The HolyVVVrinity˙Herald
June 2007
P.O. Box 81 * Bonham, TX 75418 www.holytrinitybonham.org
The Vicar’s Voice @
June 3rd is Trinity Sunday, Our Name Day.
We celebrate this day as the 130th anniversary of our founding. For
all those years we have held out as the "Anglican" voice in this part
of North Texas. Over the years, how many have worshiped in this and the older
building and outside sitting on a plank of wood before the original building
was erected? The Church Catholic is here and has been here for over 130 years,
standing as a witness to the Resurrection and the redemption by a gracious God.
What have we done to deserve this? Nothing! What do we owe? Everything! St.
Therese of Lisieux was known as the "Little Flower" because she
referred to herself as being only one little flower among many in God’s garden.
She said "Do everything – no matter how trivial or insignificant – out of
the motive of love of God." This was her "Little Way." Holy
Trinity has been a presence here for 130 years. What can the next 130 years
bring? VFr. Bill
Vestry Report@
We recently received word that the Britton Estate, which was donated to our church by Shirley Britton, is ready for our inspection. I have asked Irete, Jean, Pam, and Pat to look at the estate and provide information and recommendations back to the Vestry. We have also been considering providing funds for our youth to attend church camp this summer. We are waiting on Linda Long to provide us cost figures on this. Ron recently noticed that the boards on the walkway between the Church and Parish house are coming up and we are seeing what we can do to address the issue. Please be careful when you are walking on it so you do not trip. Yours in Christ, Gary Vernon, Senior Warden
Community Outreach and “good ideas”:
CPR Class canceled on May 19th since 3 of the 5 participants were unavailable. If there is enough interest, the class can be rescheduled for later in the summer.
Good idea for summer? [Episcopal Life] Movie buff and Episcopal priest John Lane in Staunton, Virginia, loves a fire-y discussion, and he's found a way to spark more of them at his local movie theater. Every Tuesday night (a slow night for most cinemas), Lane stays after the 7 o'clock showing to lead a discussion of the film. In the first month of his new ministry, he enticed moviegoers to stick around after showings of Jesus Camp, Babel, The Queen, Volver and Notes on a Scandal. He's convinced this spiritual exercise could catch on and challenges his fellow Episcopalians to make the offer to their local theaters.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81834_86146_ENG_HTM.htm
Holy Trinity could start a “movie night” at the Parish House to show a movie and discuss it from the aspect of its spiritual or religious message. We all have movies on DVD that we could watch together.
Second annual St. Mark's Feast Service held on April 29th in the historic St. Mark’s Episcopal Church with Father Dalton saying the Mass, attended by Holy Trinity communicants and people of Honey Grove. Photos of the church and its beautiful stained glass windows provided by the Reform Episcopal Church of New York can be seen at http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_37343.shtml with a great piece of authorship by Allen Rich about the church’s history. St. Mark’s was built in 124 years ago and stands today as a sterling example of prairie gothic structures, truly a treasure of the Episcopal Church Dallas Diocese. Regular services ceased to be held at St. Mark’s in 1993. Hall-Voyer Foundation purchased the church in 1993 and carefully restored and renovated it. Phillip Barbee, born in Honey Grove in 1945, grew up at St. Mark’s and enjoys attending services in the church of his youth.
Magazines, good movies - Bring your most recent 2-3 magazines that are gathering dust on your coffee table to share with others. This is not a library. You aren’t required to bring them back and you should not expect to get back the ones you bring. At the end of every month, we will donate the oldest magazines to the nursing and retirement homes or the prisons with the labels torn off or obscured.
An Opportunity for all Episcopalians to Speak up………
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_82571_ENG_HTM.htm is the web address where members can read the ultimatum issued to the EC-USA to comply with the doctrine of the Anglican Communion or suffer the consequences…….those being the ultimate removal of the Episcopal Church – USA from the world Anglican Communion. Part of that ultimatum requires the EC-USA to call a moratorium on and issue a statement of “regret” for its actions in consecrating gay bishops and same-sex marriages and promising not to do it again. It requires the EC-USA to develop an “Anglican Covenant”, essentially a vow of compliance with the doctrine and dogma of the Anglican Communion, by September 30, 2007.
http://www.aco.org/commission/d_covenant/docs/Draft%20Covenant%20Text%20070504.pdf is the web address where you can read the first draft of that statement being developed by our Presiding Bishop and her committee. You may also issue your own opinion on the draft covenant and whether you feel that it is in compliance with the mandate, but you must do so by Monday, June 4th.
>>>>THE DIOCESE OF DALLAS 2007 CONVENTION WILL BE AT SOUTH FORK RANCH (PLANO) ON OCTOBER 19 & 20<<<<
& What we are: One holy, catholic and apostolic church…- Part IV - AMiA, CANA, ACN, CAM = Four
As events unfold within our communion, there are so-called “alternative communions” emerging that bear attention and understanding as we hear that parishes, bishops and dioceses are aligning with them. Neither the AMiA or the CANA are recognized by Canterbury and subscription to both by clergy and parishioners have been put on notice by Canterbury that they are no longer a part of the Anglican Communion. Their bishops have been denied invitation to attend the Lambeth Conference 2008 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Dioceses of Fort Worth and Dallas are members of ACN.
It is worth noting that a 'vote' by parishioners has no legal validity. Because The Episcopal Church is a hierarchical church, parishes are not established by the vote of a congregation but only by actions taken by a diocesan convention and ecclesiastical authority. Conversely, no vote taken by a congregation or by its vestry can dissolve a parish or change its affiliation to that of another religious body.
AMiA, (Anglican Mission in America), is technically a missionary organization to the USA under the authority of the Anglican Church of the Province of Rwanda and the Anglican Church of the Province of South East Asia, both of which are member churches of the Anglican Communion and ordain the AMiA's priests and bishops. Members believe they obtain the benefits of Apostolic Succession through those Archbishops. As the website of the AMiA states: The Anglican Mission provides a way for congregations and clergy to be fully Anglican—connected to the worldwide Anglican Communion through the leadership in Rwanda and South East Asia—while, at the same time, being free of the crises of faith, leadership and mission in the Episcopal Church USA.' Most AmiA clergy are former (i.e., denied recognition by the Anglican Communion) Episcopal priests seeking to promote Anglicanism by establishing new parishes in the United States. While the AmiA fully recognizes the ordination of female deacons, it does not ordain women to the priesthood although two female priests who left the EC-USA are recognized by AMiA. AMiA uses the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.
ACN, (Anglican Communion Network) was formed in 2004 at a conference in Plano, Texas, and attended by several hundred clergy and lay persons including 12 bishops at the suggestion of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is headquartered in Pennsylvania and is made up of parishes that have remained within the EC-USA. It is a theologically conservative/traditionalist network of dioceses and parishes working toward Anglican “realignment” and remains under the jurisdiction of EC-USA. The catalyst for its formation was not only the issue of homosexuality and same-sex marriage, but from the statements of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori such as "Our mother Jesus gives birth to a new creation" and a statement to the effect that Christ is not the only path to God. In January 2007, ACN dioceses and parishes count 200,000 laity and 2,200 clergy in ten diocese and 900 congregations in the United States and Canada. The current ACN Moderator is The Right Reverend Robert Duncan, seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. Dioceses of the Episcopal Church that have been part of ACN from the beginning: Albany, Pittsburgh, Central Florida, South Carolina, Quincy (IL), Springfield (IL), Fort Worth, Dallas, Rio Grande, San Joaquin.
CAM (Continuing Anglican Movement) is a group of Christian churches which follow the Anglican tradition but which split from one or another province of the Anglican Communion because of its perceived rejection of orthodoxy in 1977. The movement originated in the ECUSA and the Anglican Church of Canada. Related churches in other countries, such as the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia and the Church of England (Continuing) were founded later. Anglicanism in general has always been a balance between the emphases of Catholicism and Protestantism, traditionalists and reformers. Clergy and laity from those factions were active in the formation of the Continuing Anglican Movement. The issues which most contributed to the founding of the "Continuing churches" were the approval of women priests and the introduction of revised versions of the Book of Common Prayer. Not without internal problems and issues, CAM began its career with the consecration of its first bishop by a retired EC-USA bishop and a Philippine Independent Catholic Church bishop rather than the traditional three sitting Episcopal bishops. During the ratification of its constitution, further disputes ensued resulting in the division of CAM into the Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, and the United Episcopal Church of North America. The Continuing churches are generally Anglo-Catholic in approach, and their liturgies are usually more high church than Low Church. Most of them use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. While there is some basis for unity in the movement, it often splinters and recombines.
CANA (Congregation of Anglicans in North America) is an Anglican missionary effort in the US sponsored by the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). Martyn Minns was recently ordained as Missionary Bishop of CANA by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria against the wishes of both Presiding Bishop Shorri and Archbishop Williams, effectively thumbing its nose at both the EC-USA and the Anglican Communion. It is against the “rules” for one province to establish a missionary within another province without an invitation to do so by the host province. CANA proposes to serve the theological needs of U.S. based Nigerians and all others who wish to join them. Bishop Minns is one of the handful of Anglican Bishops throughout the world who are not invited to the Lambeth Conference 2008 and is not apparently being considered as a possible invitee as a guest.
Altar Guild Service:
JUNE 2007: 6/03 Pam Walker, 6/10, 6/17 Jean Whitlock, 6/24 Irete Perdue
Communicants Profiles and Holy Trinity History: In the interest of having space to report on Holy Trinity’s inheritance of Shirley Britton’s house, those newsletter features have been postponed until the July.
First Anglicans in Virginia 400 years ago, even before Jamestown
[Episcopal News Service] Before Jamestown, there was Virginia Beach -- or as it was first called, Cape Henry. In late April of 1607, after almost five arduous months at sea, 105 English men and boys from the ships Discovery, Godspeed, and Susan Constant gratefully made landfall in what they called the New World. And on a cold spring day 400 years later, three ghostly ships, replicas of the original vessels, appeared again off the coast of Virginia as part of a celebration and re-enactment of their arrival on April 26, 2007. Seated in decidedly modern bleachers on the beach, were many local Episcopalians including Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori at what is now called First Landing State Park, near the city of Virginia Beach. The park today is much as the English found it, with dogwood, redbud and wild strawberries. The pilgrims explored the area for two days upon landing, and on April 29 claimed the new land for James I and named the capes for his sons, Henry and Charles, erecting a cross on the site. Robert Hunt, the first Anglican chaplain on American shores and part of the landing party clutched a Book of Common Prayer -- the 1552 edition.
SOME RANDOM PHOTOS OF THE BRITTON HOUSE ON AGNEW STREET IN BONHAM.
Pictures don’t really do justice to the depth and scope of the tasks ahead to ready the property willed to Holy Trinity Episcopal Church by long-time communicant, Shirley Britton. Shirley willed all of her worldly possessions (house and everything in it, including her car) to Holy Trinity. While her gift to us is a blessing, it is not without legal and liability issues to resolve and labor-intensive work to be done.
The Vestry will lead the effort toward the rewards of Shirley’s generous affection for her church family. A committee will be appointed by Father Dalton and the Vestry to address the various phases of information gathering and work to be done pursuant to putting the house and its contents on the market. Shirley’s gift could, with judicious allocation and wise decisions, result in the perpetuity of Holy Trinity as an important presence in our community for at least another 130 years. Thank you, Shirley. May you rest in peace.
July Newsletter deadline: June 20, 2007 * Send news, photos and bios to HOLYTRNTYEDITOR@aol.com
Editor: Pat Ward, 353 PR 207, Ivanhoe, TX 75447 FAX: 903-664-2244
Vicar: Father Bill Dalton * FatherBill@Verizon.net * 903-583-8184