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Thursday, December 18, 2008

A Parishioner From the Diocese of Tennessee Writes Bishop Bauerschmidt

http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/18744/

[Stand Firm] 18 Dec 2008--I keep telling people -- if you receive new orders and need to leave The Episcopal Church, please do one last service for those left behind on the Little Stone Bridge. Please carefully write a personal letter explaining your reasons and mail it to the bishop, the Standing Committee, your rector, and the vestry of your parish, along with all of your Episcopal friends, wherever you can scrounge them up -- in particular the members of your parish. Make certain that you mail an individual copy to each member of the committee and vestry -- if you simply mail it to the chair or warden, they will most likely not share it with the rest of the group, for obvious reasons. You never know whose heart you may reach, or whose mind will be stirred to seek more information. And it makes your departure clear and public -- as well as your reasons for it. Please don't allow your departure to be "fobbed off" as a disgruntled one -- "she left because it became too long a commute" or "she didn't like the 1979 Prayer Book" [and yes, I understand that a rector of a parish stated that after a large chunk of his parish left in 2004 -- incredible!]

This is a sterling letter. Note how kind it is -- no triumphalism or castigations or fist-waving. Also note that the writer puts in her letter her long history and involvement with TEC.

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