I'd just like to add my own brief experience with the Continuum. I visited St. Marks in Portland [then an ACA parish] in the late 90s, and met Robin Connors while he was rector there. The guy positively reeked of alcohol, and this was right before a noon mass. Also, the current rector, Mark Lillegard, was training under him at the time (Lillegard doesn't have a seminary education, in the fine tradition of continuing Anglican priests who lack the basic credentials). I also remember Connors showing me around the church, and remember that the parish smelled strongly of cigarette smoke-a strange sensation for a church in the late 90s, in Oregon.I've discussed Robin Connors's career with the AEC, ACC, ACA, and TAC here. The account my visitor gives is just a snapshot of what he must have been like in its noonday, a favorite and protégé of the deposed Episcopal priest "Archbishop" Louis Falk, on his orders voted in by the Diocese of the West as bishop, a few years later reeking of alcohol before noon mass. (St Mark's Portland has since left the ACA for the Anglican Province of Christ the King; Lillegard is still Rector.)Also, William Martin, at one time a conservative priest in the Diocese of El Camino Real, was rector of a small 1928 BCP parish in Monterey. I briefly visited there a few times, and stopped going for other reasons. A few months later, I found out online he as involved in a bizarre scandal with a parishioner-look it up, its totally bizarre. Anyways, at about that time, he called me up late at night obviously drunk, wondering why I hadn't been going to church. I believe he turns up now in the Anglican Province of America, as a priest in North Carolina.
Yes, the Continuum attracts very sketchy individuals who should never be priests.
At my visitor's suggestion, I looked up William Martin. He turns out to be the subject of a post at Virtue Online, "Episcopal priest on trial for slander".
Attorneys will present opening statements in the trial of the Rev. William Martin, pastor of St. John's Chapel Episcopal Church in Monterey, who is accused of defaming former parishioner Rayn Random.Insofar as this is salacious material about an Episcopal priest, I can certainly see its appeal for David Virtue. I don't know how the court case came out, but I do know that my correspondent is correct, Martin next appears no longer as an Episcopal priest, but as Rector of All Saints APA parish in Mills River, NC, from which, however, according to the February newsletter of the APA Presiding Bishop, he recently resigned. From the sketchy information we have, it appears that Martin's story isn't new to students of the Continuum: a marginal Episcopal priest leaves that denomination after one or another scandal and resurfaces in the Continuum, where in this case it appears he didn't do much better.Random, 72, sued Martin in 2006 for allegedly telling other church members that she sexually pursued him, then began a campaign of harassment and stalking when he tried to distance himself from her.
According to her lawsuit, Martin told others that Random tried to lure him into a hot tub, that she was a man with fake breasts and that he had to obtain a restraining order to prevent her from approaching him.
This is the part of the story David Virtue will never tell: all denominations have problem priests -- priests are human. The worst cases are eased out. The Episcopal Church, in the examples we've seen, seems to have eased out (or treated more harshly) Martin, as well as Anthony Morello, John Vaughan, and Louis Falk. The record of the Continuum isn't as good. The APA, of course, is seeking to merge with the ACA, so perhaps there's still a chance for William Martin to make bishop there.
