Fort Worth Will Vote on Affiliations at Convention

10/01/2007

Delegates to the Nov. 16-17 annual convention in the Diocese of Fort Worth will consider a number of different options with respect to the diocese's future affiliation with either The Episcopal Church or another Anglican Province, according to the Very Rev. Ryan Reed, dean of St. Vincent’s Cathedral in Bedford, Texas and president of the Fort Worth standing committee.

A 12-page report to convention by the diocesan Committee on Constitution and Canons includes the first reading of six proposed changes to the diocesan constitution. The report has received the endorsement of the standing committee, Dean Reed told The Living Church.

“We believe it is time to separate our diocese from General Convention religion and to join an orthodox province of the Anglican Communion," states a two-page explanatory letter from the standing committee. "However, we do not wish to compel any parish in the diocese to remain with us as we pursue this course of action.

“With Christian charity toward those who differ from the majority, we are offering an amendment to Canon 32 to provide a process whereby parishes may leave the diocese in an amicable and Christian manner.”

The proposed change to the diocese’s Canon 32 would permit a parish to leave the diocese providing that at least a two-thirds majority of the congregation and vestry approve of separation. The agreement would also require approval from the bishop and standing committee.

The proposed constitutional changes offer a full range of options for delegates to the annual convention to consider. Two of the six proposed resolutions would effectively endorse the direction taken by General Convention in recent years by explicitly subordinating the diocesan constitution and canons to those of the General Convention and recognizing that all diocesan-owned property is held in trust for the national church. Others would remove any mention of The Episcopal Church from the diocese’s legal charter.

Another proposed resolution would permit clergy and laity to be elected as deputies to “any extra-diocesan conventions, synods or meetings that may occur between annual conventions and to which this diocese may wish to send such deputies or delegates.”

“We are going to lay it all down on the table and let people vote their conscience,” Dean Reed said. “We believe we have been forced into making these decisions by the national church leadership. They are the ones who have changed.”

Dean Reed stressed that any proposed constitutional changes approved during this year's convention would require approval from a second annual convention before becoming official, which he said offers an 11-month window to prayerfully consider the future prayerfully.

“If we do nothing, there will probably be a massive exodus not only of individual members, but also entire congregations,” Dean Reed said. “We don’t see any way forward without tremendous cost.”

This article comes from The Living Church Foundation
http://www.livingchurch.org/

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