Address to the Annual Diocesan Convention Saturday, October 10, 2009 The Rt. Rev’d D. Bruce MacPherson, D.D. Bishop

Bishop Bruce MacPherson's Convention Address-

Where to begin? Much has gone before us and much is before us, and we gather here this weekend to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Western Louisiana as we share in this annual convention. One-hundred and sixty-eight years ago Bishop Leonidas Polk became the first bishop of the new diocese of Louisiana. A ministry that would see him covering vast amounts of the territory as he established congregations far and wide, a ministry that would be cut short as he dies at the hand of war on June 14, 1864 at Pine Mountain, Georgia. Though his death came prematurely during his role as Confederate General, his labour in the vineyard of our Lord bears a witness to his calling and faithful episcopacy as a bishop of the Church Catholic and to his ministry as he set about “Making a path for the Lord.”

As we look at these words from the Old Testament, we see there is much likeness in the man Elijah and that of the man named John. Both of them were one in spirit and office, and this being that both were sent to prepare the way of the Lord! But it didn’t end there. It continued down through the ages, for in every age this work is required. But how can it be done? As Elijah, John, Leonidas, and others have shown. By changing conditions that make difficult the entrance of Christ. By lifting the valleys, lowering the hills, and smoothing the rough road. And as Isaiah continues, “and the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” [Isaiah 40:5]

More here-

http://www.diocesewla.org/DC%202009%20Convention%20Address%2010.9.09%20final%20delivered.single.pdf

3 Bishops, ACI Call for Email Investigation

Allegations of conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy will be lodged by three bishops against a member of the national Executive Council and the president of Integrity in response to the misappropriation and publication of private correspondence.

Bishops John Howe of Central Florida, Mark Lawrence of South Carolina, and D. Bruce MacPherson of Western Louisiana, along with other leaders of the Anglican Communion Institute (ACI), are concerned about a possible “dirty tricks” campaign waged against the ACI by the Rev. Canon Mark Harris, the Rev. Susan Russell, and an unidentified member on the staff at the Diocese of Washington.

Priests “publishing the private emails of bishops is a matter of grave pastoral disorder,” said the Very Rev. Philip Turner, former dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and a member of the ACI. The publication of the correspondence also may violate laws concerning attorney-client privilege, Bishop MacPherson said.

The dispute involves the misappropriation of emails and a draft of an ACI paper titled “Bishops’ Statement on the Polity of The Episcopal Church.” Most of the private correspondence contained a standard legal disclaimer noting that the information was privileged and intended solely for those to whom it was addressed.

On April 21 Canon Harris published snippets from the bishops’ statement and 13 email messages exchanged among the ACI leaders and their lawyer. The following day, Ms. Russell published the bishops’ statement along with extracts from the emails and the Washington Blade, a secular gay-interest newspaper, published an expurgated version of the email exchange.

“Since when do we have priests publishing the private correspondence of bishops to each other?” Bishop Howe asked.

Writing on an internet blog maintained by Integrity Ms. Russell applauded the “outing” of the ACI because she said it was advocating an “unprecedented power grab by anti-gay bishops.”

A spokesman for the ACI said the organization did not contemplate pursuing civil or criminal remedies for the misappropriation of the private documents. One of the bishops said that formal ecclesiastical charges have not been preferred against either Ms. Russell or Canon Harris, but the matter has been brought to the attention of Bishop J. Jon Bruno of Los Angeles, which is where Ms. Russell is canonically resident, and the Bishop Wayne Wright, where Canon Harris resides.

Bishop MacPherson said it was a sad commentary of the current state of the church that such correspondence would be published, but he was more distressed by the damage the leaked information had done to the point the 14 bishops who signed the statement were trying to make.

“My prayer is that we will be able to find our way back as a church to following the constitution and canons that have been handed down to us,” he said. “The current leadership is moving away in another direction.”

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/5/27/3-bishops-aci-call-for-email-investigation

another piece here-

http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4505