Trying to find a conservative parish nearby. Any suggestions welcome

Ah, you've glazed over a huge point in the ECUSA' they openly teach and promote homosexuality as normal and therefore not a sin.

Jeff

 

I'm not sure who this is addressed to or what point you are trying to make. But if you're asking if I would have a problem with an openly gay Vicar, the answer is, "I don't know". In theory at any rate, the CofE does not ordain practicing homosexuals, so it is hypothetical rather than hypocritical.

Do you have a "problem with homosexuals"?

 

Do they all? Is it official policy? Or do certain clerics put forward that line (and get away with it)?

 

I was addressing you with regard to your earlier post. I have no problem with homosexuals. I have an enormous problem with the church erasing 3600 years of constant witness from the scriptures with regard to acceptable sexual morality simply because it has become unpopular.

If your lady priest announced she were gay, would it become your issue then? And if so, where would you fall?

 

Nope, mainline teaching from the Presiding Bishop on down. This was the issue with the South Carolina Bishop and Diocese.

Jeff

 

Is the Presiding Bishop a Diocesan Bishop or the head of the Episcopal Church?

 

It is most unusual for a priest to announce her/his sexual orientation. That's their business. There are occasional exceptions. The Dean of St Albans once did have a same sex relationship (before he was Dean). He is now celibate. But he has been passed over for the episcopate.

If a priest were known to be in a same sex relationship, the church wardens would be obliged to refer the matter to the Archdeacon, who would then report it to the Bishop. I cannot say with any authority what he would do, but personally I doubt if he would accept it.

 

No, she is the head of the church.

Jeff

 

I have glazed over nothing. It is not for me to judge. I'm merely trying to be the best Christian I can be, and frankly some days I'm not doing so hot at that. What others say, do, teach, or promote is not my problem. I am my problem. I think I'll just fix that first.

 

My comment wasn't an attack on you, but simply a fact worth pointing out. It may not be your job in your eyes, but is it the Presiding Bishop's job to legislate morality against scripture? Also, what others do does affect you in a very profound way, just look around the ruins of what's left of the ECUSA.

Jeff

 

After praying about where to go from here, I felt called to look at the section in Revelation where Christ addresses the seven churches in Asia Minor. If you notice, he usually gives praise and then chastisement. After all, Christ is full of grace and truth.

Anyway, I get a strong sense that Jesus wants his Church to proclaim the truth, but to do it in love with mercy and grace. If we play fast and loose with the truth, we become like those in Pergamon whom Christ chastised for tolerating immorality. If we neglect grace, we become like those in Ephesus who zealously guarded the truth with vigor, but forgot their first love.

So if we look at TEC in this light, what conclusions can we make? Some churches focus only on the truth (which is wrong) and others only on grace (which is equally wrong). I think we need both...

 

We have a female Supreme Governor.

 

Gay marriage is legal in NYS but it is not allowed in the Episcopal Diocese of Albany. Civil law has nothing to do with it.

 

Does the Episcopal Church ordain openly (practicing) gay clergy and conduct gay marriages?

 

Yes.

 

I did not take it as an attack on me. And as for the rest, when I look around my church I do not see ruins. No one is preaching homosexuality. No one is preaching gay marriage. No one is preaching ordination of gays or women. Mostly what I hear is about Jesus Christ. Imagine that.

 

I've only attended two ECUSA services, one in Philadelphia and one in Wiesbaden, Germany. I did not see ruins. No-one mentioned homosexuality. Instead I saw a devout, happy, contented congregation. An English friend of mine lives in Los Angeles and attends the Episcopal cathedral there. She gives similar reports.

If you were to read certain sections of the British press and visit various forums, you'd get a similarly distorted picture of the CofE.

 

But obviously not in, for example, the Episcopal Diocese of Albany.

 

Well I guess your dated experience of 2 worship services trumps everyone else's ongoing experiences as active members. So no problems guys, Seagull has decreed so. I don't know what we were thinking.

 

A simple google search will give you all the info you'd need. It's no secret that the Presiding Bishop just defrocked a Bishop for being critical of homosexuality, the church's new acceptance of practicing homosexuals as ministers, and the blessing of same-sex unions. In my own diocese, we received a letter informing us that we would begin blessing same-sex unions (even though same-sex marriage isn't even legal in our state) and those of us who are unable to support it should think deeply about whether we should remain within the episcopal church. Many many ministers have had their lives and careers ruined for not going along with Schori's folly.I am watching parish after parish be split apart and nasty court battles be waged over who gets the parish property. All of this is a matter of public record and could be easily accessed in less than a minute online for those not wanting to be willfully ignorant of these great injustices.