October 8, 2007
The Parishioners of
Christ Church Savannah
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
I want to again thank
you for your continued prayers for your Bishop, the Diocese of
Georgia and the Episcopal Church and for the Anglican Communion.
I want to reassure you that we will carry on
the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church at Christ Church
in Savannah and that the Episcopal Church has not abandoned the
Anglican Communion as has been claimed by the former rector,
wardens and vestry of Christ Church.
Christ Church has been
a constituent part of the Episcopal Church for over 200 years and
the Diocese of Georgia for over 180 years. The buildings were
built and the property and other assets of the church have been
maintained for all of those years to be an Episcopal Church and
not part of some other church. Under our church’s canons and all
applicable court precedents, all of the property and the signs and
symbols of the church belong to the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Church and this diocese have in
no way abandoned the Anglican Communion. On October 3, the Joint
Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the
Primates of the Anglican Communion issued a report to the
Archbishop of Canterbury in response to the recent meeting of the
House of Bishops in New Orleans. The Joint Standing Committee has
concluded that The Episcopal Church has "clarified all outstanding
questions" relating to its response to the requests of the Windsor
Report, and questions on which the Primates sought
clarifications. That Committee has likewise concluded that
incursions by uninvited Bishops within the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church and its dioceses, such as the
incursion by the bishop from Uganda in the Diocese of Georgia,
must end.
In short, the
leadership of the Anglican Communion has concluded that the
Episcopal Church has done what the Primates of the Communion have
asked of it. The claim by the Christ Church’s former rector and
vestry that we have abandoned the Anglican Communion is simply
wrong.
The former rector and
vestry have said that they have removed themselves from the
ecclesiastical authority of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of
Georgia. The clergy who support this decision have renounced their
ministry in the Episcopal Church and I have issued renunciations of
those ministries in accordance with the canons of the church.
Please know that there is a canonical procedure for their return to
the Episcopal Church should any of them conclude that they wish to
do so.
I have proposed to the
former rector and vestry that we share the worship space at Christ
Church until we can resolve our differences regarding ownership of
the property and await their response to that proposal. In the
meantime, I encourage each of you to attend the meeting scheduled at
Christ Church on October 14, 2007 and to demonstrate your support of
the continued ministry of the Episcopal Church at Christ Church
Savannah.
For those of you who
wish to support this ministry of Christ Church Episcopal, there will
be a celebration of Holy Eucharist on October 14, 2007 at 5:00 p.m.
at St. Michaels and All Angels and each Sunday thereafter at 11:45
a.m. until further notice.
Be assured that Christ
Church will carry on the mission and ministry of the Episcopal
Church at 28 Bull Street and that I am committed to support Christ
Church as an Episcopal Church.
Sincerely,
Henry I. Louttit
Bishop of Georgia
