Faithful Episcopalians in Fort Worth Need Help as They Saddle Up

From Katie Sherrod:

Attention! Legal help requested!

Here’s the thing -- in places such as Virginia, Georgia, etc., the diocesan bishops are using diocesan resources to help people who want to stay in The Episcopal Church. They seem to be getting ample help from the national church.

But in the Diocese of Fort Worth, the bishop and all the diocesan leadership and nearly all the clergy are using diocesan resources to try to take all the diocesan property out of The Episcopal Church.

So here it’s a bunch of lay people who are struggling to keep our property in TEC. Mostly it has been Fort Worth Via Media working on this. Even the clergy who might want to stay in TEC don’t trust us [the bishop has branded us liars, thieves, and troublemakers since the day we formed the organization] or the other clergy enough to band together with us.

This has made meeting Bonnie Anderson’s challenge to saddle our own horses, well, a challenge.

We have limited resources, say, to hire our own attorneys or to counter the barrage of misinformation the diocese is putting out in the runup to our diocesan convention at which the bishop wants to pass constitutional and canonical changes that will “take the diocese out” of TEC...

The changes to the Fort Worth constitution and canons can be seen here.

Katie also includes a statement from three diocesan chancellors regarding who owns church property. It appears Bp. Iker is going to attempt to claim all the property when he breaks away from the Episcopal Church.

The faithful Episcopalians in Fort Worth are feeling abandoned by the Church right now. If you are an attorney, a chancellor, or a staff member of the Episcopal Church Center, your advice and support would be greatly appreciated. Contact Katie Sherrod at ks1246@aol.com.

J.