Bishop Duncan Formally Responds to Presiding Bishop
(Posted March 17, 2008)
14th March, A.D. 2008
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
815 Second Avenue
New York NY 10017
Dear Katharine,
In response to the request set forth in your letter of January 15th (which enclosed the certification of the
Title IV Review Committee), I state that I consider myself “fully subject to the doctrine, discipline and
worship of this Church.”
In particular:
- I have striven to follow the Lord Jesus with all my heart and mind and soul and strength, all the
while relying on God’s grace to accomplish what my sinfulness and brokenness otherwise prevent.
- I have kept my ordination vows – all of them – to the best of my ability, including the vow I made
on 28 October 1972 to “banish and drive away all strange and erroneous doctrines contrary to
God’s Word.”
- I have preached and taught nothing but what faithful Anglicans and mainstream Christians have
always preached and taught, with the exception only that I have supported and encouraged the
ministry of women in Holy Orders.
- I have been present to all but two meetings of the House of Bishops (out of twenty-four) during the
last 12 years. In those meetings I have clearly and openly opposed the theological and moral drift
of the Episcopal Church, often in the face of great hostility and sadly, at times, derision.
- I have made no submission to any other authority or jurisdiction.
- I have gathered Anglican fragments together from one hundred and thirty-five years of Episcopal
Church division, vastly increasing understanding and cooperation, though preserving the
jurisdictional independence of all.
- I have, with the clergy, people and para-church organizations of my diocese, built missionary
relationships all over the world, fielding both missionaries and resources on five continents.
- I have faithfully served and shepherded the clergy and people of the Episcopal Diocese of
Pittsburgh through what has, by God’s grace, been one of its greatest periods of extension and
blessing. My intention is to continue in this call for what remains of my active ministry.
Faithfully in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Robert Wm. Duncan
Bishop
This article comes from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh
http://www.pgh.anglican.org/
The URL for this story is:
http://www.pgh.anglican.org/news/local/filesforposting/schoriresponse.pdf