Which Side Are You On

Pete Seeger sings a song that befits at least one of our clergy here in the Central Vally.

Which side are you on, boys?

Which side are you on?

Which side are you on, boys?

Which side are you on?

You may be asking who is Fred talking about -- but first let's explain why.  Last week the Anglican Communion Institute published a rather nasty little ditty about the Presiding Bishop and the Chancellor of the Episcopal Church.  I refer you first to this by Fr. Mark:

Questions From The Anglican Communion   

and then there is this little ditty from our good father, Father Christian Troll over at GAFCON:

"Ignoring the Scriptures With Matt Kennedy"

Now, you may ask, what has that got to do with the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin?  Well, you may remember back when we were forced to rebuild the diocese in March of 2008 and there was one priest and his loyal followers that came to the convention, pledged their loyalty to the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin and then promptly blasted the Presiding Bishop, Bishop Lamb, Father Mark, the new standing committee and just about everyone else.  He claimed to be the sole member of the Standing Committee and that he was the only one who was right.  

Then, a little later, in October he came to the convention and said everything would be okay if he could just be a member of the diocese. He posed a resolution that entitled his parish to special treatment.  That was defeated.  His parishioner/delegates tried to hijack a resolution to study the marginalized members of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin and that was defeated.  I could go on a little more about money and things like that but that is unseemly.

Now we get this stinging letter from the Anglican Communion Institute that is written and supported by the Communion Partners.  Who are these "Communion Partners".  Well, the top tier is a group of Bishops, many which have one foot out the door.

Formal Name Diocese

The Rt. Rev. James M. Adams, Jr. Western Kansas

The Rt. Rev. John C. Bauerschmidt Tennessee

The Rt. Rev. Alden M. Hathaway Pittsburgh-Retired

The Rt. Rev. John W. Howe D.D. Central Florida

The Rt. Rev. Russell E. Jacobus D.D. Fon Du Lac

The Rev. Canon Paul E. Lambert Dallas

The Rt. Rev. Mark Joseph Lawrence South Carolina

The Rt. Rev. Gary R. Lillibridge West Texas

The Rt. Rev. Edward Stuart Little, II Northern Indiana

The Rt. Rev. William H. Love Albany

The Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson Western Louisiana

The Rt. Rev. Michael G. Smith North Dakota

The Rt. Rev. James Monte Stanton Dallas

The Rt. Rev. Don A. Wimberly Texas

The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf Rhode Island

But then we also have THIS group of Communion Rectors:

Formal Name	Goes By	Position	Church	#BM	Diocese
The Rev. Dr. Charles Alley	Chuck	Rector	St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church	970	Virginia
The Rev. Christopher L. Ashmore	Kip	Rector	Trinity Episcopal Church	137	Springfield
The Rev. Phyllis Bartle	Phyllis	Rector	St. Jude’s Episcopal Church	250	Central Florida
The Rev. Christopher Andrew Bowhay	Chris	Rector	St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church	1,990	Texas
The Rt. Rev. Anthony J. Burton	Tony	Rector	Church of the Incarnation	3,380	Dallas
The Very Reverend Anthony Clark	Tony	Dean	St. Luke’s Cathedral	1,130	Central Florida
The Rev. Anthony F. M. Clavier	Tony	Rector	St. Paul’s Episcopal Church	165	Northern Indiana
The Rev. Joseph N. Davis	Joe	Rector	Church of the Resurrection	168	Tennessee
The Rev. Mifflin Dove, Jr.	Mifflin	Rector	St. Paul’s Episcopal Church	130	Texas
The Rev. Robert G. Eaton	Rob	Rector	St. John Episcopal Church	142	San Joaquin
The Rev. Richard H. Elwood	Dick	Rector	St. Barnabas Episcopal Church	680	Texas
The Rev. Frank Fuller	Frank	Rector	St. Mark’s Episcopal Church	930	Texas
The Rev. Ronald Greiser, Jr.	Ron	Rector	St. John’s Episcopal Church	290	Southern Virginia
The Rev. Laurens A. Hall	Larry	Rector	St. John the Divine	3,560	Texas
The Rev. John M. Himes, OSF	John	Rector	Trinity Episcopal Church	387	Texas
The Rev. Charles Holt	Charles	Rector	St. Peter’s Episcopal Church	595	Central Florida
The Rev. Thomas Hotchkiss	Tom	Rector	Church of The Advent	425	Tennessee
The Rev. Robert T. Jennings	Robin	Rector	St. Francis in the Fields	2,000	Kentucky
The Rev. Bennett G. Jones II	Ben	Rector	St. Paul Episcopal Church	250	Northern Indiana
The Rev. Stuart Brooks Keith, III	Brooks	Rector	Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration	230	Colorado
The Rev. Jerome A. Kramer	Jerry	Rector	Church of the Annunciation	115	Louisiana
The Rev. Gerald W. Krumenacker, Jr.	Gerald	Rector	Christ Church	260	Dallas
The Rev. Ronald James LeBlanc	Jimmy	Priest-in-Charge	Church of the Incarnation	20	Western Louisiana
The Rev. Dr. Russell J. Levenson, Jr.	Russ	Rector	St. Martin’s Episcopal Church	8,500	Texas
The Rev. John S. Liebler	John	Rector	St. Andrew’s Church and Academy	395	Central Florida
The Very Rev. Dr. Jean McCurdy Meade	Jean	Rector	Mount Olivet Episcopal Church	100	Louisiana
The Rev. Mark A. Michael	Mark	Rector	Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church	255	Maryland
The Rev. Ian Montgomery	Ian	Rector	St. Thomas Church	1,121	Fond du Lac
The Rev. David G. Newhart	Dave	Rector	St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church	172	Central Florida
The Rev. John Newton	John	Rector	Messiah Episcopal Church	425	Minnesota
The Very Rev. Timothy C. Nunez	Tim	Rector	St. Mary’s Episcopal Church	270	Central Florida
The Rev. Robert P. Price	Rob	Rector	St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church	1,414	Texas
The Rev. Bruce M. Robison, D.Min.	Bruce	Rector	St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church	420	Pittsburgh
The Rev. Mark Seitz	Mark	Rector	St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church	325	West Virginia
The Rev. Dr. Jerry Smith	Jerry	Rector	St. Bartholomew’s Parish	1,300	Tennessee
The Rev. Leigh Spruill	Leigh	Rector	St. George’s Episcopal Church	2,140	Tennessee
The Very Rev. Canon Harold L. Trott, SSC	Harold	Vicar	Church of Our Saviour	70	Rio Grande
The Rev. Eric W. Turner, Sr.	Eric	Rector	St. John’s Episcopal Church	900	Central Florida
The Rev. Guido Verbeck	Guido	Rector	St. Paul’s Episcopal Church	1,995	Western Louisiana
The Very Rev. Dr. Edward A. Weiss, OSB, APC	Edward	Rector	Church of Our Saviour	263	Central Florida
The Rev. John T. Wells	John	Rector	Episcopal Church Of The Holy Spirit	350	Texas
The Rev. Stockton Williams	Stockton	Rector	St. Peter’s Episcopal Church	960	West Texas
The Rev. Michael Wyckoff	Michael	Rector	St. Luke’s on the Lake	920	Texas
TOTAL RECTORS: 44		41,269

From the latest publication from this group we have this:

 meeting of Communion Partner Primates, Bishops and Rectors is scheduled for April 16-17, 2009 at St. Martin’s in Houston, Texas. Will you join us? Communion Partners is a way to identify with the missionary and the theological distinctives of the Anglican Communion of Churches.

And so in the words of Pete Seeger we ask our "Lone Ranger":

Which side are you on, boys?

Which side are you on?

Which side are you on, boys?

Which side are you on?