DSC CAUGHT IN ITS OWN
WEB OF DECEIT
For years the leaders of the Diocese of South Carolina have misled their faithful communicants with misrepresentations about the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion in order to justify their own myopic view of Christianity. Now they have been caught red handed.
On March 12, the DSC website posted an article entitled "Diocese Considers Affiliation during 225th Diocesan Convention" ( www.diosc.com/sys/news-events/latest-news/723-diocese-considers-affiliation-during ). The original posting has been replaced. The announcement stated: "ACNA is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, whose membership now exceeds 85 million worshippers in 165 countries."
In fact, the Anglican Church in North America (ANCA) is not now, never has been, and never will be part of the Anglican Communion. This was made perfectly clear at the January primates' gathering in Canterbury. The primates rejected ACNA's bid for membership and said any application would have to go through the Anglican Consultative Council. Furthermore, the primates recommended against the ACC considering membership for ACNA. The way the ACC is composed precludes any vote to approve ACNA. The Anglican Communion has spoken loudly and clearly: ACNA is not in the Anglican Communion. DSC statement "ACNA is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion" was a deliberate falsehood.
This is not the first time DSC has falsely claimed to be part of the Anglican Communion, far from it. At the schism in 2012, the DSC leaders told their followers they were an "extra-provincial diocese" of the Communion. Absurd. Then, DSC announced an "oversight" scheme with the Global South primates that, once again, the DSC leaders claimed made DSC part of the Communion. Still absurd. That sham was so transparent that it could not even be described. These efforts, of course, were meant to make the long-suffering communicants of the DSC believe the fantasy that just because they had left the Episcopal Church, they were still in the Anglican Communion.
Now, DSC announced on Mar. 12 that it was, in all probability, going to join ACNA which is a "part" of the Anglican Communion.
The intrepid and ever-vigilant observer of DSC, Steve Skardon, saw the deceit right away and posted an article on his blog on March 12: "Breakaway 'Diocese' Looking to ACNA as its New Home." He wrote: "As usual, Lawrence and his lieutenants tried to confuse the delegates today by misrepresenting the nature of ACNA. They say it is part of the Anglican Communion, even though it is not recognized by any of the four Instruments of Anglican Unity that govern the Communion."
On Monday, March 14, Episcopal Café picked up the story and posted an article, "Breakaway Diocese Falsely Claims ACNA is Part of Anglican Communion," (www.episcopalcafe.com/breakaway-diocese-falsely-claims-acna-is-part-of-anglican-communion ).
DSC's original article of 12 March "Diocese Considers..." suddenly disappeared from the DSC website taking with it DSC's claim of ACNA being "part" of the AC. DSC put in its place a new article, "Diocese Moves Forward 'Making Biblical Anglicans for a Global Age,'" under the same address: ( www.diosc.com/sys/news-events/latest-news/723-diocese-considers-affiliation-during-225th-diocesan-convention ). The new article remarkably omitted any reference to ACNA being in AC. However, DSC could not keep itself from even more deceit. The article said, in reference to ACNA: "and provide us with a formal provincial identity." This implied ACNA was a province of the Anglican Communion. ACNA is not a province of the Anglican Communion, never has been, never will be. If it is any sort of "province," it is of its own making.
The communicants of DSC should not be fooled. If DSC joins ACNA, it will still not be in the Anglican Communion.
On March 14, Skardon posted another article showing DSC backing away from its claim that ACNA is part of the Anglican Communion, "Breakaways Back Off Claim that ACNA is in the Anglican Communion."
DSC should stop embarrassing itself by making patently false claims. They must know that others can see them immediately.
For a long time now, the DSC leaders have been obsessed with using the word "Anglican" and its variations, as "Anglicanism." It is as if they repeat them enough, the faithful will believe they are in the Anglican Communion. In his "Bishop's Address" to the convention, Lawrence said the word "Anglican" and variations a total of 28 times. The diocesan official report on the convention posted on its website used the "A" word 14 times. The resolutions lauding the Bishop's Address used it 11 times.
The basic problem here is that since leaving TEC, the majority of the old diocese of South Carolina have no identity, and no direction of where to go. This was the fault of the leadership. They were so focused on making a schism that they gave little thought on how the "diocese" would move into the future. (Images of the Iraq War.) In fact, DSC is not in the Anglican Communion and will not be in it until it returns to the Episcopal Church. Deliberately advancing misleading assertions reflects badly on DSC as it would on any Christian denomination. This time, the DSC leaders have been caught and exposed worldwide; and no amount of backtracking or covering up will help them until they come to grips with the reality of the tactics they have used to mislead their own people.
For a long time now, the DSC leaders have been obsessed with using the word "Anglican" and its variations, as "Anglicanism." It is as if they repeat them enough, the faithful will believe they are in the Anglican Communion. In his "Bishop's Address" to the convention, Lawrence said the word "Anglican" and variations a total of 28 times. The diocesan official report on the convention posted on its website used the "A" word 14 times. The resolutions lauding the Bishop's Address used it 11 times.
The basic problem here is that since leaving TEC, the majority of the old diocese of South Carolina have no identity, and no direction of where to go. This was the fault of the leadership. They were so focused on making a schism that they gave little thought on how the "diocese" would move into the future. (Images of the Iraq War.) In fact, DSC is not in the Anglican Communion and will not be in it until it returns to the Episcopal Church. Deliberately advancing misleading assertions reflects badly on DSC as it would on any Christian denomination. This time, the DSC leaders have been caught and exposed worldwide; and no amount of backtracking or covering up will help them until they come to grips with the reality of the tactics they have used to mislead their own people.
