bushgang Episcopalians

[donsu]

http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030921episcopal0921p3.asp

Region funds Episcopalians' move to divide

Financial roots of conservatives are here

The current canonical battles being fought for the future of the Episcopal Church USA have deep financial roots in Western Pennsylvania and ties to some of the country's most conservative Christians.

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Next month in Dallas, conservative Episcopal bishops, priests and laity will formulate a petition that probably will seek the creation of a parallel Episcopal church. That request will be presented in mid-October in London to a special meeting of the primates, or archbishops, who represent the 77 million members of the Anglican Communion.

-snip-

The 7-year-old council's stated mission is to "affirm biblical authority and Anglican orthodoxy within the Episcopal Church of the United States," and it used more than $3 million in donations between 1997 and 2002 toward that purpose.

-snip-

One major source of its funding is Howard F. Ahmanson Jr., of California, a $10-million-a-year patron of conservative causes through the Fieldstead Foundation. An Episcopalian, Ahmanson is heir to a savings and loan fortune accumulated by his father. Ahmanson attended St. James Church in Newport Beach, Calif., which, until recently, was run by the Rev. David C. Anderson, now president of the American Anglican Council.
-snip-
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I would think sane Episcopalians would be glad to see them go.

[Rowdyboy]

1. These people are few in number...

I don't want them to go, but they should follow their hearts. And the American Anglican Council is basically a bunch of wing-nuts not taken very seriously.

Please remember to leave all church property as you leave the building. The Church didn't leave you, you left it...

[GainesT1958]

2. Glad on one hand, yes, but sad on the other...

We want to be the denomination that welcomes ALL backgrounds. However, if these folks insist on doing an Episcopal impression of Fundy Baptists, maybe the DO need to form their own, seperate schism, just as moderate Southern Baptists desperately need to.

If they oppose having an openly-gay rector, fine. But I base my support or opposition of a priest on the man, or woman, and NOT on his or her lifestyle. And why oppose ordination of gay priests? If they follow the two commandments Christ spelled out to us: Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and love others as I love you, I've always felt: what more can we, as fellow fallible beings, ask of them?

B-)

[izzie]

3. I used to go to this church with the min. of my own church

That priest was a women. The head of the church when he retired spent the summers at one of my folks summer places. He was a very nice man. If they feel they must split then they should do it.I have always felt that the church does not lead but to keep the people, goes with them. They may fight it but they have to give in or have no one.

[seemslikeadream]

4. "My purpose is total intergration of biblical law into our lives."

Howard Ahmanson. He's a little more than Episcopalian, Being a Theonomic Reconstructionist he's building the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth so Jesus will come again.

[Merlin]

5. Let the Mellon-heads leave. Good riddance. Very few will follow.

You just knew this guy was involved, right?:

To swing the pendulum to the right and fund its work, the institute has turned to a dozen well-known conservative foundations, including several run by Richard Scaife, the conservative Pittsburgh philanthropist and heir of the Mellon family banking and oil fortune.

Of the $3.8 million the institute received from those foundations between 1985 and 2002, nearly half -- $1.7 million -- came from the Sarah Scaife, Scaife Family and Carthage foundations, all of which are run by Richard Scaife.

The funds help support three "action programs" that promote reform in the Episcopal, United Methodist and Presbyterian churches. Between 1997 and 2002, the institute spent more than $2.5 million to monitor those churches' activities and work for scripture-based reform. About $541,000 of that was spent specifically on Episcopal Church-related programs.