Rectors Form Communion Partners Group

by Steve Waring
Posted on: June 3, 2008

The rectors of 17 large Episcopal parishes have formed Communion Partner Rectors (CPR), the clerical counterpart to similar organizations for bishops and primates.

“We are a group of rectors who share a common commitment to the authority and traditional interpretation of holy scripture, the creedal and historic faith, orthodox theology with an evangelical fervor to faithfully live and preach the Good News of Jesus Christ,” the group said in a release. “We are also firmly committed to remain in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, respecting and honoring the proper authority of our bishops and working in concert with them to strengthen our voice within the church.”

The Rev. Russell J. Levenson, Jr., rector of St. Martin’s Church, Houston, a spokesperson for the group, said the organization will provide traditionalist-minded clergy with a way to differentiate from the “revisionist” drift of the national church without actually leaving it.

“I’ve never signed any of these kinds of statements before,” Fr. Levenson said. “At the same time, I’ve become increasingly frustrated by two sides: orthodox Anglicans who say the only solution is to leave The Episcopal Church, and revisionists who insist on pushing their position to the point where it becomes almost a form of liberal fundamentalism.

“The use of the word ‘revisionist’ is not meant in a pejorative way,” he said. “I mean it in the literal sense to refer to those who seek to revise what the church has taught and believed.”

St. Martin’s is the largest parish to be led by a Communion Partner rector. It reports average Sunday attendance of 1,925 and 6,756 communicants. Together, the 17 parishes represented have nearly 25,000 communicants. In addition to Fr. Levenson, participants include:

• The Rev. Charles Alley, rector, St. Matthew’s, Richmond, Va.
• The Rev. Keith Brooks, rector, Transfiguration, Vail, Colo.
• The Rt. Rev. Tony Burton, rector, Incarnation, Dallas
• The Very Rev. Anthony Clark, dean, St. Luke's Cathedral, Orlando, Fla.
• The Rev. Frank Fuller, rector, St. Mark’s, Beaumont, Texas
• The Rev. Ronald Greiser, Jr., rector, St. John’s, Portsmouth, Va.
• The Rev. Laurens A. Hall, rector, St. John the Divine, Houston
• The Rev. Charles Holt, rector, St. Peter’s, Lake Mary, Fla.
• The Rev. Thomas Hotchkiss, rector, Advent, Nashville
• The Rev. John S. Liebler, rector, St. Andrew’s, Fort Pierce, Fla.
• The Rev. Gregg Riley, rector, Grace, Monroe, La.
• The Rev. Mark Seitz, rector, St. Matthew’s, Wheeling, W.Va.
• The Rev. Leigh Spruill, rector, St. George’s Nashville
• The Rev. Guido Verbeck, rector, St. Paul’s, Shreveport, La.
• The Rev. Stockton Williams, rector, St. Peter’s, Kerrville, Texas
• The Rev. Michael Wycoff, rector, St. Luke’s on the Lake, Austin, Texas

“We wish to be on record in our enthusiasm for the Windsor and Covenant way forward, as the best means to extend and further the Communion as God has thus far blessed it throughout the world,” the release concluded.

Further information about the group is available from Fr. Levenson via email at CPRectors@stmartinsepiscopal.org

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

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