BY THE RT. REV. DAVID C. ANDERSON SR.,
AAC PRESIDENT & CEO

Recently, the Episcopal Church of St. Paul in the Desert, in Palm Springs, Calif., hosted a service of 30 homosexual couples saying "I do" on a Sunday morning. The Desert Sun in Palm Springs reported on the service, noting that although the words didn't bring federal recognition to the partnerships, they brought (allegedly) an affirmation from God and each other. It was the parish's fourth "Gay and Lesbian Couples in Long-Term Relationships Celebration." (This is in the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, for those still keeping score).

For those godly orthodox Episcopalians momentarily safe in an orthodox diocese of TEC with an orthodox bishop to provide protection, there is cause for great anxiety on the horizon-the so-called Title IV canon law revisions. The kind of craziness that is going on in the Diocese of San Diego will visit you soon, and if you don't sign on, the machinery of TEC's legal system will crush your bishop, your clergy, and your congregation.

It is said that to be forewarned is to be forearmed, but whether there is still time or not is debatable. An excellent analysis of the Title IV revisions has been done by C. Alan Runyan and Mark McCall. It is posted on the Anglican Communion Institute's website (anglicancommunioninstitute.com, "Title IV Revisions Unmasked," Sept. 12, 2010)

The Title IV changes go into effect this coming July, 2011, and will strip away procedural protections that were in place, expand the number and type of offenses that can be charged, and give to the presiding bishop unprecedented powers and authority, enabling her-or at some future time, him-to have overreaching authority to discipline. Many have said that the new canons have a more pastoral approach, but in fact the safeguards are gone that have historically provided some checks and balances. We will now see kangaroo courts, or as some remember from the days of McCarthyism, "Are you now or have you ever refused to bless the partnership of any gay couples...?"

Bishops may be indicted if they refuse to sue congregations that wish to leave, charging them with failure to protect church property. I want our friends in the UK and the Global South especially to note this: the bishop will have to sue or he (or she) will be tried and deposed. Once these changes go into effect, I expect the presiding bishop will make an example of South Carolina's Bishop Mark Lawrence who has refused to sue congregations that have left his diocese. TEC's Executive Council recently admitted there are "canonical limits" to how they and the presiding bishop can "intervene" in the situation in South Carolina, but that won't be the case come July.

If a clergy person is asked to officiate at a same-gender marriage or blessing, and cannot because he or she has theological and spiritual objections or concerns, even if it is a matter of conscience, the offending clergy person can be charged and tried. Furthermore if a cleric confidant knows about the priest declining to do the service, and doesn't turn them in and report them, that cleric could also be charged and tried. The expectation is that if you commit a violation you must report yourself. What is happening is that if you are a clergy person, deacon, priest or bishop, under Title IV you will be forfeiting your Constitutional rights as an American citizen in any matter where it touches on The Episcopal Church. Canon 19 states "the Episcopal Church reiterates that all proceedings under Title IV are neither civil or criminal in nature, but rather ecclesiastical. And that the various members of the clergy have voluntarily accepted their ministerial positions in this hierarchical church so therefore they gave their consent to be governed by the discipline methods of the Episcopal Church and that the clergy may not claim in proceedings under this Title constitutional guarantees otherwise associated with secular court proceedings."

Under Title IV, the remaining orthodox dioceses of TEC have a limited time frame to either change religions to the new Schoriesque Episcopalian Church, or risk being disassembled by the power structure of TEC using their new legal lynching laws. The Diocese of South Carolina has begun to put some measures in place to defend orthodoxy within her borders, and The Living Church reports that the Dioceses of Western Louisiana and Dallas are also in the process of formally questioning the constitutionality of the Title IV changes. It may be "too little, too late" to protect them and others from the full force of the Episcopal Church's anger and venom.

While there is little comfort for those few orthodox still within TEC in the knowledge that their national leadership is working against them, there most certainly is comfort that they, and we, serve a God who, "knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment." (2 Peter 2:9)†