The new Fort Worth diocesan chancellor, Kathleen Wells, has addressed a letter to the Hon. William T. McGee Jr., the former chancellor of the diocese (McGee is representing Bp. Iker and others who left the Episcopal Church). In it, the Standing Committee and the new Bishop of Fort Worth, the Rt. Rev. Ted Gulick, seek a peaceful and orderly transfer of property and other assets still held by Bp. Iker and others working with him who have left the Episcopal Church.
Note that the property would include St. Vincent's Cathedral, site of the first Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America to be held June 2009.
7 comments:
Their commitment to being the "true" church does not include any commitment to poverty -- good luck getting it without a big court case.
While I can hardly imagine +Iker handing over the keys to anything, it is important to ask. And ask again.
Then... sue the hell out of them.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the media LOVES it when people martyr themselves for a cause.
Playing martyr, while hanging onto the goods? Not so much.
xIker would be SMART to hand over all the property, while making a show of "sacrificing for principles"...
...but I don't think xIker's that smart. ;-/
I agree with JCF on all counts. At least in this neck of the woods, you're not going to see any priestly vows of poverty (to say nothing of simply doing the right thing and not taking stuff which doesn't belong to you).
I have nothing to lose here as I have no dog in this fight so I'll say it. It reminds me of the history of the Russian Orthodox in America when, right after WWII, the Soviets sent to the US a bishop who told the old Russian dioceses there to submit to him. The bishops of those dioceses said nyet as I imagine Bishop Iker and his parishes will to the Episcopalians.
P.S. In that case the US civil court gave the Russian metropolitan cathedral in New York to the USSR.
Fogey,
I'm not sure that analogy holds. To say nothing of the "Godwin's Law" similarity of equating TEC to the old Soviet Union ;)
I think it's all quite simple. A hierarchical church like the RCs or TEC own their property and have every legal right to decide what they want to do with it.
RCs, Anglicans, and the various Orthodox churches are not congregationalists. Simple as that. Nothing wrong with that, but if you think congregationalism is the way to go, then go join a Baptist church.
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