Rescuing the Faithful from the Episcopal Church?
On the Church and Society
April 17, 2006
By Raymond J. Keating

Over the past year or so, I visited two local Episcopalian churches, with the experiences as different as night and day.

The contrast was not about church architecture. While distinct, both buildings were beautiful and inviting. Nor did a large chasm exist in liturgical styles.

Instead, the disturbing difference was over the foundations of the faith. One parish clearly subscribed to orthodox Christianity, while the other adopted a revisionism straying from Holy Scripture and church tradition. This, of course, reflects the current strife within the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) at large.

But as the ECUSA leadership has taken a sharp theological left turn, an announcement last week reminded one that an orthodox laity stands willing to fight for a traditional Christian voice from the U.S. within global Anglicanism. On April 13, a group called Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion (LEAC) launched a national petition drive to bring 35 bishops to trial over the installation of V. Gene Robinson, a non-celibate homosexual, as Bishop of New Hampshire.

In a statement, LEAC declared: "We believe our church judicial system should determine just where we stand canonically, for there is no doubt where our Episcopal rank-and-file in the pews stand spiritually. We have been and are a traditional church." the rest