By Baby Blue
Thursday, November 15, 2007
The day began fiercely, with a wind and rain squall rushing through Fairfax. I've discovered a short cut from Truro to the Courthouse and managed to get across Main Street and inside the Courthouse in fifteen minutes, the umbrella still intact.
The morning session began with cross examination by the counsel for the Diocese of Virginia and then the Episcopal Church of Abraham Yisa, official Register of the Anglican Church of Nigeria and elected member of the Anglican Consultative Counsel. He testified - and continued to testify under cross examination - that indeed there is a division in the Anglican Communion. This was dramatically illustrated by the changing of the Anglican Church of Nigeria changing their constitution to reflect that they are in communion with those Anglican provinces that hold to the faith. The Church of Nigeria as well as the Church of Uganda and the Church of the Southern Cone and many others are in broken or impaired communion with the Episcopal Church. He also testified in his capacity as an elected member of the ACC that the Episcopal Church did not attend the last AAC meeting in Nottingham as voting or seated members, following the advice from the Primates Meeting. He described broken communion as the breaking of fellowship, of exchanged visits, by sharing of clergy, of training, workshops, financial assistance and through the primates.
What I found moving during his testimony was his refusal to compartmentalize the Church. While TEC continues to focus on the constitution and canons, asking of every clergy person or elected lay person who takes the stand about their loyalty to the constitution and canons, Mr. Yisa spoke eloquently about the shared fellowship of the Gospel, of the partnership in the work of Jesus Christ. He spoke of the living church, not just the one on paper and it was seamless. It was especially moving coming from a barrister who cares deeply about law and procedure and the care of documents - it was clear he takes those tasks very seriously. But woven into his expertise of law and procedure and documents was a deep and resilient faith.
A lot more of the documents we all know and love were entered into the official court record, including the Primates Communique from Dar es Salaam.
After Mr. Yisa completed his testimony we broke for lunch. I headed down to the cafeteria and sat by the window with friends and watched through the window as people went through security, emptying their pockets, handing over lighters, giving up their camera/cell phones for secured safekeeping, and waiting for their stuff to be scanned or themselves to be wanned if they set off the alarms while walking through the checkpoint. A new courthouse is being built here in Fairfax and it is quite a contrast to the monstrous modern fortress that was built back in the 70s. The new one reminds me of the old Arlington Courthouse before it was torn down and replaced by a 90s monstrosity.
The oddest part of the days have been standing in the halls outside the courtroom. When we see courtroom dramas we often see some of the big dramas actually happening out in the corridors and I can see how that happens. But we're Virginians and we all remain civil. The highlight probably was when we discovered that there was a massive water leak in the ladies bathroom and we went to find the bailiff to call someone before the roof fell in. There seems to be a metaphor in that somewhere. There are always signs that there is a break.
When we returned to the courtroom after lunch we heard testimony from David Allison, one of the officers of the Anglican District of Virginia and a member of Church of the Apostles, Fairfax, who testified that there are now 20 congregations in the Anglican District of Virginia with 7,500 members and still growing.
Following this testimony came excerpts from the video testimony of [Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori] the person in this so-called "artwork" (and we still use that term lightly) above. I do have another drawing that looks like something out of Wizard of Oz where I was trying to illustrate all the testimony about "branches" but it frightened me too much to put up. If, after having this chai at Starbucks, I change my mind I'll get it scanned in later and you can see exactly how I was feeling listening to the testimony about branches in the Anglican Communion. Or that I was having a bad hair day.
I'm sorting out what to say about that testimony. So stay tuned. What I can say is that is it's way okay to turn your church into a saloon, but don't interfere with the TEC franchise or kaboom - a new sheriff comes to town. Oh, and someone did not agree with [the historical record of the Dar es Salaam Primates meeting] - no, not at all. The yes meant meant no. And now we know.
What Andrew Carey writes here is what we saw - very clearly - on video today in the courtroom. The case was made.
After this particular testimony, the CANA Churches rested their case (with the possibility of calling one more witness next week) and the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia began their case. The Diocese of Virginia counsel presented a short opening statement and then called their first witness [John Keith], an old friend who serves on the Diocese of Virginia Standing Committee. It was a bittersweet reunion to see him and catch up on his life and his family - we served together on the Truro Vestry , even though the causes of our meeting are sad. He was testifying for the diocese in his capacity on the Standing Committee. I still have not changed my mind of his integrity and his call to be a reconciler. That was so apparent - at least to me - while he was on his stand.
And in one of the portraits of old Fairfax judges that surrounded the room, looking down on him as he testified, was the portrait of his own father. I don't think that was lost on him as he testified and it certainly was not lost on me. And perhaps that was why he was there.
The trial breaks until Monday and should finish mid-day on Wednesday. Please keep praying - now the Episcopal Church starts their case that there is no division in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is just a dream.
The URL for this story is:
http://babybluecafe.blogspot.com/2007/11/day-three-update-from-courthouse.html
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