In the Anglo-Catholic tradition, the last rites of Holy Week offer a procession of images both glorious and sobering \u2014 a drama painted in sacrament, scripture, incense, chants and candlelight, fading into the darkness of a tomb.<\/p>\n\n
It is a time for soul searching. That will certainly be the case this year for Father David L. Moyer of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, a sanctuary for Anglican traditionalists on the Philadelphia mainline. He chose to go on retreat at a convent, rather than enduring the pain of watching these services from a pew.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI am a liturgical nut and I am not the kind of person who can just watch,\u201d he said. \u201cI just couldn\u2019t take that emotionally, right now. I\u2019d be thinking, \u2018Now we need to do this\u2019 and \u2018Now it\u2019s time to do that.\u2019 It would be agonizing, not being at the altar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Moyer cannot serve at the altar for a simple reason \u2014 Pennsylvania Bishop Charles E. Bennison, Jr., has forbidden him to do so. The bishop has \u201cinhibited\u201d Moyer from his sacred duties, and is proceeding toward deposing him as a priest, because the rector of Good Shepherd has repeatedly denied Bennison the right to preach and celebrate the Eucharist in the parish.<\/p>\n\n
Why would a priest risk his career by locking out his bishop?<\/p>\n\n
\u201cCharles Bennison has removed himself from the church,\u201d said Moyer. \u201cHe has stepped outside the borders of the ancient Christian faith and of the Anglican tradition. \u2026 I would say that he is in fact a heretic, a false teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Both sides agree there is more to this standoff than power, $2 million in endowment money and the keys to a beautiful Gothic edifice. The bishop and his acolytes believe Moyer wants to split the diocese and the U.S. Episcopal Church. They note that Moyer leads the North American branch of Forward in Faith, a global network of Anglican conservatives.<\/p>\n\n
Also, Moyer is a candidate to become an at-large bishop for traditionalists nationwide, following an upcoming election and consecration that would be held without the blessing of the American hierarchy. Moyer has strong ties to Third World archbishops and is scheduled to meet with several only days before a tense April 10-18 gathering of the Anglican primates in Canterbury.<\/p>\n\n
Doctrine is at stake, too. Moyer responded to Bennison\u2019s March 1 \u201cinhibition of ministry\u201d letter with a letter urging the bishop to defuse the crisis by publicly affirming four ancient Christian doctrines. These were the uniqueness of Jesus as \u201cthe only way to obtaining eternal salvation,\u201d his \u201cbodily Resurrection,\u201d the \u201csupremacy of the Holy Scriptures as the inspired Word of God\u201d and that \u201csexual intimacy and genital relations are only properly expressed in a monogamous, heterosexual marital union.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Bennison has not responded even though he is an outspoken, articulate advocate of changing church teachings on sex and salvation. During a 1997 forum, which was taped, the bishop was asked why he could embrace such sweeping doctrinal revisions. The church wrote the Bible, he responded. \u201cBecause we wrote the Bible, we can rewrite it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, the diocesan standing committee has stated the obvious: no bishop wants to have the rector of a powerful parish publicly calling him a heretic.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cA diocese cannot function without mutual love and respect for duly instituted authority,\u201d stated the committee, in its report calling for disciplinary action against Moyer. \u201cSince a Bishop\u2019s authority is sacramental, a parish must receive its Bishop to preside at the Holy Eucharist for it to be in communion with the Bishop. The parish must be in communion with the Bishop to be in communion with the diocese. The parish must be in communion with its diocese in order to be in communion with the Episcopal Church and, through it, the Anglican Communion at large.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
But for Moyer, modern laws and ecclesiastical structures are not as important as the Bible and centuries of church tradition. Without a common core of doctrine, there can be no communion, he said. That is why he will fight on, even if that means sitting in a pew this Easter.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI believe that souls are at risk. I really do believe that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot stand by and watch people being led into hell.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the Anglo-Catholic tradition, the last rites of Holy Week offer a procession of images both glorious and sobering \u2014 a drama painted in sacrament, scripture, incense, chants and candlelight, fading into the darkness of a tomb. It is a time for soul searching. That will certainly be the case this year for Father David […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[154,330,423],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-canterbury","tag-episcopalians","tag-heresy"],"yoast_head":"\n