It has seemed to me your leadership has been stern, closed to those disagreeing with your points of view, and more judicial and legal than pastoral, which is not what I expect from a Bishop. You write demanding letters designed to show that you are in control and all must give in to you. You claim that everyone else is divisive and disingenuous. I agree that in difficult times what is called for is love on both sides. But before you start to carve up others, let me ask where has the love been on your side? You have been quick to condemn, quick to make threats, and quick to take legal action as your choice of response. Is this love, is it bridge building?

As the Bishop it is your job to be the Pastoral leader of the diocese. Pastors are quick to counsel but also just as quick to forgive. A good Pastor realizes that he can advise and lead by example but cannot force his opinions or beliefs on others and will not try. He will allow others to go with God and trust the Spirit to move them in the truth even when it seems that it means parting ways. In this hard and difficult time a little ability to see the other side's point of view goes a long way. I agree with a statement I recently heard that the Episcopal Church is no longer one Church but two different ones trying to co-habit. Both churches use the same ecclesiastical and theological words but they do not speak the same language. Both with great emphasis often repeat Gospel, great commission, creed, and salvation but an interpreter is needed to translate as neither side is saying the same thing.

You say that those disagreeing with you and your politics are schismatic. From their point of view it is you and the others trying to push points of view that do not match traditional faith, that are schismatic. The Episcopal Church in large part has told the majority of the Anglican Communion they will not listen to them, consider their point of view or even slow down their agenda in consideration of the faith of their brothers and sisters. The vast majority of the Communion sees the National Church in the USA as schismatic and those you call schismatic simply agree with the majority and have the bad fortune to be born on the wrong side of the equator. The chance for the Episcopal Church to mend fences with the majority of their brothers and sisters at the convention was squandered by too many words and too much equivocation. Now you react by yelling that others are schismatic and filing ill founded and ridiculous canon law charges on fellow Bishops. Are those who are seeking a path that allows them to serve God honestly with the majority of the communion more schismatic then those whose actions rely on threats, demands and legal action? Which is more schismatic, more loving?

A Pastor leads by being what he wants others to be before God. Where are your actions leading? On Mackinac Island at weddings I would often point out that the beautiful historic view the couple came there for included two marvelous achievements of human engineering. The pre-revolutionary fort built by the British and the Mighty Mac Bridge is the longest in the world. Both were amazing projects and built at great cost. Both had significant impact on everyone who lived and traveled in the area. I would point out that sometimes forts are needed and some things need to be defended but bridges were more often needed. I would remind the couple being married that their lives as a couple would be most successful if they built more bridges than forts. Who builds a fort? One who feels he is in danger, one being fired upon! You claim to be here to build bridges yet many around you feel the need for a fort for they feel threatened. Are you working to disarm the situation by understanding and forgiveness or are you helping to create it with demands, threats and legal actions? Are you not in your demands and demeanor creating a fort of your own, feeling the need to defend to the death your own position? Will this result in a reasonable resolution?

I came to Yuma with great hopefulness. I have a great love for the Anglican Communion. Where else can an individual who is Evangelical in his theology and Catholic in worship and discipline, both informed and modified by the Charismatic Movement and Eastern Orthodoxy feel at home? I had hoped to be writing a different letter to you seeking the possibility of more fully uniting my service and calling with the local expression of the Anglican Communion. My observations have left me feeling I am better off staying in my own little corner rather than risk the storm in the Diocese of San Diego. Am I a schismatic too?

Sincerely and in every attempt to speak the truth in love,

Lee Sissel
Yuma, Az. 85364

--Lee Sissel is an ordained minister in the Community Church Movement. His studies in liturgical and Sacramental theology convinced him to become an Episcopalian. He applied for re-ordination in Northern Michigan in The Episcopal Church but was refused the opportunity to proceed. He worships at St Paul's in Yuma, Arizona with other orthodox believers and waits for an opportunity to find a way to more fully practice his faith and calling in the Anglican Communion.