ACA Presiding Bishop Brian Marsh said at that time that the last two years had signaled a shift toward maturity. He described the present state of the Continuum as moving into a "mature stage of our development" with an opportunity to use the gifts that God has given to create a new beginning for His holy church.Whew! Translated from churchladyspeak, I believe he's saying that the ACA has come close to hitting bottom, as have the other "Continuing" denominations, and in the spirit of the kid who gets horse manure in his Christmas stocking, he's delighted that it means Santa has brought him a pony! Realistically speaking, the ACA Diocese of the West is in a state of collapse, with all episcopal visits and its diocesan synod canceled; the Diocese of the Eastern US hasn't recovered from the loss of parishes to the Ordinariate, and the Diocese of the Missouri Valley is saddled with an utterly unqualified bishop and stuck at about a dozen parishes, most declining. There's nowhere for these guys to go but up!
As I said the other day, I simply can't imagine a parish (and certainly not a diocese) newly disaffected from The Episcopal Church electing to join the ACA. It's an eyeopener to me that Bishop Lawrence of South Carolina would speak at the convention Virtue covered -- I think Marsh, Grundorf, et al expected Lawrence to add his prestige to the occasion, but unfortunately, for me at least, his presence has besmirched -- I would go so far as to say beschmutzen -- his own reputation.
And note this:
Four continuing bishops recently sent an appeal to ACNA's College of Bishops, asking to have only men in Holy Orders and to use an historic Anglican liturgy. Archbishop Mark Haverland (ACC), Peter Robinson (UEC), Bishop Brian Marsh (ACA), Bishop Walter Grundorf (APA), and Bishop Paul Hewett (DHC) all signed the appeal.In other words, ACNA, please change your [main line Protestant] theological stance, so that we tiny, quasi-Catholic fringe groups can feed on your prestige! It's the Portsmouth Letter writ small!
