Tobias Haller on the ACI statement

Tobias Haller:

The paper also makes the curious argument that because the dioceses (then states) that formed the original Episcopal Church were independent prior to entering into union with each other, they somehow maintain that independence. This neglects the significance of what union means. One might just as well say that because a couple were single before marriage that they retain their independence afterward. It can also be pointed out that the Constitution of the US also lacks reference to its own indissolubility -- and uses the same word, union, to capture that concept, a concept later proved on the battlefield and in the courts.


Posted by Jim Naughton on April 22, 2009 10:24 PM | |
Comments (3)

Tobias, thank you for your careful reading and insightful analysis of the ACI statement. Faced with such a distorted reading of church history and TEC polity, it's very important for us to be reminded that the Episcopal Church is both democratic and hierarchical, and that dioceses are not autonomous.

Posted by Ruth Meyers [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 23, 2009 5:26 AM

Thanks Tobias. Knowing some of those bishops, I believe they would claim the porneia exception to marital indissolubility claiming that TEC is sleeping with the enemy.

(Moderator's note: MM, please use your full name next time.)

Posted by ministryman [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 23, 2009 7:54 AM

I am not the first to observe this, but if one looks at some of the dioceses involved, one is hard pressed not to see the analogy to secessionist logic on the eve of the civil war.

Globally, we are a communion of autonomous churches. Within each church, there is a binding discipline, in our case the Constitution and Canons. Qualified accession is not an option. All diocese of the Episcopal Church have made an unqualified (and therefore irrevocable) accession to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church.

Posted by Bill Carroll [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 23, 2009 3:56 PM

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