The Anglo-Catholic bishop ripped into Smith saying, "Any canonist worthy of the name knows that you have deliberately misused Canon IV.10 in order to attack someone who upholds the Catholic Faith in a manner deliberately designed to deny him any hearing or trial. You grieve the heart of Our Blessed Lord. However, I fear your own actions demonstrate any inability to see what you have done wrong, or to bring you to the repentance your soul so desperately needs to save you from spiritual death. I pray for you with great sadness."

A day of retribution awaits Andrew Smith.

But the actions of Smith also caught the attention of a leading Continuing bishop, the Rt. Rev. Louis Campese, a bishop with the Anglican Church of America who wrote VirtueOnline saying, "After reading your story about the situation with the Rev. Hansen, I just could not just put it on the shelf. I know after we left PECUSA over twenty five years ago... all the pain and ridicule we all have suffered...but this raid by a Bishop is totally beyond my understanding. It is unacceptable and we all must stand shoulder to shoulder until this type of behavior is shouted down by the Christian community as a whole."

In his sermon last Sunday at Trinity Episcopal church in Bristol, Connecticut, Fr. Clay Knapp, associate rector of St. John's, Bristol referred to the horrific and unjustified attack on the good rector and the parish of St. John's as being 7/13.

"That's the way we at St. John's feel about the happenings of this week-we ain't never seen a wreck like this before. Shock is the only word that keeps coming to mind. I am still in shock. It's hard to understand how Bishop Smith could forcibly take possession of the church building and its contents, in the face of the lay leadership's opposition, have the locks changed while the lay people looked on, install a priest-in-charge without consultation with the vestry, and all, he says, for the health and stability of the parish! Trinity be warned," he cried from the pulpit.

"[I am] shocked also that a good and faithful priest has been suspended from priestly ministry because he stood in opposition to his bishop on theological and moral grounds in a time when our world-wide Communion has rebuked the position of that bishop and those who think like he does."

"The pain of loss, the sense of violation, the anger we feel the sense of confusion, of what to do next is heavy on our hearts and minds. We're left with a feeling of helplessness. We want to cry out with the psalmist, "How long, O Lord, how long!"

In a week such as this, we need to do this spiritual math. We need to look at 7/13 from an eternal perspective. Yes we need to recognize that there is incredible hurt and anguish. Yet, we must also look ahead to the glory to come. Only then will we be able to have the attitude of hope and patience that St. Paul calls for.

"Where do we go from here? The future path is unclear. We may not have passed through the suffering of this present time, but God's Word assures us that the suffering we have to go through won't compare with the glory yet to come. God's Word assures us that he will use the adversity that comes our way to his purpose. He will use 7/13 to make us more Christ-like. And finally, God assures us that he will shadow us every step of the way and that nothing will ever be able to separate us from his love and presence. So, in these assurances, we continue to do the word God has given us to do-to love and serve Him as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord."

How can Bishop Andrew Smith sleep with himself asked Dr. Peter Moore, former President of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry?

"OK, so no bishop likes to lose a church's annual contribution to the diocesan budget. OK, again, no bishop likes to be thought of as out of bounds, unspiritual, or - good heavens - heretical. And, OK, so no bishop likes to have a group of his own clergy want to replace him with another bishop from another diocese. Fair enough."

"But such is the present situation in the Anglican Communion that the great majority of the Communion to which Andrew Smith professes allegiance thinks that he has consistently acted in a way that denies the Gospel's power to change lives and has contradicted 2000 years of church teaching (based on the Scriptures, buttressed by tradition and reason). Because of his support of V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, and his vigorous pursuit of those who disagree with him, our Communion is in turmoil and at breaking point."

"So what good does it do to pour gasoline on the flames by swooping down on a flourishing parish, ousting its much-loved Rector, crashing into its office computers, changing the locks, and installing a person as "Rector" whom the congregation will not want or welcome? Can anyone imagine a more ridiculous move, a more immature hissy fit, a sillier abuse of episcopal power in an age when these kinds of actions are inherently suspect - even by the secular media?"

"Has this bishop lost his mind? As a longtime resident of Connecticut, and member of several Connecticut parishes, I know that there are many more clergy in Andrew Smith's diocese who do not care for his theology or style of leadership. When will he wake up from his nightmare and realize that his actions can and will only exacerbate an already tense situation and empty his churches of good and faithful people?"

At St. John's, Bristol, a church now taken over by the bishop, only 15 persons from the parish showed up last Sunday, with the bishop's port-a-congregation adding another 35. "The ringers came but they won't stay long," said a source. Ms. Susan McCone preached and celebrated.

END