anglican Communion at its deepest level...
and moments later you stated in a press conference that unless the
Second Coming were to intervene, the consecration of Gene Robinson would
proceed (as it now has) on November 2nd.
In all honesty, I cannot imagine how you hold all of these "pluriform truths"
together in your mind. I cannot.
With the deepest grief of my life,
John W. Howe
cc: The Bishops of the Episcopal Church, The clergy of the Diocese of
Central Florida
---
