A report from the Diocese of Western Massachusetts about their clergy conference and new vision for mission that has captured their imagination.“The Holy Spirit was moving at clergy conference, touching the hearts and minds of the clericus,” said Archdeacon William Coyne. “We are looking at effective new ways to live the Gospel.” Now, clergy and congregations from across the Diocese are excited about the potential for commitment to the Partnership for Missional Church process through the Church Innovations Institute. Bill says that 15 congregations have expressed interest in the program and others are interested in facets of the program. “There’s a wave here of the Spirit moving and people saying, ‘Tell us more,’” he said.
http://www.diocesewma.org/newsAug08PS/catch_the_excitment.html
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5 comments:
Bill Coyne was in my small group at CREDO a few years ago. An exceptionally nice guy--and a mature and experienced priest. He spoke very highly of Bishop Scruton and the clergy and congregations of Western Mass. Sounds like "good stuff" going on there, indeed.
BruceR
St. John's in Northampton (Diocese of Western Mass) has picked one of Pittsburgh's liberal malcontents as their new rector- St. Brendan's Catherine Munz. There she will be joining in ministry with the Rev Eric Elley, an openly non-celibate gay man, as their website proudly boasts. Good stuff in Western Mass, eh?
As further clarification I left the above comment not to make a snide remark but to offer a small dose of reality to the ongoing "All is Well in TEC" campaign on this blog. There is some sort of disconnect here. Two allegedly "orthodox" and "conservative" priests in the Diocese of Pittsburgh are lauding Bishop Scruton and the good people and good works of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, seemingly oblivious to the fact that this bishop and diocese have whole-heartedly embraced the new theology of TEC. Rather than calling sinners to repentance this diocese refuses to even acknowledge the sin and instead invites openly non-celibate gay men to minister to their sheep. But I guess since this is not the "official" theology of TEC it can be safely ignored.
I don't know Bishop Scruton personally, of course, and had commented on my experience of his Archdeacon, Bill Coyne. I do know, though, that Bishop Scruton was the only Province I diocesan to decline consent to the New Hampshire election, and that he (to some extent with Bishop Wolf of Rhode Island) has tended to cultivate a moderately conservative approach in the wider church. I don't know the parish that Cat Munz has gone to, nor anything about the priest you mention, but I would assume that Cat's presence now in Western Massachusetts would say about as much about that diocese as would her many years here say about Pittsburgh . . . .
Bishop Scruton has refused to allow his diocese to perform SSB's causing one priest to declare a "holy fast", i.e., he would not marry anyone until he was allowed to marry homosexuals. But he does allow openly non-celibate gay clergy to serve in his diocese. I guess this is what passes for "moderately conservative" in TEC these days. I would call it wildly liberal, but then Bishop Duncan here is guilty of the same thing.
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