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TEXAS RECTOR RIPS CONNECTICUT BISHOP'S ACTIONS
"You have misused the canon...You have disregarded the Windsor Report...you have done wrong..."
TO: The Rt. Rev. Andrew D. Smith,
Bishop
The Diocese of Connecticut
Dear Bishop Smith,
Your actions this past week are an insult to everyone who values the diversity that makes up the Episcopal Church, and a shameless misuse of ecclesiastical authority.
Your raid on the office of St. John's Episcopal Church (Bristol), the way you forcibly removing their website from the internet, and your inhibition of the Rev. Mark Hansen were obvious attempts to bully some faithful churchmen who happen to be more theologically conservative than you.
You misused the canon that was written for a very different purpose: for deposing clergy who have abandoned this church for the Roman Catholic Church.
You disregarded the Windsor Report and the provisions it makes for a Panel of Reference: "This oversight must be sufficient to provide a credible degree of security on the part of the alienated community, so that they do not feel at the mercy of a potential hostile leadership" (paragraph 151).
Bishop, what you have done is wrong. Liberalism, once a moniker for open-mindedness and respect for differences, has become a party label for the most intolerant worldview and a club to silence everyone who disagrees. Your actions and the Gestapo tactics you used constitute the next embarrassing chapter in the ongoing realignment, it exemplifies the graceless intolerant attitude of some of our bishops, and it reinforces and deepens the divisions in our church.
I hope every fair-minded bishop, whether liberal or conservative, will have the courage to confront you and such a blatant misuse of power. For the sake of diversity and toleration, and for the biblical faith that defines us as Anglicans and Episcopalians, I hope they will confront you.
Chuck Collins Rector,
Christ Episcopal Church
510 Belknap Pl.
San Antonio, TX 78212
www.cecsa.org
