Gay-friendly 'heresy' divides members

Gay-friendly ‘heresy’ divides members Canton Repository (subscription)

The Rev. Eric D. Dudley, the Episcopal Rector of St. John’s Church in Tallahassee, resigned last week, telling church members, “The roots of heresy are so deep in the Episcopal Church ... that there really is no possibility of changing the fabric of the Church.”

The most visible form of the heresy he speaks about was the decision by the 2003 General Convention of the Episcopal Church to approve the election of Rev. V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, though he’s living in an openly gay relationship with another man.

“In the Episcopal Church at many levels — bishops, priests, seminary professors — Scripture is no longer the foundation for ethical decision-making. They believe God is teaching a ‘new truth’ that replaces the old truth of Scripture,” says Dudley.

“The new truth is that there are different ways to live out one’s sexuality. They believe God fully embraces these new ways, though they are contradictory of Scripture. For example, The Episcopal pansexual organization known as Integrity describes itself as a “Gay-Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgendered Christian Community.” The door they have opened is a huge door, and they’ll see the Episcopal Church move away from the classical understanding of sexuality, of marriage and Scripture.”

A week after he left St. John’s, most parishoners also left with him to create St. Peter’s Anglican Church across town.

According to Rev. Jim McCaslin of All Souls Church in Jacksonville, 10 to 12 more churches in the diocese are considering following his example.

“People are waking up to the fact that the Episcopal Church is no longer Christian,” he said as the dean of the Anglican Communion Network for the Southeast.

In fact, many have left the denomination to help create 80 new churches in the Anglican Mission in America. Others have joined spinoffs such as the Charismatic Episcopal Church.

Last summer the leaders of 80 million Anglicans, most of whom live in the Global South — Africa and Asia — met in Ireland and demanded that the Episcopal Church “repent” of its consecration of an active homosexual as bishop, halt its ordination of gay priests and the blessing of same-sex unions.

U.S. Episcopal leaders came to a meeting in Nottingham this summer, expressing “regret” for upsetting 80 percent of the world’s Anglicans, but did not repudiate the action. In fact, they defended their “new faith” of inclusivity. But they said final decisions had to be made by the next General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2006.

The bishops of a dozen dioceses have joined the Anglican Communion Network, emphasizing their union with worldwide Anglicans on this issue — and their opposition to the Episcopal Church while remaining inside it.

Global South bishops may recognize their courage, and that of clergy like Eric Dudley, and expel only the heretics — who are a majority of the church.