Connecticut Six Defend their Churches' Sanctity

Six Connecticut Episcopal churches have respectfully but firmly placed limits on their diocesan bishop's recently scheduled official visitations to their congregations. In a letter delivered to Bishop Andrew Smith on Wednesday, the six churches informed their Bishop that while he will be welcomed at any time, their clergy and congregations believe it would be inappropriate for him to preach or to preside at the Eucharist.

The clergy and parishes, known as the "Connecticut Six”, have been at odds with their bishop for the past two years following his abandonment of Anglican Church teachings. Citing Bishop Smith’s repeated public attacks against them, the churches stated that he has created an "atmosphere of hostility and mistrust" that makes the sanctity and dignity of a shared Eucharist impossible.

The situation in the Diocese of Connecticut is rooted in a context of a grievous and unprecedented Communion-wide crisis. The principled stance of these six churches has been recognized as an expression of faithfulness, not rebellion, by Primates of the Anglican Communion and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Archbishop Rowan Williams stated that the Panel of Reference was being constituted to consider situations where “extraordinary arrangements” might be needed “to provide for parishes which find it impossible in all conscience to accept the direct ministry of their own diocesan bishop….”

The rest: http://www.ctsix.org/