Letter from Bishop vonRosenberg
to the Anglican Fellowship of Chattanooga

Dear Friends:

I have received your letter of May 21, which was sent in response to my earlier one. That initial letter from me intended to challenge you in terms of identity. I hope and pray that you have begun – and will continue – to come to terms with who you are relative to the larger church, with your own intentions as a community in the future, and with the honesty of who you say you are to others.

I want to continue to be available to you and to the community you represent, as the Episcopal bishop of this diocese. Indeed, some of you remain Episcopal communicants in good standing in several Chattanooga area churches. All of us are brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, trying to follow the way of our Lord. For that, I give thanks.

In our conversation at the Cracker Barrel, I sensed that there exist significant differences among you, regarding your hopes for the future. Thus, I believe it is all the more important for you to define yourselves in the positive terms of call, commitment, participation, and mission – and not only in negative, reactive terms and understandings. I continue to commend that task to you, so that you may walk in the light of honesty, truthfulness, and hope.

You asked several questions of me, and I turn to them now. However, I choose not to speculate on the hypothetical expulsion and exclusion of ECUSA from the Anglican Communion, nor on my possible response to that hypothetical circumstance. I do not anticipate such a situation coming to pass, and at this point, I find speculation in that regard to be unhelpful. Indeed, Archbishop Eames himself has called for restraint in divisive action, in inflammatory language, and in guesswork concerning the commission that he heads. I call on us all to heed the Archbishop’s call.

Also, I do not choose to hypothesize about the potential for negative reactions from priests and parishes in Chattanooga in response to the possibility of your community’s request for recognition, nor do I choose to hypothesize about what my reactions might be to that circumstance. Our canons – that define the order of our activities as a diocese – indicate that Area Episcopal churches will be invited into deliberations about a new church. I can assure you that I intend to abide by the discipline of the church that I have pledged to support and uphold in three different ordination services.

It seems appropriate to observe that the short history of your community bears little resemblance to the canonical process of forming a new Episcopal church. Indeed, from what you have said previously, I suspect that you do not intend to abide by the canons of the Episcopal Church in East Tennessee – a required affirmation by a community seeking association with the diocese. Rather, as a brand new reality, you seek to write your own rules and to avoid accountability to any larger reality but one of your own choosing. For a new community to want to set its own rules within a larger community – whose members live by time-tested standards – really defies any kind of logic or reason. Indeed, I commend to you St. Paul’s letters that repeatedly call isolated, independent churches into accountability, for their own sakes as well as for the sake of the larger community.

At this point in your short history, you have not requested my pastoral or canonical oversight as Bishop of East Tennessee. You have made decisions about the worship life and the governance of your community without my counsel or that of anyone I may have designated. Therefore, while most of you remain Episcopalians in good standing within established churches, the new community that you represent certainly has no canonical standing or official recognition within the Episcopal Church, as you well know. In making these observations, let me also add that I appreciate the seriousness with which you are engaged on your Christian journey, as you seek to be faithful to the call of Jesus Christ. Further, I invite you to reconsider your independent actions at some point in the future, especially in light of your stated high regard for the Anglican Communion.

In conclusion, I also want to call you to consider and embrace the biblical attribute of humility. I certainly realize – quite profoundly – that neither I nor the church of which I am a part has a corner on the market of truth and of righteousness. I also realize – profoundly again – that I stand as one subject to judgment by God Almighty and, therefore, that a judgmental attitude toward other people is a dangerous one for me to adopt. Finally, I know from my own experience – and from the primary authoritative sources in our church of scripture, tradition, and reason – that when I exercise arrogance, then humility is defeated. Thus, I call you also to the practice that I find both extremely difficult and, yet, profoundly life-giving – biblical humility.

I continue to pray for you as you search for support on your Christian journey during trying times. Please know that the Episcopal Church – in all our brokenness, imperfection, and sinfulness – will continue to offer welcome to you.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

Copyright © 2004 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee