www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Episcopal Parishes Breaking with ECUSA

This has been reported on several different news services tonight including CNN and BBC. Here is one of the articles on the topic.

Episcopal Parishes in VA break away [news.yahoo.com]

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

I think we might begin to see mass conversions to the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Other will go the route that these bodies took. I think we should prepare to receive them.
Stephanos I

Yes, indeed.

I think, though, that those parishes that attempt to take their physical churches with them will find themselves embroiled in lawsuits for years.

The Church, of course, is a temple made up of living stones first and foremost.

Gordo

I don't think so. A few might. The rest won't because they are committed to the Protestant view of Christianity.

From the Episcopalians I know, most of them have no or little knowledge of the existence of the Orthodox Church, and most of them reject the claims of papal authority and jurisdiction.

I think some of them will convert to other liturgical forms of Protestantism (e.g., Lutherans). I think others will (try) to join the jurisdiction of the African bishops. I think most of the rest will muddle through this controversy: sticking with their local church and privately rejecting what their clerics are supporting.

-- John

The internal disintegration of the Episcopal Church leaves behind those who are usually of one mind, and accepts the collective damage. When I point out how many Anglican parishes there are now in the Phoenix area as opposed to 20 years ago, those who stayed are indifferent. They continue to rearrange their deck chairs, happy to retain money and property.

Jim

It seems a bit like what is happening in the Byzantine Catholic Church.

CDL

I agree. There may be a trickle that go to Orthodoxy or Catholicism, but it won't be that many.

The conservative Anglicans are still basically Protestant. They have no problem with married bishops for instance. I believe they also allow clergy to divorce and re-marry and that women's ordination is generally accepted.

The Episcopal Bishop of Virginia is quoted as saying that these events
My word. I never knew that "Nigerian" is the name of a religion! Or is "Episcopal" the name of an ethnic group?

Fr. Serge

My guess is that the average frustrated people won't switch churches, they will just stop going anywhere.

Kaydlo,

Not sure if that is the case. It probably depends on the parish and the individual. (I know - an obvious statement!) For more evangelical leaning Episcopalians, you could see moves to a more EvFree church setting. For "higher church" leaning Episcopalians, there are a number of alternatives as well, including the TAC which is on a definite track of union with Rome, Western-rite Orthodoxy, Anglican-usage Roman (which could be a true missionary force in Catholicism if it were not just restricted to former Anglican parishes...), and a myriad of Anglo-Catholic jurisdictions.

I think we are witnessing the final "unwinding" of the Anglican knot...or rather, it is being cut in half by a sword!

God bless our Christian bretheren who struggle with this mess...

Gordo

In this case I would disagree.

Fr. Serge, didn't you know that the only true Episcopalians are the white Anglo-Saxon ones?

I hear through the grape vine that there are a thousand clergy around the world ready to come into communion with Rome but they want to do it as one body.
Stephanos I
and that figure doesnt include their congregants who are also poised to come home.

Father Stephanos,

Are you referring to the TAC?

http://www.acahome.org/tac/index.htm

Gordo

Im not sure with whom this group associated with. An Episcopal minister was talking to me once and I didnt pry any more information out of him. He told me that he was a part of this group and that they were holding meetings in Rome, their big point of acceptance was that they wanted a "sui juris" Church to be set up to receive these converts. And not just a temporary pastoral provission.
Stephanos I