Who Is The Rt Rev John Vaughan? -- V

The Lakeview Ledger article has turned out to be a fascinating treasure trove -- there are lots of names in it, and whenever I google one, something new turns up. At the time the article was written, for instance, Vaughan was said to be "completing a year of Anglican studies with the Rev Richard Bowman, Episcopal priest in Apopka [FL]". The Rev Richard Bowman of Apopka, it turns out, is listed, along with some very liberal figures in The Episcopal Church, as a signer of the Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing. Among his fellow signers was Bishop of Pennsylvania Charles Bennison Jr, a major bête noire of conservative Anglicans, but there is no shortage of other liberal signers.

Just a part of this declaration reads as follows:

We are called today to see, hear and respond to the suffering caused by sexual abuse and violence against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons, the HIV pandemic, unsustainable population growth and over-consumption, and the commercial exploitation of sexuality.

Faith communities must therefore be truth-seeking, courageous and just. We call for:

• Theological reflection that integrates the wisdom of excluded, often silenced peoples, and insights about sexuality from medicine, social science, the arts and humanities.
• Full inclusion of women and LGBT persons in congregational life, including their ordination and marriage equality.
• Sexuality counseling and education throughout the lifespan from trained religious leaders.
• Support for those who challenge sexual oppression and who work for justice within their congregations and denominations.

Bowman's name also appears on a web page featuring "Pro Gay Pastors, Churches, & Chaplains." He appears at various times as a spokesman in the largely conservative Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida for pro-gay issues in TEC.

This is the guy who tutored Vaughan for a year in "Anglican studies" in connection with his ordination as an Episcopal priest? I certainly don't mean to imply that signing a statement says anything about one's personal conduct, but these "Anglican studies" must certainly have covered Cranmer, Laud, Andrewes, Pusey, and Keble less than Spong, Moore, Boyd, and Harris.

So let's recap. Vaughan left the Roman Catholic priesthood due to some number of unspecified reservations about doctrine. (There are Catholic priests, of course, who would ask how he got into seminary in the fist place.) Once he left the priesthood, though while still a nominal Catholic, he appears to have disregarded other key teachings about marriage and the family. Then he discovered Episcopalianism, and his systematic introduction to that denomination appears to have been the standard product of the 1990s -- and he was, by his account in 1996, happy about it, just one big, happy, extended, non-traditional family.

Yet by 2005, it appears that Vaughan had discovered the virtues of the 1928 BCP, the error involved in ordaining women, and quite possibly had discovered his own reservations at the consecration of Gene Robinson. Indeed, as of October 14, 2012, Vaughan was presumably part of the ACA House of Bishops when it unanimously endorsed the following statement:

Our Creator made us male and female, with the result that the physical union in marriage is a reality. Male and female really unite in a way that is impossible for members of the same sex, and that union is open to the possibility of procreation in a way that no “same-sex union” could possibly be.

So we know he had reservations about Catholic doctrine, and disregarded it as it suited him. Maybe he had reservations about the standard Episcopalian doctrine of the 1990s, too -- we don't know. Now he's a bishop in the theologically [sorta-kinda] conservative ACA. Does he have reservations about any of that? Did he sign the 2012 statement on gay marriage with any reservations?

I think the answer is it doesn't matter, at least not to his colleagues in the ACA House of Bishops. It's more important that he's utterly reliable. Let's recall one more time that David Moyer, a man who, despite his flaws, comes across as someone with integrity, was purged from that same House of Bishops at precisely the same time Vaughan was elevated to it. Moyer, with backbone, was unreliable. Vaughan, with secrets, is at least reliable.