VirtueOnline publishes detailed timeline showing doctrinal shifts in The Episcopal Church

May 7, 2016 by

[Editor’s note]:

The article by Mary-Ann Mueller, entitled ‘Liberation theology in the Episcopal Church 1970-2016’, charts how the north American denomination abandoned biblical foundations and understandings of Christian faith shared with the worldwide church, and followed a path of exploration guided by the radical philosophies of a small minority intent on changing Western culture. It is written in the form of a list of events, grouped under various thematic headings.

Here is a flavour selected from the section “Liberalisation of the Episcopal Church”:

  • 1980 — Episcopal priest uses Coke and toast to celebrate Rite III Agape meal in a private non-public Service of Holy Communion.
  • 1987 Diocese of Newark — Diocesan convention urges The Episcopal Church to “acknowledge and affirm non-marital sexual relationships between homosexuals and between single, divorced and widowed adults.”
  • 1987 — In a report by the Standing Liturgical Commission of The Episcopal Church calls for the dropping of Trinitarian language wherever possible except for the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. The Commission also developed an alternative Eucharistic rite for “The Nurturing God.”
  • 1987 — In a report giving to the House of Bishops, the Episcopal Bishops were told that “homosexuality was probably determined even before birth and should be considered outside the scope of moral judgment.”
  • 1990 — Diocese of Washington Task Force on Human Sexuality concludes that guidelines about homosexual behavior in the Scriptures was not present.
  • 1993 Diocese of New York — Elements of pagan worship begin to appear in a service celebrated by Bishop Richard Grein (XIV New York) held at the Cathedral of John the Divine in New York City.
  • 1993 Diocese of Chicago — The rector and vestry of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in West Chicago, Ill informed Bishop Franck Griswold (X Chicago) that they were scandalized by the Diocese of Chicago’s abandonment of Scriptures and the perception that “priests practicing homosexual behavior were given influential positions. The church disassociated with the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago.
  • 1994 New York City, NY — General Theological Seminary institutes a new housing directive allowing for “committed” same-sex couples to living in campus apartments.
  • 1994 Diocese of California — Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco celebrates the “Renaissance of the Divine Feminine” highlighting Kali Durga, a Hindu goddess of transformation; Isis, an Egyptian goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility; Tara, the Tibetan goddess of compassion, and the Virgin Mary as a Black Madonna.
  • 1995 — A subcommittee of the Standing Liturgical Commission of The Episcopal Church develops an unofficial “liturgy for non-procreative unions — homosexual and heterosexual.”
  • 1995 Cambridge, Massachusetts — Pagan and Wicca worship have been introduced to the Episcopal Divinity School. “A Conversation about Wicca and a Short Beltane Ritual” were celebrated by a “transgendered wiccan clergyman-woman named Laurie.
  • 1996 — The House of Bishops exonerated Bishop Walter Righter Assistant Newark) for ordaining a non-celibate homosexual male to the diaconate. It was determined that Bishop Righter did not violated any stated doctrine of The Episcopal Church, including the church’s doctrine on marriage.
  • 1996 — House of Deputies’ President Pamela Chinnis decries The Episcopal Church’s slow toward diversity and wholeness. She lobbied for inclusive, non-sexist “God language” and that women have been “devalued, dismissed and denied,” and as a result women were “discouraged, refused and reviled.”

 

Read the article in full here

 

[Editor]: What does this have to do with the Church of England? Read also:

Companion link sees US Bishop taking assisting role in Liverpool, ACNS

[From 2015] Bishop of Liverpool praises LGBT group for “speaking the Gospel to the Church”, Anglican Mainstream

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