12/22/2008

Change the Page. Now.

Lionel Deimel has taken up the question I have raised on several occasions, namely the fact that the Anglican Communion website has not updated the listings for Pittsburgh, Quincy and Fort Worth to indicate that in each case the bishop has left.  In the case of Pittsburgh by deposition, in Quincy by retirement and in Fort Worth by declaration of renunciation. 

But most particularly in the case of Pittsburgh it is outrageous that the Anglican Communion website has not changed to reflect the fact that Robert Duncan is no longer bishop.  That, tied with the fact of his being received by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth following deposition and without any comment from the ABC's office as to the nature of the visit or the ABC's acknowledgment of the fact of his deposition, and the continued inability of the British religious press to state that Moderator Duncan, whatever other titles he may carry is as well a deposed bishop.

Here is what Lionel wrote the AC Office:

"I find it distressing that your page about the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/diocese.cfm?Idind=686&view=alpha) still lists Robert Duncan as bishop and Henry Scriven as assistant bishop. It also lists the wrong address, the wrong telephone numbers, and the wrong URL for the Web site (which, as it turns out, is redirected to the proper site). Bishop Duncan was deposed by The Episcopal Church in September, and his followers voted to “join” the Southern Cone in October. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, a few days later, recognized a diocese quite distinct from the “diocese” you list on the official Anglican Communion Web site. The Anglican Communion Office has had ample time to correct this page.

I and others have tried to get the page changed to vail. More than two months after Bob Duncan led members of the diocese out of The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion Web site still does not recognize the real Diocese of Pittsburgh. After this much time, one begins to wonder if the failure to update the page is deliberate. Surely, this failure is yet another indignity visited upon The Episcopal Church by an Anglican Communion obsessed with appeasing whoever whines the loudest. Your “Diocese of Pittsburgh” page can only encourage Bob Duncan and his schismatic followers. The Communion will not be better for it."


Great work Lionel!  Let all ask the ABC to get his staff on the job. NOW.



19 comments:

  1. How can he(ABofC) get his staff on the job, when he's firing them for stating the truth.

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  2. Maybe the ABC meant what he said in 2003 - when TECSA ignored him?

    Maybe the ABC and ALL the Primates meant what they said when they asked TECUSA not to tear the fabric of the Communion?

    Maybe the ABC is fed up of TECUSA's behaviour and the disunity it has caused in the AC?

    Maybe he does not want to take +Bob Duncan off the site.....maybe he recognises that most of the diocese left TECUSA but is still under the leadership of +Bob and still in the AC as part of SC?

    Maybe TECUSA's influence in the AC is not as great as TECUSA thinks?

    Maybe GAFCON was a turning point as it showed that pandering to TECUSA leads to much more than half of the AC no longer being willing to compromise and be fooled into endless conversations with no resolution.....?

    Maybe the ABC can afford to lose TECUSA but not all the GAFCON people - because TECUSA is tiny and shrinking even as it sticks to its "new thing"

    Maybe the 100k people in ACNA churches on a Sunday fit very well into the AC but TECUSA does not?

    Maybe TECUSA compromises (BO33 to stay in, without respecting those compromises of course) because without the AC platform, nobody is listening to TECUSA?

    Maybe the ABC find Bob more credible than Gene?

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  3. Interesting that there's a companion relationship with Chile. I see Chile is also listed as in companionship with Rio Grande.

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  4. I`m not sure there`s any evil intent here.
    Last week I downloaded the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, and in skimming it I noticed that the entries for several Canadian dioceses were incorrect. In checking the ACO pages, I find that the pages for the dioceses of Nova Scotia/PEI, Saskatchewan, Algoma, Huron, and Central Interior have not been updated to reflect retirements and elections, in the case of the retirement Charles Arthurson, Suffragan of Saskatchewan, back to December 2007.

    They are just extremely slow to update.

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  5. I also note that the Anglican Cycle of Prayer still has outdated listings for Pittsburgh and Quincy. Granted, keeping these lists and links updated is a constant task. (Our diocesan office is typically months behind in updating the diocesan cycle of prayer.) But if the ABC and the ACO expect the Communion to take itself seriously, somebody needs to take this task seriously. Three cheers for Lionel for bugging them about it!

    (Oh, and Observer: I guess it's some relief that the ABC/ACO are just incompetent, and not as petty as you suggest.)

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  6. I enjoyed these additions to Anglican options:
    http://pluralistspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/starting-denomination.html
    which also refers to my own
    http://www.liturgy.co.nz/blog/true-anglican-communion/246
    Blessings on Christmas Eve

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  7. I think that the San Joaquin page was updated in a reasonably timely manner, at least after Jerry Lamb was elected.

    The companion relationship with Chile ended years ago. The other diocese listed I’ve never heard of.

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  8. Note that the ACC website - while incorrectly leaving the dearly departed bishops in Quincy, Fort Worth and Pittsburgh - does not list San Joaquin or Fort Worth as dioceses of the Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America.

    I think they're just slow. As a faithful Episcopalian in Fort Worth, I, too am checking the website - religiously as it were. I think they'll get around to fixing the Pittsburgh, Fort Worth and Quincy pages, hopefully sooner rather than later.

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  9. Mark - Why is your ire only reserved for Bp Bob Duncan and Pittsburg, when the details for Quincy and Ft Worth dioceses and their respective bishops also have not yet been updated.

    And David G: who got fired for stating the truth?

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  10. While they are at it they could fix the listing for la Iglesia Anglicana de Cuba.

    The Metropolitan Council that oversees the extra-provincial church does not include the President Bishop of the Episcopal Church's newest Province, the Anglican Church of the Central American Region, but none other than the primate of TEC.

    I am also not sure what the Episcopal Church's newest Province, the Anglican Church of the Central American Region means as a statement by itself, because the Anglican Church of the Central American Region is an independent Anglican province, not a province of TEC. Unless this is a confusing way to say that most of this province was part of TEC before independence.

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  11. Brian F. I have spoken up on this in the past specifically mentioning Quincy and Fort Worth, but the reason for centering on Pittsburgh is because Duncan and the Archbishop have had conversations at Lambeth since his deposition. And, if you notice Quincy and Fort Worth are mentioned in my opening sentence.

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  12. I guess it's because Bob Duncan is still the Bishop of Pittsburgh.

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  13. Jim, I have written the webmaster two or three times as I am sure others have about these incorrect listings. They obviously are aware of them. Perhaps the Standing Committees or assisting Bishops of Pittsburgh, Ft. Worth and Quincy could officially request that their information be corrected. If that is ignored, maybe the links to them from our websites should be suspended.

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  14. Kahu Aloha, I can assure you that the Presiding Bishop’s Office has contacted the Anglican Communion Office more than once on this matter. Assurances have been given that changes will be made. We’ll see how long that might take.

    To Weary of Fighting: Bob Duncan is still the Bishop of Pittsburgh only in the Anglican Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

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  15. Churches and religious organizations often seem to be lax in keeping websites current. They'll go to the trouble to set them up, and then let everything freeze at the point of the 3rd Sunday of Lent or something. I think they simply do not appreciate teh interwebs for the powerful tools that they are...

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  16. Fort Worth still shows +Iker and the old website. It is incorrect as well as +Iker has made it abundantly clear that he is no longer a part of TEC, and we will be getting a provisional bishop at our convention in February. Wonder if it'll be changed by then?

    Signed LTL

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  17. Well, you've got to wait until the staffmember who wrote rude things next to that bishop's name has been replaced.
    "See how the X'tians love one another", indeed!

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  18. I trust someone will tell us when - not if - the website has been changed.

    I don't need anyone to run up a flag on or sound the trumpet. I'm happy to keep checking back here.

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  19. The AC web site now appears to be updated.

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