Laity Supports Leaving 'Episcopal Titanic'
Nearly 100 lay members in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh recently signed a letter supporting their bishop in withdrawing from the national church, which they contend is walking after "a different gospel."
The laity declared their "strong support for the godly direction of our Bishop, Robert Duncan, and for the strategy approved by delegates to our annual diocesan convention last November."
Lay members issued the letter in response to a dissension letter last month in which 12 of the diocese's 180 clergy expressed their disapproval of Bishop Duncan's move toward a split from The Episcopal Church.
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The Pittsburgh diocese had overwhelmingly voted in November to leave The Episcopal Church. A second and final vote of approval for secession is expected later this year at the annual Pittsburgh convention.
"We were just talking about the letter that the 12 clergy had written openly to the diocese and we were concerned that people might not understand the whole story," said Edith M. Humphrey, professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, who initiated the support letter, as reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The 12 clergy had gone public with their disapproval, saying Duncan made a mistake in leading the diocese out of The Episcopal Church.
Laity, however, stressed in the letter that their decision in November to split was not "hasty." Rather, it came "after nearly five years in which we waited for our national church to repent and to respond to the pleas of the rest of the worldwide Anglican Communion."
"We are participating in a necessary realignment with biblical, catholic, traditional and evangelical Anglicans across the globe," the letter reads.
Duncan and much of the diocese, as well as conservatives overseas, are discontent with The Episcopal Church's liberal direction on Scripture and homosexuality and contend that the national church is departing from Anglican tradition.
The Episcopal Church had widened rifts when it consecrated openly gay bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire in 2003.
While the 12 clergy oppose the ordination of openly gay clergy and conducting same-sex blessings and support the reformation of The Episcopal Church, they do not believe a split is necessary.
But most members in the Pittsburgh diocese feel they can only be faithful Anglicans apart from the national church.
The laity letter states that the diocese "can no longer travel with a national Episcopal body that is departing from its foundations.
"We pray that in the coming year, even more lay persons will recognize the danger and folly of remaining in the punctured hull of the Episcopal Titanic."
They also point out that litigation over church properties was not initiated by the diocese.
"We want to remind them and the public that the court cases came about because of suits against the diocese and officers of the diocese," the letter reads. "Our bishop did not initiate these suits. Indeed, with others who support him, he has done everything possible to defuse the situation outside of the courts."
The Diocese of Pittsburgh is currently one of three dioceses expected to vote on a final approval this year to break from The Episcopal Church. The Diocese of San Joaquin became the first full diocese in December to leave.
