Connecticut Bishops Speak

The bishops of Connecticut have written to their diocese. Here are some excerpts from the letter signed by the Rt. Revs. Andrew D. Smith and James E. Curry:

"The foundation for all three resolutions is the clear and deep desire of the bishops as chief pastors of the Church to conserve the nature and spirit of the Anglican Communion, and to ensure the integrity of this Church."

"The February 2007 Communiqué from the meeting of the primates of the Anglican Communion in Dar es Salaam prescribes a method for international intervention to settle differences within The Episcopal Church. We your bishops in Connecticut believe their scheme would fundamentally change our historic Anglican fellowship. Their prescription for the Communion, and especially what they set forth for The Episcopal Church, would override our Constitutional responsibility for our life and governance. And it would change the Communion into an international church with a supreme council of archbishops who could intervene in and regulate the internal life of individual geographical provinces."

"The meeting of the House has been marked by widespread shared concern on all sides for the innovations from the primates."

"We your bishops believe the time had come for us to stand as Episcopalians, Anglicans, people of Jesus Christ, and to draw a line. To accept the terms set down by the primates would compromise for all time the nature of the Anglican Communion by setting us on a slippery slope, granting permission for others to shape and govern this Church and other provinces as well. Episcopalians embrace a polity which is built on the participation of all the baptized, and we your bishops will resist every attempt to allow authority to be placed in the hands of foreign primates, many of whom have not been chosen by the people they govern."