How is Episcopalians for Traditional Faith (ETF) different from other organizations that promote traditional worship? Communicants, clergy, and bishops recently have asked me these questions, as faithful Episcopalians struggle to practice their religion despite the garbled signals emanating from the national Church.
ETF is:
- A nonprofit corporation founded in 2002 by Episcopalians
- Dedicated to furthering use of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer within the Episcopal Church
- Conservative, orthodox, and traditionalist
- A nationwide organization with an all-Episcopal board of directors
- Growing across the USA wherever Episcopalians choose to worship as they believe
ETF’s mission is straightforward: We are dedicated to preserving and promoting use of the classic, traditional 1928 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) within the Episcopal Church. We are strongly opposed to leaving the Episcopal Church. We hope that all Anglican denominations will use the 1928 BCP as their official liturgy.
At the same time, ETF works to this purpose within the Episcopal Church. All our directors and advisors are Episcopalians, and one advisor is Church of England. We attend Episcopal churches that use the 1928 BCP. Our goal is to help rebuild our battered Church from within. We will remain Episcopalians. We have no intention of leaving our Church to the revisionists and destroyers.
Why We Are Still Episcopalians
ETF remains in the Episcopal Church to bear witness to Christian doctrine and to practice our religion based on our belief. We provide a choice for Episcopalians to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, rather than to endure whatever “strange and erroneous doctrine” the Church serves up on any given Sunday, or to simply stay home to avoid the relentless political correctness that is a weak substitute for charity or love.
We remain in the Episcopal Church to worship God as the communicants of this Church are meant to do. We’re here to support godly clergy and bishops who practice true religion, not far-left political activism. We’re here to help maintain the historical relationship with the global Anglican Communion through common worship. We’re here to point out to Episcopalians how the Canons – the law of the Church – are being violated by leaders of the national Church.
We’re here to encourage clergy to teach our youth holy scripture rather than anti-Christian concepts and pagan nature worship. Try this out: Observe which occasion receives more attention in your local church – Ascension Day (May 13 or the following Sunday, May 16) or Earth Day (April 22 or this Sunday, April 25).
Why the 1928 BCP?
The 1928 BCP is the only American Prayer Book in use today that is based completely on holy scripture, the Word of God. It provides readings from the entire Old and New Testaments, portions of which arbitrarily have been removed in the New Revised Lectionary.
Other traditionalist organizations promote not only the 1928 BCP but also the Prayer Books that preceded it. Still others support use of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as used by traditional parishes in England. ETF focuses on the 1928 BCP alone, as the only uniquely American Prayer Book that sets forth the faith “once for all delivered to the saints.”
ETF promotes the faith through the 1928 BCP within the Episcopal Church.
Other organizations promote the traditional faith outside the Episcopal Church, throughout the estimated 900-plus* Anglican parishes that have formed in the wake of Church departures from tradition and order – not to mention faith and reason.
Prayer Book Revision Promotes Radical Change
Virtually every media report on the declining membership of the Episcopal Church cites the consecration of homosexual Vicki Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, as the single event that split the Episcopal Church. Don’t believe this for a minute. The truth of the matter is that the exodus of Episcopalians began more than 40 years ago, when the national Church began to practice a religion that is human-centered rather than God-centered.
ETF contends that the radical changes of the past 38 years, beginning with the ordination of 11 female priests, are not the reason that so many Episcopalians have left for other denominations or none at all; rather, we recognize that the single event that precipitated the mass exodus of Episcopal faithful was the introduction of the 1979 Prayer Book to a laity that didn’t believe it and didn’t want it. (Now the 1979 – never intended to be permanent — is on its way out in favor of ever more radical rites, but that’s another story.)
Freedom to Worship as We Choose
Episcopalians have been lied to for four decades. When the “trial liturgies” were introduced in the 1960s, our clergy claimed that if we didn’t like them we could always go back to the “old Prayer Book.” Not true. Now some bishops and clergy tell us that the 1928 BCP is no longer used in the Episcopal Church. Not true. They’ve told us that use of the 1928 BCP is “illegal.” What?! Too many clergy have told us they can’t defy their bishop, who has proscribed use of the 1928 in one or another diocese. In fact, the Canons specify that the parish priest — not the bishop — is the authority for the liturgy in his parish:
MINISTRY CANON III.9.5
Authority and
responsibility.
Sec. 5. Rectors and Priests-in-Charge and Their Duties
(a)
(1) The Rector or Priest-in-Charge shall have full authority and responsibility for the conduct of the worship and the spiritual jurisdiction of the Parish, subject to the Rubricsof the Book of Common Prayer, the Constitution and Canons of this Church, and the pastoral direction of the Bishop. (Highlighting mine)
Further, when the 1979 Prayer Book was adopted as the official liturgy of the Episcopal Church, the same General Convention that passed that Resolution also passed a measure known as the Denver Resolution:
THE DENVER RESOLUTION
RESOLVED, the House of Deputies concurring, that this 66th General Convention declares that the Book of Common Prayer of 1979, having been adopted in accordance with Article X of the Constitution of the Church, has thus become the official Liturgy of this Church; and
This Convention declares further, that the Book of Common Prayer of 1928 is a rich part of the liturgical heritage of this Church, and that liturgical texts from the 1928 Prayer Book may be used in worship, under the authority of the Bishop as chief pastor and liturgical officer, and subject to the directions of this Convention, as set forth in the appended guidelines; and
This Convention declares further that this action in no way sanctions the existence of two authorized Books of Common Prayer or diminishes the authority of the official liturgy of the Church as established by this Convention. (Highlighting mine)
The Denver Resolution of 1979 and the reaffirmation at the 2000 GC of the right to use the 1928 BCP – along with a formal apology to Episcopalians who had been hurt during the Prayer Book revision process — reinforce our God-given and constitutional right to practice our religion according to our beliefs.
When asked if “under the authority of the Bishop” means that a bishop can ignore Ministry Canon III.9.5 and forbid use of the 1928 BCP, Bishop Otis Charles, then chairman of the House of Bishops Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee, stated:
“When all is said and done, the one fact that seems clear is that no Bishop has the right to deny the use of the 1928 Book.” Bishop Charles emphasized that while the priest should consult with his bishop, there should be freedom of choice at the parish level in Prayer Book usage.
This Canon and these Resolutions leave no doubt that Episcopalians have the right to worship as they believe. ETF encourages all Episcopalians to remain in our Church and fight for this right. It is our responsibility to preserve it for ourselves and generations to come.–Jan Mahood, ETF Editor
* The 2007/08 Directory of Traditional Anglican and Episcopal Parishes, published by The Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen, contains information on over 900 parishes affiliated with either the Continuing Anglican churches or the Anglican realignment movement.
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