Bishop Lee (of Virginia)

Many of the episcopal letters in the aftermath of Camp Allen meander for paragraphs before addressing the issues that have captivated the Episcoblogosphere. Not so with the Right Reverend Peter James Lee (Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia). His letter opens with a forthright comment on the House of Bishops meeting and the resolutions they adopted:

Dear Friends,

The meeting of the House of Bishops this week at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas may prove to be an historic turning point in the life of the Anglican Communion. The Bishops overwhelmingly rejected a “Pastoral Scheme” that was proposed by the Primates of the Anglican Communion at their February meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. By doing so, the bishops reaffirmed that the Episcopal Church is a self-governing, autonomous church, and that it is not divided. We also served notice that we cannot accept intervention in the governance of our Church by foreign prelates.

In addition, we affirmed very strongly our passionate desire to remain in communion with other Anglican churches across the world, and we adopted a unanimous resolution, introduced by the Rt. Rev. John Howe, the Bishop of Central Florida and leader of the more conservative bishops, asking the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Steering Committee of the Primates to meet face to face with our House of Bishops at the earliest opportunity. We believe that many foreign primates do not have an accurate sense of the Episcopal Church and we think such a meeting is imperative.

Click here to read his entire letter. [Unfortunately, the diocesan website is set up with frames, so you'll have to go to that URL, then surf to the bishop's March 23 statement.]