ELIZABETH DUFOUR RIVERS (1929-2023)

LET LIGHT PERPETUAL SHINE UPON HER

Elizabeth (Betty to her friends) Dufour Rivers died yesterday, October 14, 2023, at the age of ninety-five (b. Dec. 28, 1929). Her husband of seventy-three years, Dr. Charles Ford Rivers, Jr. died last year.

Since this blog focuses on the schism, we must remember today the eloquent and moving letter she sent to her home parish, Church of the Holy Communion, on November 12, 2012, a few days before a diocesan convention was set to affirm the claimed secession of the diocese from the Episcopal Church. Under the courageous leadership of the Rev. Dow Sanderson, the parish remained in the Episcopal diocese. The letter is well worth a re-reading today. No one encapsulated better the truth of the moment at that painful time.

Dear Friends,

I am writing this letter because I do not feel comfortable, at this stage of my life, speaking in public about delicate and emotional topics and thus chose not to speak at the meeting Sunday morning. But I do want to share with you how delighted I am at the announcement that our parish [Holy Communion] will continue to be a full and faithful participant in The Episcopal Church of the United States of America. I have often said, in the midst of the recent troubles: "I was born and Episcopalian and I intend to die an Episcopalian." The knowledge that I will be able to do so in the very church where I was confirmed and married, where all four of my children were baptized and confirmed and from which both my mother and daughter were buried fills me with a joy and gratitude words cannot express.

I would also, at this very happy time, like to express why I am so firmly supportive of this decision. While I understand there are multiple  issues at play in the conflict between the former leadership of this diocese and the national church, the historical record clearly suggests that at the heart of that conflict are differing theological views concerning homosexuality. In fact, the very first document produced under the new name "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina," (dated June 15, 2012) deals exclusively with the topic of homosexuality and how it has been handled by the national church. The breakaway diocese is thus, in a sense, founded on its opposition to the ordination of homosexuals and to same-sex blessings.

Point #3 of this document says that the signatories (the Standing Committee of The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina) have "compassion" for "those who struggle with and act upon same-gender attraction" and says that "the Lord calls us all, equally, to repent of sin that we might receive forgiveness and cleansing [...], restoration [...] and transformation." Whatever my other sins may be, I clearly do not have to ask for forgiveness, cleansing and transformation for the loving, monogamous, life-sustaining relationship I have had with my husband for the past sixty-three years. But according to this document, my son, who is in an equally loving, monogamous, life-sustaining relationship of twenty-six years with his partner, does. I do not agree.

Point #4 says that the signatories "repudiate, denounce and reject any action of the Episcopal Church which purports to bless what our Lord clearly does not bless." Again, I disagree with this view. There has been unambiguous evidence of the blessings of the Lord in the relationship between my son and his partner, many, many times over, during the course of many, many years. This is not an abstract notion on my part; it is something I have seen with my eyes and ears and that I know in both my head and my heart. And it is something for which I am profoundly grateful to God. My son and his partner's relationship has been a blessing not just to them but also to my husband and me, to my son's partner's parents, to both families and to their many friends. My son's partner, whom I love as a dear son and who has unfailingly treated both my husband and me with all the affection, devotion and respect of a dear son, would not have come into our family if he and my son had not entered into union with each other.

People who would deny these gracious blessings of our Lord simply have a different view of who God is and how he works than I do: what I know to be a blessing, they consider a sin. Fortunately for me, the denomination into which I was born and to which I intend to remain faithful agrees with me! The Episcopal Church and the decisions of the General Convention are in keeping with my belief that our Lord calls some people to loving, monogamous union with a partner of their own sex, that he blesses such relationships and that our Church should do so as well.

The thought, in recent weeks, that a separation from this place might become necessary has caused me nearly unbearable pain. The knowledge that that will not be necessary after all fills me not only with overwhelming joy but also with hope, gratitude and pride.

With love to you all.

Betty

(Elizabeth Dufour Rivers)

November 12, 2012

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The issue of homosexuality was indeed the direct cause of the schism. In fact, in 2015 the breakaway diocese institutionalized homophobia in its mandatory "Statement of Faith."

It is gratifying to know that Betty Rivers lived long enough to see the federal court rule that the schismatics did not take the diocese with them but created a whole new body with no claim whatsoever to the pre-schism diocese. The Episcopal diocese is the one and only continuation of the old Diocese of South Carolina. The breakaways formed a new church and entered a new denomination beyond the bounds of the Anglican Communion. They have gone a long way to keep gays from having blessings in church. 

Betty Rivers saw truth a long time ago and shined a light on it. This should be her epitaph. 

 

WE MUST STAND WITH THE ISRAELIS---AND WITH THE PALESTINIANS

War has broken out, yet again, in the Middle East. How many times have we seen this awful movie? What should we Americans do now, if anything?

First and foremost, we must defend Israel. Given the catastrophic events of the Twentieth Century, the world owes it to the Jewish people to defend their Biblical homeland. That is a given.

However, there are other people involved here who have a great stake in what is going on in Israel. Beyond this, there are numerous countries in the region that would love to destroy the Jewish state, not the least of which is Iran. Thus, the matter is highly complicated and multi-layered.

Over the weekend, some of the iconic monuments around the world lit up in support of Israel. An especially poignant one was the Brandenburg Gate, in Berlin. Note the large crowd assembled.

In my opinion, the bottom line is the issue of human rights. Everyone on every side has the same claim to human rights. No one has privilege to a higher level than the others. So, we Americans should hold that in mind. We stand for the equal rights of all people, the Jews and the Arabs. This is why I think a two-state solution is the right way to go.

Much of the problem in the seventy-five year war in the area is that too many people were looking for military solutions. This has not worked and will not work. Peace will be the result of understanding, acceptance and compromise, not of killing.

Next to the carnage of this new attack, the most shocking thing of the weekend was the abject failure of the supposedly expert Israeli intelligence service and the impenetrability of the "Iron Dome" over Israel. Both of these proved to be false walls. The Israelis should realize there is no absolute military protection. History is littered with cases of failed defenses. Two that come to mind right off are the Maginot Line and the walls of Constantinople. The French spent an incredible fortune and worked for years to construct the greatest system of fortifications imaginable, the Maginot Line. It was to defend the border with Germany and prevent a recurrence of the First World War. When the invasion came in 1940, the Line was completely useless. The Germans simply went around the end of it and easily captured it from the rear. Likewise, the walls of Constantinople were thought to be absolute, and they were for a thousand years. Then, in 1453, the Ottoman Turks hauled up huge cannons that blasted away at a weak point and the wall broke. The Turks streamed into the great city killing thousands and selling thousands more into slavery. Like the Maginot Line, the walls proved to be a catastrophic failure of imagination. Perhaps this is what has happened in Israel, a failure of imagination.

Anyway, the question is what we Americans should do now. In the first place, we must recognize that what goes on in all the world affects us too. All of our lives are interconnected on this fragile earth, our island home as the BCP says. This is why the people who want to cut off aid to Ukraine are dead wrong. If the Russians prevail there, we Americans will be worse off.

In my view, we must defend Israel and protect their right of self-determination. However, we should also defend the human rights of the Arabs in the region. The people who speak Arabic have the same claim to freedom, equality and justice as those who speak Hebrew. If we Americans stand for the equal rights of all people, and I maintain that we do, we must use whatever influence we have to press this point in the Middle East.  

 

ALBANY AFFIRMS HUMAN RIGHTS

Something important happened last month that slipped under my radar but must be pointed out now. On September 9, 2023, a convention in the diocese of Albany (New York) elected as the next bishop a strong advocate of the rights of same-sex couples. The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson was elected on the Fourth Ballot, 65-22 in laity and 56-54 in clergy. Note the vote---the laity were far more favorable to Williamson than the clergy who had actually backed a conservative candidate until the last ballot.

Find news articles about this HERE and HERE .

Albany has been much in the news in the last few years. The previous bishop, William Love, refused to allow a rule of the nation church, B012, of 2018, to be followed in the diocese. B012 required that every diocese provide for same-sex liturgies even if substitute clergy were necessary. Love resigned as bishop in 2021 after he was charged with disciplinary action. He subsequently joined the homophobic and misogynist Anglican Church in North America. Several clergy of Albany followed Love out of TEC. The Albany Standing Committee has functioned as the ecclesiastical authority since Love's departure.

On the local level, Williamson's election tells us that the people-in-the-pews of the diocese of Albany want to be a part of the consensus of the Episcopal Church on human rights even if many of the clergy are reluctant. This is a huge turnaround in the trajectory of the diocese since the days of Bishop Love.

On the national level, Williamson's election is another manifestation of the resolute commitment of the Episcopal Church to human rights. In the past thirty years, TEC has removed sexuality as an impediment to ordination, affirmed an open and partnered gay man as a bishop, then several other open homosexuals as bishops, adopted church blessings of same-sex unions, adopted a marriage liturgy for same-sex couples, adopted and enforced B012 in 2018, a resolution that requires dioceses to provide liturgies for same-sex couples. Just this year, the nation church rejected a bishop-elect, from Florida, on suspicions to his commitment to the church's advocacy for equality and inclusion of gays. Now, the people of Albany have signaled very clearly that they agree with the national church's stand for the human rights of all people.

All of this tells us the Episcopal Church is firmly committed to enacting reforms to right the wrongs of the past. There is a lot more work to do but the road is laid out clearly and the momentum is irresistible. The people of Albany have shown us that.

 

POPE SAYS ANGLICAN ORDINATIONS CAN BE A SUBJECT OF STUDY

An historic synod began at the Vatican yesterday. In this year and next the assembly will discuss a wide-ranging set of issues facing the Roman church today. For the first time, laity, including women, among the 450 participants, will have equal vote with the cardinals. The pope is encouraging a collegial, communal approach, rather than the top-down authoritarian method followed in the past. They have even installed round tables to make the participants talk with each other in small groups. How up to date!

In the run up to the meeting, a group of five highly conservative cardinals asked the pope to comment on certain issues important to them. Pope Francis responded in a letter to the five on 11 July that has since been released to the public. The five were trying to box the pope into reiterating the traditional stands on sexuality and on gender. He did not fall for the trap.

Actually, the ploy backfired on the conservatives as the pope opened the door for reconsideration of three important issues. One was on the blessings of same-sex unions. A second was on the ordination of women. Then, buried in the text was one line that apparently slipped under the radar of most readers:

"No one can publicly contradict it [women's ordination] and nevertheless it can be the object of study, as in the case of the validity of ordinations in the Anglican Communion." (Find the letter HERE . See p. 5)

What? The pope says the question of Anglican orders can be reexamined? This has the potential of being a huge turning point for the entire Christian church.

In 1896, Pope Leo XIII directed that Anglican orders were "null and void." This has been the official Vatican position ever since.

The recent Ordinariate movement kept this attitude. Anglican clergy adhering to Rome must go through Confirmation and ordination since the Vatican does not recognize the validity of Anglican ordinations, and therefore the sacraments they may perform. 

So, the five cardinals gave the pope a large platform to declare open three issues that they absolutely and flatly oppose: same-sex blessings, women's ordinations, and acceptance of Anglican orders. Now, what roles these three will play in the present synod remains to be seen but one may safely assume they will be discussed even if it is private and not released to the public. Of course, approval of Anglican ordinations would give de facto acceptance to women's ordination and same-sex marriage.

Conservative Catholics have long viewed Francis with a dim and suspicious eye. They want an absolute and fixed continuation of traditional Catholic stands. They are "strict constructionists." Francis favors a "loose construction" to make the ancient institution more responsive to the needs of an evolving world. This is a tall order.

So, in a way, the Roman church is having its own version of a culture war, certainly defined by the parameters of that crusty old top-heavy institution. The conservatives are the Verticalists and the pope and his allies are the Horizontalists. So, American Episcopalians need not think their institution is the only one embroiled in the culture war of the contemporary age. The biggest institutional religion on the globe is wrestling with it too.

It is too soon to tell where all of this is going for the RC church. The pope is 86 years old and rather feeble. He often uses a wheel chair. One might assume the conservatives are biding their time for the day that cannot be too far off when a new pontiff will be elected by the cardinals. By that point, perhaps the consensus will be to retreat into traditionalism and Francis's work will fade into the past. On the other hand, the consensus might be to follow in Francis's path.

Still, it must be pointed out that the pope has raised the issue of reconsidering the Vatican's stand on Anglican ordinations. We will just have to wait and see how the synod responds to this, as well as the other two controversial issues. Meanwhile, Anglicans around the world should thank the pope for at least opening the possibility of reconsidering a position that has been a major stumbling block to the ecumenicism that is sorely needed in today's world.  

 

ST. JOHN'S ANGLICAN BUYING PROPERTY

On yesterday, 3 October 2023, clergy of St. John's Anglican Church, on Johns Island, announced the parish had entered into an agreement to buy 20 acres of land at 1643 Main Road, Johns Island. The purchase price was $1.6m, or $80k per acre. This site is near St. Johns High School. Main Rd. is a main artery running north-south from Maybank Hwy. to U.S. 17. The site is about a mile from the St. Johns parish church.

Find the announcement HERE .

St. Johns parish returned to the Diocese of South Carolina in 2022 and the first Episcopal services were held there in July of that year. By that time, the clergy and majority of the congregation had left to adhere to the new Anglican diocese and to meet in a local school. The separatists continued calling themselves St. Johns parish church even though St. Johns parish church was legally owned by the Episcopal diocese. The parish is one of the oldest in the diocese. The actual parish has had a revival under the vicar, the Rev. Callie Walpole, formerly the archdeacon of the Episcopal diocese.

The announcement says the separatist congregation raised the entire $1.6m in three months. Apparently the property is undeveloped, so the congregation will now have to find money for improvement and construction.

The SC supreme court finally ruled that 8 of the original 36 parishes in the lawsuit of 2013 were property of the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal diocese sold one, St. Matthew's., of Ft. Motte, to the Anglican occupants. One has been announced for sale, Holy Trinity, on Folly Rd., Charleston. One other, Good Shepherd, in West Ashley, Charleston, has not been designated publicly by the diocese. This leaves five that returned to the Episcopal diocese as functioning churches: St. Johns, of Johns Island; St. James, of James Island; St. David's, of Cheraw; St. Bartholomew's, of Hartsville, and Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant. Ironically, the Episcopal diocese offered to relinquish claim to these and all local churches that had gone along with the schism to the separatist diocese in June of 2015. The Anglican leadership curtly rejected the offer. If they had taken it, all 8 of the churches that have been returned to the EDSC would now be safely in the ADSC. In the end, courts ordered that the historic diocese, Camp St. Christopher, and 8 local churches had all been illegally seized by the separatists and must be returned to the rightful owner, the Episcopal diocese.