Central Florida Disassociates from Convention Actions: TLC Sept 29, 2003

First printed in The Living Church magazine.

Clergy and lay deputies to a special convention in the Diocese of Central Florida Sept. 20 voted by a 4-to-1 margin to distance the diocese from the Episcopal Church.

Convention struck the words “Episcopal Church” from a compromise resolution offered by a coalition of 55 clergy who sought to reaffirm diocesan unity and continued participation with the See of Canterbury, the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church.

General Convention “triggered both a constitutional and a pastoral crisis throughout the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion,” the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, Bishop of Central Florida, said in his convention address.

In the course of a long day of debate that had 10 conservative for every one liberal speaker, the convention adopted an additional three resolutions: disassociating the diocese from the General Convention vote, endorsing the recent request made to worldwide Anglican primates by Episcopal bishops who seek the primates’ intervention in the pastoral emergency within the Episcopal Church, and eliminating diocesan contributions to the national church.