David Virtue Is Making Optimistic Noises Again

about the Continuum. I posted the following comment:

The number of parishes in any post-Affirmation of St Louis denomination, such as the ACA, the APA, and the ACC, is extremely small. The ACA lists about 70 nationally on its web site, but many of these are inactive or family missions. I've discussed the size of the ACA with knowledgeable parties, and I don't believe it numbers more than 1500 members in the US. It's worth pointing out that of its bishops, PB Brian Marsh went to General Theological Seminary, the school that turned out Gene Robinson and many of that wing at TEC, but for whatever reason, he was not ordained in TEC, although his ecclesiastical views would have been consistent with it (poor grades in seminary could be one explanation, as would objections from the diocesan committee that sponsored him). Stephen Strawn, Bishop of the Missouri Valley and successor to the defrocked Episcopal priest (scandal at Rhinelander, WI in 1965) Louis Falk, has only a mail-order MDiv from a defunct, unaccredited seminary. John Vaughan, Bishop of the Eastern US, is a former Catholic priest who left that Church in 1990, sold insurance for 6 years, became an Episcopal priest and served marginally at a mission until 2006 or so, when he went to the ACA at a very small parish and became a bishop when most of that denomination went to the Ordinariate (Vaughan, of course, would not be eligible for Catholic re-ordination). The APA, which is smaller still, broke from the ACA in the 1990s due to disputes with Louis Falk, but is now considering re-merger with the ACA, although Falk is still pulling the strings behind the scenes. It's worth noting that both the ACA and the APA have been electing more bishops (four between them in the past year), even though this will give them a very large number for the proposed merged denomination. The UEC and the ACC are smaller than the ACA-APA, and in fact their numbers, in parishes and members, are probably so small that any realistic estimate is impossible. The post-St Louis "Continuum" is notable for taking clergy who haven't worked out in TEC due to scandals and other personal issues, such as the late Anthony Morello, who had a scandal as an Episcopal priest in Modesto, CA, but became a vicar general in the ACA; Louis Falk, who became Presiding Bishop of the ACA despite the business in Rhinelander; and William Martin, now an APA priest who got himself, his Episcopal parish and his TEC diocese sued in Monterey, CA, for falsely claiming a parishioner was a transgendered male with fake breasts who was stalking him. TEC disciplined him and eased him out in 2008; the same year, the APA was apparently happy to have him, and he became a Rector of an APA parish in North Carolina. There's more almost every day at http://stmarycoldcase.blogspot...

The Reformed Episcopal Church is not the same thing, by the way, and I agree with those who urge them not to mess with the "Continuers". For that matter, the ACNA should be very careful of these people.