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Fr. John Blossom
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Fr. John Blossom's Discussions
DVD of Presiding Bishop's Visit to All Saints, Moline
Started Apr 14
Official Call for Synod
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Started this discussion. Last reply by Connie Iverson Mar 3.
Fr. John Blossom's Videos
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The Episcopal Church
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Latest Activity
A DVD set covering the recent visit of the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church to All Saints in Moline, Illinois in the Diocese of Quincy is now available. Click the "attachment" link below for information about how to order the two DVD set o...
The article in last Sunday’s paper about the visit of the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church contains great misrepresentations of fact. The source that the reporter developed her article from was either misquoted or misleading in the informa...
...for news of yesterday's synod. I was not able to attend, but my prayers remain with you all.
Special Synod - April 4 at The Cathedral Church of St. Paul - Peoria, Illinois
April 4, 2009 all day
A Special Synod to elect proper ecclesiastical authority to carry on the work of the Diocese will be held at The Cathedral Church of St. Paul on Saturday, April 4.
It will be important to select delegates from as many of the parishes and missions...
Special Synod - April 4 at The Cathedral Church of St. Paul - Peoria, Illinois
April 4, 2009 all day
A Special Synod to elect proper ecclesiastical authority to carry on the work of the Diocese will be held at The Cathedral Church of St. Paul on Saturday, April 4.
It will be important to select delegates from as many of the parishes and missions...
Special Synod - April 4 at The Cathedral Church of St. Paul - Peoria, Illinois
April 4, 2009 all day
A Special Synod to elect proper ecclesiastical authority to carry on the work of the Diocese will be held at The Cathedral Church of St. Paul on Saturday, April 4.
It will be important to select delegates from as many of the parishes and missions...
Comment Wall (10 comments)
- At 5:20am on August 8, 2009,
John S. Leslie Jr. said… - "THE DEEPEST LEVEL of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words. It is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity. We discover an older unity. My dear Brothers, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are (308)."
The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton, ed. Naomi Burton, Brother Patrick Hart,
and James Laughlin (New York: New Directions, 1973)
- At 11:21am on January 26, 2009,
Virginia Bradshaw said… - Thank you for eliminating anonymous members to the website. As Mary Kostel mentioned earlier in a phone conversation, "This is a transparent process" and all should be willing to stand up and give their names, whatever their opinions. Thank you for giving us a site to exchange information and ideas.
Virginia Bradshaw
- At 2:14pm on December 29, 2008,
John S. Leslie Jr. said…
- Fr. Blossom & Linda,
Thank you for your comment. I am excited to hear about what you are doing at Bread of Life... I have been out of the Diocese of Quincy since 2002 so I never really hear about what is going on over there. I just knew that I had not seen you around the Cathedral when I would go back for visits.
I can say that after coming to understand what is going on over there...and the Cathedral's decision to remain with ECUSA, I have never felt more at home in the Cathedral when I was there Christmas Eve. Of course I am in a relatively liberal Diocese now and have seen first hand that playing politics does nothing to reach people and grow congregations. Its really a rather frustrating destraction from that goal.
I will keep you all in constant prayer as I know the work you are doing is never easy but entirely necessary ...I am deeply concerned for all those that all the hyper legalist politics have alienated. Thank you and everyone else involved!
Kindly yours in Christ,
John Leslie
see:
www.affirmingcatholicism.org
- At 11:44pm on December 13, 2008,
The Rev. Dave Hedges said… - Fr. Blossom,
thanks for the hard work you are doing, and thank you for setting up this site. It was good to meet you today and to be with you. Please let me know what we in the Diocese of Chicago can do to be of assistance to the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy!
Peace in Christ!
- At 10:42am on December 11, 2008,
Marilyn Weitzel said…
- Thanks, for providing additional information about the meeting. Unfortunately we will be out of town this weekend.
I feel strongly that I prefer to remain with the Episcopal Church, and look forward to doing so. God be with all of you, as you deliberate.
Marilyn Weitzel
- At 1:30pm on November 26, 2008,
Tobyn Leigh said… - I understand what you are saying. I am pasting the text of F. Ron's letter to us at STG here below. I believe there are others here who are very unhappy about the decision to realign, but reluctant to hurt Ron's feelings, and others who have simply never heard anything but 'the party line' out of Quincy. Although I have only been a member here since about three years ago when we moved here, I realize it has been going on a while, and it has often struck me that this seems to be much more of an issue between clergy and TEC -- or a labor/management issue in a sense... these guys have a real issue working for this presiding bishop. I could be wrong, but that's my sense at any rate. I, too, welcome diversity -- While I have my personal positions on women, gays, etc., my biggest problem is the apparent unwillingness to be tolerant of diverse viewpoints and the insistance that we all toe a particular line or be labeled heretical.
Anyway, here's the letter to ST Geo. parishoners:
PASTORAL LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH
REGARDING THE ACTIONS OF THE RECENT SYNOD OF
THE DIOCESE OF QUINCY
19 November 2008
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Beloved in Christ,
I have promised to give you a report on the actions of the Diocesan Synod recently held in Quincy. In this letter I hope to do that as well sketch out a vision of how we can move together as a parish family in these tough and uncertain times.
As most of you know, the most “newsworthy” item of business to come before the Synod was resolution RM-1, which resolved to withdraw the Diocese of Quincy from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the US. This statement will no doubt require some unpacking. The Episcopal Church is one Province of the worldwide Anglican Communion, a global communion of 38 autonomous Provinces which share a common faith, liturgical heritage, and descent from the Church of England, whose head, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is seen to hold a primacy of honor within the Communion. The basic “building block” or unit of the Church, however, is not the Communion, the Province, or even the parish. From ancient times it has been held that the Diocese is the basic unit of the church. The Diocese, led by a Bishop in succession to the Apostles, and surrounded by the priests, deacons, and laity, was seen to be the fullest local expression of the universal (Catholic) church.
To the point, the Episcopal Church as a Province is a group of Dioceses which have voluntarily associated with one another through the organ of the General Convention, the triennial gathering of bishops, priests, deacons, and laity to take counsel together on matters of import to the church. Therefore it is Dioceses that make up the Episcopal Church, not the Episcopal Church making up Dioceses. A Diocese’s association with the Episcopal Church is contingent upon that Diocese’s accession to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church through the organ of their Diocesan Synod, in which clergy and elected lay delegates take counsel together on matters of import to the Diocese.
In the Diocese of Quincy, our Constitution and Canons state that we declare ourselves to be a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, which is itself a constituent member of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. That has always been the primary sense of identity of the Diocese (the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese have been around since the Diocese has). That same document also stated that our accession (agreement with, assent to) to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church was contingent upon the continued agreement of the Diocesan Synod.
At this last Synod, the matter of our accession to the Constitution and Canons of TEC (as the Episcopal Church will be called from here on) was put to a vote, and by an overwhelming majority of both clergy and lay delegates, our accession was nullified. What this means practically is that the Diocese withdrew itself from association with TEC.
What was next discussed was the matter of where we would go. In resolution RM-2, it was successfully moved that the Diocese of Quincy align itself with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, an orthodox province of the Anglican Communion consisting of Dioceses throughout the countries of the Southern Cone of South America. The Archbishop and Bishops of that province issued an invitation to welcome those Dioceses which could no longer in good conscience remain affiliated with TEC into that province for “temporary, emergency pastoral oversight.”
What does that mean in practice? It means that the Diocese of Quincy is now a part of the Province of the Southern Cone and not TEC, and that St George’s, as a parish of the Diocese, is also affiliated with that Province. It also means that your Rector is still a priest of the Diocese of Quincy, but now under the jurisdiction of the Southern Cone province.
What will this look like “on the ground?” The Provincial Constitution and Canons of the Southern Cone are absolutely clear that Dioceses are to be left alone to run themselves and not be micro-managed from the top down, so we as a Diocese will continue to function as we always have, albeit under the leadership of a different Primate and perhaps with fewer people and parishes for a time. When the time comes to elect a Bishop to succeed Bishop Ackerman, we will be free to conduct our election process as we always have, with the freedom to choose a Bishop that truly reflects the needs and desires and theological outlook of the Diocese as a whole. It is very doubtful that this could ever happen again for us in TEC.
At St. George’s, I would be surprised if you notice any palpable changes apart from “labeling”. We will still continue to worship in our traditional Anglican way, I will still preach apolitical (for the most part) sermons that point to Jesus Christ and teach the Faith, we will still welcome anyone who comes through our doors and we will still be a family of faith within this Diocese.
I realize that for some of you, this action is a cause of great pain and disappointment. I realize that some of you are fully committed to the course that TEC has charted with regard to language regarding the Trinity, the person of Jesus Christ and his unique role as Lord and Savior, the role of women in ordained ministry, and the place of homosexual practice in the Church. The Diocese as a whole, however, has not seen fit to assent to these innovations with its commitment to historic Anglican Christianity. But the Diocese has always had in its parishes those who disagree with one another and with the Diocese. Your importance to the parish and to me as the Rector will not change, and you remain a valued and integral part of the family at St. George’s. St. George’s needs to grow, but one of the advantages of our small size is that we are less inclined to split into “parties” within the parish, because we realize that we all need one another to continue our life together. My hope and belief is that this can and will continue.
The months ahead will be a time of reflection and discernment. Our move to the Southern Cone is a temporary measure to provide us with godly Primatial oversight while we await the creation of a new Anglican province in North America. With TEC consistently straining its own relations with the other provinces of the Anglican Communion over the years, there has been a concern for orthodox Episcopalians and Anglicans to have a structure within the US that is recognized by the wider Communion and that is committed to classic Anglican faith and practice…the faith that TEC once held and taught. For years this solution was sought from within TEC, but the leaders constantly refused to discuss anything of that nature. It was always the concern of orthodox Episcopalians to preserve the unity of the Episcopal Church, but not at the expense of truth. Therefore, a number of former TEC Dioceses (including ours) and other Anglican groups in North America are forming the basis of a new Anglican province in North America that will not be a “splinter group,” but a recognized Anglican Communion presence in North America. When this structure is in place, the Diocese will no longer be under the oversight of the Southern Cone. Ideally, this new structure will become the 39th Province of the Anglican Communion.
St. George’s, by virtue of being a parish of the Diocese, is now aligned with the Province of the Southern Cone. However, another resolution was passed that calls for a 9-month discernment period in which parishes can make their own decisions about whether to stay with the Diocese or withdraw from the Diocese and reaffiliate with whatever TEC structure is set up in what was formerly the Diocese of Quincy. Realizing that it might cause great strain, I nonetheless feel that it is only fair that I set this period before the parish. The Synod passed a motion that would allow parishes to withdraw from the Diocese by a 2/3 majority vote of the qualified electors in the parish (those qualified to vote). My plan and desire is that St. George’s remain with the Diocese as I remain a priest within the Diocese. But it must be the decision of the parish as a whole. You’ll hear more about this once I’ve discussed it with the Vestry.
Meanwhile, we have very real challenges that have nothing to do with the realignment. We need to step up our efforts at outreach and evangelism, we need to stay unified as a parish family, and we need to face our overwhelming financial challenges. I ask you to keep these priorities in your heart has you pray for the parish in your daily prayers. If you are not praying for the parish, please begin to do so. I am always amazed to listen to people complain about their parishes and then look puzzled when I ask them how often they pray for their parish family.
I realize this letter may raise more questions than it answers. I will address these questions privately as those of you who wish come and see me at my office. I will address them with further letters soon to come. I will address them in parish forums in the future. You will not have a dearth of information, I promise.
As we navigate the waters ahead, I ask you to keep these Latin phrases in the forefront of you mind (I do love languages, you know!):
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
(Where true charity and love dwell, God himself is there)
Oremus.
(Let us pray)
Let us above all be a house of charity and a house of prayer. I love each and every one of you and by God’s grace remain
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
(The Rev.) Ronald E. Drummond, Jr.
Rector
- At 12:27am on November 15, 2008,
Erich and Mary Ragna Yetter said…
- Thank you - Mary Ragna Yetter here - I have sent this invitation on to some of the Christ Church crowd. At the very least, people need to know that there are choices available to them.
- At 2:21pm on November 14, 2008,
Tom Ewing said… - Do you know whether or not the minutes from the May, 2008 meeting of the Standing Committee are available? I understand that the five members present at that meeting (Dean Dedmon was not present due to a prior scheduled conflict) all voted for realignment.
- At 2:08pm on November 14, 2008,
Tom Ewing said…
- It is a disappointment. I was surprised that they would be willing to actually acknowledge their positions. Unfortunately, it is in line with having their cake and eating it, too.
- At 7:23pm on November 13, 2008,
Tobyn Leigh said…
- Thanks. I was supposed to vote at the Quincy Synod and attend a St George forum on the issue but wound up unexpectedly in the hospital instead. Am home recuperating and attempting to ascertain how many others fm St G would rather stay put.
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