In developments that some members of the ACC could have predicted would occur, Bishop Clavier resigned from the ACA [in 1995] amid allegations of sexual misconduct. . . . He reportedly would invite female parishioners into his office and then "come onto them." He was further reported to have told them that they should be "honored for Jesus Christ to want your body." (pp 210-211)According to Bess, there were those who sensed an invisible hand at work, and not that of the Almighty:
[T]here were others who thought that Bishop Falk had maneuvered the situation against Clavier. However, Falk continued to emphasize that Clavier's exodus was a serious loss for the ACA, and it was also reported that Falk was "staggered by the news" of the charges against Clavier. (pp 211-212)The bottom line, of course, was that Falk had maneuvered the AEC into an ACA that, purged of the anti-Falk ACC faction, was now exclusively a Falk domain with the departure of the AEC's Clavier. Nevertheless, the merger soon enough proved unstable.
In the months following Clavier's departure, disputes began to arise over decisions being made by the Standing Committee [of the ACA Diocese of the Eastern United States, which had absorbed the AEC and replaced Clavier pending election of a successor]. Within a short time, over half of the diocese['s] parishes withdrew from the ACA, and eventually formed yet another Continuing Anglican body known as the Anglican Province in America (APA), electing Bishop Walter Grundorf as its new leader, Interestingly, many of those who went with the APA tended to be comprised of original members of the AEC, and those who remained in the newly shrunken ACA tended to have been those who were originally affiliated with the ACC. (p 212)I don't think it will escape many regular visitors here to recognize that the APA and the ACA have recently formed an intercommunion agreement, with the intention of full merger (actually, re-merger). Since the same players are involved -- Grundorf on the APA side, Falk on the ACA, working through his stooge Brian Marsh, it's difficult for me to imagine an outcome different from the one that took place in 1995.
But Charlie Brown always trusts Lucy with the football.
