Retaking the Heights: The Resistance Begins

http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/16293/

[Stand Firm] 20 Sep 2008--I've been a harsh critic of many "inside" bishops, labeling some of them (not all) "collaborationists" and lamenting their occasional cowardice. I do not apologize for that. True resistance requires a cooperative effort: an unbending, unbowed, uncompromisingly radical "inside" strategy encompassing financial, procedural, and political tactics to undermine those false teachers who currently occupy the high places in the Episcopal Church paired with an unflaggingly supportive "outside" strategy that includes both bold incursions into heterodox dioceses and substantive political/ecclesial cooperation with orthodox ones.

In the past we've seen the opposite: complicity with the Presiding Bishop from many on the inside and pressure to "get out" from many on the outside. Purportedly orthodox "inside" leaders have cooperated with 815 by upholding the principles of the Dennis Canon in their own dioceses and beyond, opposing jurisdictional interventions into hostile heterodox dioceses by orthodox bishops and primates, interceding with Canterbury on behalf of Bishop Gene Robinson at the behest of Presiding Bishop Schori, and remaining supine and silent at House of Bishop's meetings. Likewise some "outside" leaders have refused to recognize the moral integrity of many inside bishops who cannot in good conscience depart from the Episcopal Church, exerted pressure on parishioners, priests, and parishes--even those in orthodox dioceses--to "leave the sinking ship", and in the process been less than honest, to put it charitably, regarding their own Communion standing. No one needs to leave the Episcopal Church (at least not yet) in order to remain in the Anglican Communion.

But something new happened yesterday. For the first time since General Convention 2006, "Windsor" bishops and others stood their ground. And even more, they stood their ground in defense of Bishop Duncan, leader of the Common Cause Partnership, Moderator of the Network, and the icon of the "outside" strategy.