The other dioceses seeking APO are Pittsburgh, Central Florida, Fort Worth, San Joaquin, South Carolina and Springfield. Their request for APO was sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury on July 20. (See Appeal letter below). It explains why the dioceses involved believe that APO is necessary and what that oversight might look like.

Sources close to the bishop also seem bewildered by the action of Bishop Stanton with one questioning if in fact he really had done so. "Bishop Stanton mentioned that he would be withdrawing his request. I do not know that he has, but I have heard from other quarters that he has withdrawn."

It was Stanton who wrote the original request for a special pastoral/primatial relationship. Bishop Jack Iker (Ft. Worth) first requested APO at GC2006. Five other dioceses joined him in seeking APO with Bishop Stanton asking the ABC directly for APO.

"If he withdrew his request, it is because the others seem to insist on Alternative Primatial Oversight, which is something that ECUSA does not have, namely, oversight by a primate. He insists on not calling for alternative primatial oversight because we don't have that now, nor does he want to encourage primatial oversight," said the source.

"The Presiding Bishop has no authority within the boundaries of a local diocese. Why would he--or any bishop--want to give authority within a diocese to a primate when such is not currently allowed?" said the source.

It also raises the specter that if APO is granted, that is, giving a primate authority within a diocese it could be later withdrawn. That might be an entrée for the Presiding Bishop later to intervene in a diocese because such authority was ceded to an alternative Primate.

Another observer from an orthodox diocese said that if it is true that Stanton authored much of the appeal, and that it was a consensus document, and that in New York City where Bishops Duncan, Iker, Lipscomb, Lee, Griswold and Schori met recently to consider what separation might look like, then Stanton had a reason to withdraw, as the orthodox bishops may have violated the consensus approach. But there is little doubt Stanton will be on board with any positive direction taken by the primates in February in Tanzania. "Whatever they agree to do, so long as they do something significant, we will come together on that. If the primates fail to act significantly then it will all begin to break apart."

Still another observer noted that it did look as though Bishop Stanton had blinked at precisely the moment Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholic bishops had demonstrated cohesiveness, hitherto unseen.

"The bishop of Dallas is between a rock and a soft place...his head (hard) and his heart (soft) are pulling in two different directions. He is a divided man...and as a result, he is presiding over a division," said a source.

"It is finally coming out, and I think it will be a train wreck here that might make [the Diocese of] Florida look like a fender-bender."

He knows the church is in error...and apostate...and he shares that freely, but he believes that the church should never be divided, he said.

"The bishop of Dallas has not received communion with or from Frank Griswold in nine years. He cannot do it. He won't. He is out of communion with Griswold. Sadly he won't tell Griswold or make a public statement about it."

Another source told VOL that moderate or conservative clergy are totally demoralized and stunned by his position. As a result, the confusion, discouragement, and disarray around here is deadly. "He has the majority of people behind him...and he won't budge." The man is split down the middle...just like the church. Heart and head don't line up. Audio doesn't match video, VOL was told.

VOL was told that there are at least four parishes that are packing their bags.

IN OTHER moves, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh released the full text of the appeal for Alternate Primatial Oversight (APO). The appeal, which lays out the request of the dioceses was done because the Diocesan Annual Convention (Nov. 3-4) will be asked to confirm the Standing Committee's request for Alternative Primatial Oversight. "It seemed right to make the text of the original appeal available," said Bishop Robert Duncan.

"The actual form of APO negotiated may look somewhat different (because the appeal is in the Primates' hands), but the functions of the Presiding Bishop to be considered for assignment are clearly stated, as are the theological teachings of Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori that have cause the appeal to be initiated," he said.

Here is the full text of the Appeal

AN APPEAL TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

By the Bishops and Dioceses of Central Florida, Dallas, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, San Joaquin, South Carolina, and Springfield (20 July, A.D. 2006) The Situation

There are effectively two churches under one roof. The common roof is called the (Protestant) Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Separation of the two churches became all but inevitable and irreversible at the General Convention of 2006. Both hold principled, but irreconcilable, religious views. Both claim to be the Episcopal Church where they are.

One church has a revolutionary character. The other church has the character of evangelical and catholic via media. One church leads the way in Anglican Communion innovation. The other church seeks submission to the common mind of world Anglicanism. Significant parts of one church seek elimination of its conserving minority and confiscation of that minority's patrimony.

The other church would gladly negotiate fair and graceful terms of co-existence, or in a worst-case scenario, disengagement. Seven dioceses are seeking to reshape their life together as dioceses -- faithful to what the Episcopal Church has been and submitted to what the Anglican Communion has taught -- under the oversight of a Canterbury appointed Commissary, temporarily exercising some of the responsibilities normally assigned to the American primate. Some of these dioceses have requested "alternative primatial oversight." One has requested "a direct pastoral relationship."

One has requested "alternative primatial relationship and, as appropriate, oversight." While worded differently, what these requests seek in common is a special relationship of pastoral care and accountability under the Archbishop of Canterbury described more fully below. We anticipate that these seven dioceses may be joined in this request by at least two other dioceses in September.

Given the hostility now being expressed by ECUSA's majority leadership - suggesting among other things that our "dioceses be declared vacant" - we see the special relationship for which we are appealing as the best means of preserving the status quo and balance among American dioceses, both progressive and conserving, until the longer term issues can be decided.

For the next several years, while negotiated settlements or court proceedings may run their courses state by state across the United States, and while development of an Anglican Communion Covenant edges forward among the Provinces of the Communion, these seven dioceses propose to function separately from the ECUSA majority, but under the Constitution and Canons of ECUSA as received.

The minority ECUSA church needs protection. The request is not a request to enter into the legal affairs of the Episcopal Church, except that the Constitution of the Episcopal Church and of the several dioceses all require "constituent membership" in the Anglican Communion and "communion with the See of Canterbury."

These are matters determined not by us in the United States but by Canterbury and the rest of the world, so it is to Canterbury and the rest of the world that we must turn.

END