SwFla welcomes Nigerian bishops for tour but bans +NH

[Louie Crew <lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu>]

This material appears on the website of St. Boniface in Sarasota, FL, at
http://www.bonifacechurch.org/.  See:  "Teaching, the Rector's page.   The
Rev. Ted Copland is the rector:  Edward M Copland
<ecopland@bonifacechurch.org>.   The parish has 991 communicants.

Louie, L1 Newark

Louie Crew, 377 S. Harrison St., 12D, East Orange, NJ 07018 973-395-1068
http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/  Queer Eye for the Lectionary

===================================================

March 2 - 8 Ted Copland on issue of Nigerian Bishops' Visit to our Diocese

This appeared Monday, March 2, on website of Diocese of Southwest Florida

March 18-21: "Across the Waters II" Preaching Mission

The diocesan Evangelism Committee welcomes Bishop Olusegun Adeyemi and
Bishop Tunde Adeleye of Nigeria as they speak at churches across the
diocese, telling how the Holy Spirit is working in and through his people in
Africa.

Location: St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church, 10888 126th Ave. North in Largo.

Contact: For specific times of events, call St. Dunstan's at (727) 581-1435.


This is the letter I sent to Bishop Smith on March 3

Dear Bishop Smith,

I am astonished to read the diocesan website and find that two Nigerian
bishops will preach throughout the diocese when you are so reluctant to give
permission to one American bishop to preach in one congregation.

My first thought is that this is something you did not know about and will
now have to deal with. I hope that if this is the case you will deny
permission for this to happen.

If that is not the case, I would be left feeling confused about your
thinking and betrayed by your action.

When we met recently for our discussion I was quite willing to accept your
continued reluctance to allow Bishop Robinson to speak at Saint Boniface
because I thought it was an effort on your part to keep peace and avoid
division.

The message of hatred that Archbishop Akinola has sent to thousands of
Episcopalians, including many in this diocese, needs to be disavowed in
every way possible by those who seek to minister in Christ's name. Given the
authority structure of the African provinces of the Anglican Communion it is
not possible for us to separate the Archbishop from other bishops under his
authority.

What can I now do to support you in keeping the peace?

========

This is my report to Boniface Clergy and Wardens on March 6

Friday March 6, 2009

+Dabney Smith just called me. He has been on retreat and is now dealing with
the death of a close friend and he, too, was surprised to see the
announcement of the visit of the Nigerian bishops on the website. It was his
first notice. He was not prepared to say anything about it at this time. We
briefly discussed the nature of such an event that a diocesan bishop might
not know about, that was not announced at last Thursday's clergy day. I told
him the bottom line for me was to support him, and I encouraged him to take
some action or it will appear to people that he has moved from his centrist
position. Ted Copland