April 27, 2009

Dear Friends:

Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia.

Flood Recovery

What a springtime it has been for many of us in the Diocese of North Dakota!  Sandbagging, building dikes, moving furniture, evacuating, pumping water from basements, feeding hungry volunteers, offering shelter and hospitality,  road detours, cancellations %u2026 and now it is time to clean up.

We have been in contact with Episcopal Relief & Development.  The Rev. Pat Genereux, coordinator of the Office of Disaster Recovery of the Diocese of Iowa, is planning a visit the first week of May to conduct a tour and to help organize our recovery efforts.  I have asked Canon John Floberg to work with Father Genereux in organizing and publicizing a diocesan meeting to be held in Jamestown. Jamestown seems to be the geographic center of those areas affected by the floods.  More details will be forthcoming.

Anglican Covenant

The third draft of an Anglican Communion Covenant has been released.  It can be found at http://www.aco.org/commission/covenant/docs/ridley_cambridge_draft_090402.pdf. I encourage all our diocesan convention delegates to read it.  This draft will be submitted to the Anglican Consultative Council in May.  They may revise it themselves or send it back to the Design Group for revision or commend it to the churches of the Anglican Communion for adoption.  Stay tuned.

Diocesan Council

At the Diocesan Council meeting last month I shared the proposal I mentioned in the last issue of the Sheaf of the possibility of a future ¼ time bishop ¾ time rector or canon missioner.  The general consensus was that a ¾ time rector would give one congregation too much of the bishop's attention.  There was, however, an openness to explore further the possibility of a bishop/canon missioner position. 

After a discussion of the seriousness of the economic downturn and its immediate effect on the 2010 diocesan budget, I asked the Council's advice on the number of deputies to be sent to General Convention in the future.  The Council decided to direct the Finance Committee to budget for 2 lay deputies, 2 clergy deputies and 1 bishop for the General Convention to be held in 2012.

Communion Partners Fellowship

As you may know, I am associated with a group of bishops and rectors in the Episcopal Church known as the "Communion Partners."  We are an outgrowth of the Presiding Bishop's episcopal visitor initiative and endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Lambeth Conference.  We stand in a unique place in the Episcopal Church and Anglicanism. We stand resolutely in the middle place of reconciliation, refusing to leave either the Episcopal Church or the worldwide Anglican Communion.  As a consequence, we take hits both from the right and the left, depending on whose toes we're stepping at a particular moment.

Last week a document was released entitled Bishops' Statement on the Polity of the Episcopal Church.  It can be accessed at http://www.anglicancommunioninstitute.com/?p=391. I am listed as one of the signatories and I encourage you to read it for yourself rather than relying on what bloggers are writing about it.

No, we have not declared our independence from the General Convention.  All of us reaffirmed our vows to "conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church" in the context of the statement.  We are, however, asserting an historical and constitutional right for dioceses which might choose to do so to remain a constituent part of the Anglican Communion if the General Convention rejects an Anglican Covenant. This is consonant with our goal to remain both a part of the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Easter Blessings

The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to  do his will, working in you that which well-pleasing in his sight.  I am,

Yours in Christ,

+Michael