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Q: Does this mean CHS will be soon entering the Catholic Church under the recent
Anglican Constitution? While CHS is deeply committed to working closely with its Roman Catholic partners in the
Tulsa area and in seeking unity wherever possible, we have decided to remain united
to the Anglican
Communion through our bishop, The Rt. Rev. Jack Iker.
Q: What has or will change at CHS? Not much has changed since our transfer to the Diocese of Fort Worth. Our core purpose and
values, our mission statement, our commitment to discipleship, our teaching and
our worship services
remain the same as before the separation. The only tangible changes are organizational and locational. CHSA
has changed locations four times and has at last found a permanent home on 41st Street in
Tulsa.
Q: Will we financially support the Diocese of Fort
Worth? Yes. Our diocesan assessment or apportionment
is modest compared to that common in many churches, but because the Diocese of Fort Worth has, under Bishop
Iker, maintained a high level of churchmanship and integrity, this parish receives many blessings
in return.
Q: How will Bishop Iker oversee the running of
CHS?
Bishop Iker serves Church of the Holy Spirit Anglican in the precisely the same way
he does any other congregation in his diocese. His first annual visit to CHSA is scheduled for
September 12,
2010.
Q: CHSA has already been stripped of its property, furnishings, bank accounts, and
vestments by the TEC. Will someone else be able to take over our property in
the future? Under the Parish
Affiliation Agreement, which Bishop Iker helped envision, he has made it absolutely clear that he has no interest
in ownership of CHSA property, nor does Archbishop Robert Duncan. Neither our Diocese nor the Anglican Church
in North America has any rights to our property. Moreover, neither body has expressed any interest
in transferring title of our property in the future.
Q: Can TEC bishops inhibit and/or depose CHS clergy? Although some TEC bishops have sent letters of inhibition and deposition to clergy who remain
loyal to the Anglican Way, these actions have no effect on CHS clergy, who are safely under
another provincial jurisdiction and discipline. Both Bishop Cox and Fr Turley were deposed by the Episcopal Church,
yet their Orders were recognized by other world Primates before their depositions were
handed down. Consequently, they have never lost their credentials as Anglican
clergy.
Q: How many other parishes have left or will leave the TEC? It is hard to get an exact number, but several hundred parishes have already left TEC and sought
Episcopal oversight in other Anglican jurisdictions.
More than 700 parishes
have now joined with CHS Anglican in affiliating with the Anglican Church in North America. A significant number of
orthodox clergy have left TEC to affiliate with the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern
Orthodox Churches, or overseas Anglican dioceses. The actions of the 2006 and 2009
General Convention indicate that TEC may opt to walk apart from the rest of the Anglican Communion.
Now even more parishes, clergy, and even whole dioceses are or are contemplating leaving
TEC.
Q: Let’s be honest, is theTEC even a church in the true sense any
longer? With its “new thing” teaching regarding
human sexuality, TEC has issued what it claims is a new revelation from God. This action places
the TEC church in a the same camp with a number of other American Utopian groups which while maintaining
some aspects of the Christian faith also propagate new revelatory teachings. Rather than establish a new
canon (new scriptures like a Book of Mormon), TEC leaders have relied instead on a system of
intellectual gymnastics designed to lead followers to believe the Bible supports their position. Others are
more willing to admit that the scriptures in no way support their views and, as in the
case of one TEC bishop, have
openly admitted to their people, “We wrote the Bible and therefore we can re-write it.” It now appears
unlikely that TEC will ever return to mainstream Christianity. Yet to this day many faithful Christians remain
active within TEC. Unfortunately, many of these people have children who interpret their parents’
faithfulness to TEC as a tacit acceptance of its rapidly morphing doctrinal standards.
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