Network dismisses as 'conspiracy theories' reports about worst-case scenario strategies By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Friday, November 11, 2005 PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Anglican Communion Network is dismissing as "conspiracy theories" reports that, should the Episcopal Church USA splinter after its June 2006 General Conference, a group is making plans that include the attempted removal from office of bishops and lay leaders affiliated with the network. The Living Church magazine reported that a group called Via Media USA was working on a "worst case scenario" for the June 2006 General Conference in Columbus, Ohio, and that its plans call for replacing bishops and lay leaders with people the organization believes will remain obedient to the Constitution and canons of the General Convention. Commenting on this "day-after" strategy, Joan R. Gunderson, who is listed at the end of the four-page document as temporary secretary for the group's steering committee, told The Living Church magazine that, "The steering committee meeting was not open to the public and the minutes were not intended for public release." Gunderson, who also is vice president of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, said the "strategy discussion" was part of a "what if" contingency plan based on a "worst-case scenario" in which, after the 75th General Convention, the Episcopal Church would remain in a smaller Anglican Communion with the majority of Anglican provinces in Africa breaking communion with the See of Canterbury and the network bishops seeking to follow. "What will be our response the 'Day After' when the bishops start announcing they are in a 'new' Anglican Communion and the Network is 'recognized' as the only legitimate expression of the A.C. in North America?" the steering committee asked, according to the draft minutes of its meeting. "'Blank presentments' for abandonment of communion should be prepared in advance along with documentation to have the 'see' declared vacant and an 'interim bishop' appointed," the draft minutes reported. The interim bishop would then be given a previously prepared request for a special convention "so that vacant spots in diocesan government can be filled (trustees, council, standing committee, commission on ministry, etc.)." The Anglican Communion Network, in a statement, said it "thanks The Living Church magazine for reporting on what Via Media USA's acting secretary calls its worst-case scenario. Talk of blank presentment forms, and consulting with the Presiding Bishop about replacing duly elected bishops, does indeed qualify as anticipating and preparing for the worst. The Network has been the frequent subject of conspiracy theories, and we are content to let our actions speak for themselves." "To the extent that the Episcopal Church insists on walking apart from the broader Anglican Communion, the Network intends to strengthen Anglican bonds of affection. As we look toward the 2006 General Convention, we recall this warning to the early church: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.' Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin" (James 4:14-17, NRSV). The reports also were strongly condemned by the American Anglican Council, a renewal group that affirms Biblical authority and Christian orthodoxy within the Anglican Communion. The group, in a statement, said Via Media USA "is planning attacks against the Anglican Communion Network dioceses and bishops at the conclusion of General Convention 2006. It is reported that they will have fill-in-the-blank deposition documents against ACN bishops, as well as true-church-lawsuit documents, ready to fill in for court litigation. If Via Media's plans become a reality, every orthodox bishop and diocese will be ousted, leaving dioceses with rogue bishops and diocesan commissions. The biblically faithful within those dioceses would be held captive and lose their affiliation with the worldwide Anglican Communion." "Via Media's exposed plot to supplant ACN bishops is outrageous and unconscionable," the statement said. "It is a travesty for a group bent upon abandoning any semblance of Anglican faith and order to call itself 'via media.' The 'via media' of Anglicanism historically refers to the Church of England's middle ground between Roman Catholicism and Free Church Protestantism and emphasizes unity based on the essentials of faith as expressed in Scripture. To misappropriate this Anglican terminology and apply it to an entity established to promote a false gospel is beyond the pale. "Since its inception, Via Media has served as a pawn of 815 [the Episcopal Church's national office], Integrity USA, Every Voice Network, and other radical revisionists intent upon transforming the Episcopal Church into a religion devoid of Christian faith, doctrine and practice. While espousing a mantra of tolerance and diversity, the organization has now been exposed as a body committed to dismantling dioceses that uphold Scriptural faith and historic Anglican doctrine. Via Media clearly has no desire to walk together with the Anglican Communion; nor does it respect the mind of the Communion on matters of sexuality. Rather, it has plotted and schemed with unparalleled duplicity to seize control of dioceses, thereby usurping legitimate episcopal and diocesan authority. "If Frank Griswold, ECUSA chancellor David Booth Beers and 815 are not complicit in this scandalous plan, they need to publicly repudiate Via Media's strategy and break all contact with Via Media groups. Tragically, there is little hope that ECUSA will pull away from Via Media. Let us not forget that a group of ECUSA bishops has established a special task force to develop strategies for ensuring that no churches leaving the Episcopal Church as a matter of conscience retain their property. Formation of this task force has been made public; now Via Media's intentions have been revealed. What other secret plans are being plotted behind closed doors that have not yet been leaked? We encourage those who have knowledge of such plans and proposals to come forward and place them in the public sector so that all can be forewarned."

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