Florida Bishop tries to rally church

Dudley and his followers have formed a new church, St. Peter’s Anglican Church, which will hold its first service Sunday. On Monday, Dudley said he and his followers were leaving because of the national Episcopal Church’s departure from Bible-based teaching and because of his dissatisfaction with Bishop Howard’s leadership.

Howard, the bishop of North Florida for two years, urged listeners Tuesday to bear no grudges to the departing clergy and church members. He drew laughter with an apocryphal story about a small town with four Baptist churches: The second broke away over an argument about Jesus, the third in a dispute about atonement and the fourth “because we disagreed about the color of the carpet.”

“I’m convinced this is a moment for good humor, it’s a time for humility, it’s a time to put the past behind us,” said Howard, who was an attorney before being ordained 16 years ago. “I will speak no ill of any (former) leader or member of this church, and I ask everyone to join me in that.”

The rest at titusonenine