The New Year 2006

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Schedule for week of January 1st

When I Was Sick...

I seem to find myself in hospitals quite frequently. Perhaps this is a good time to tell you a bit about what is to be expected when the priest visits you in the hospital.

First of all, it is of the utmost importance that you are visited if your stay is to be of an extended period. These days, two days may be considered an extended period! We are made of body and soul-both work in perfect concert according to divine plan. When the body is sick, the soul likewise needs attention. And, attending to the soul can help the body. Even secular science will admit that healing occurs quicker and better when prayers are offered for the sick. Please make sure the priest knows when you are in the hospital. Do not rely on the hospital staff to do so-they probably won't. And if they do, it is often after the patient is discharged that notice is given-too late then.

When I visit, I will anoint you. I tell you this in advance because I have seen so many terrified faces when I tell someone that I am going to anoint them. It is NOT Last Rites that I will be giving you. If, and when, you are going to be receiving Last Rites, I will tell you. If I say that I am going to anoint you, it is not because I know something that you don't know or because the doctors or nurses are keeping something from you. It is an opportunity for you to receive the sacrament of the sick-a chance for the healing power of Christ to enter into your life. The oil used for this anointing has been blessed for the express purpose of bringing healing both to body, mind and soul. The prayers you will hear will remind you that health and salvation come through Christ Jesus. It is He who enters your sick room when the priest enters-it is He who stretches out his hand in love and touches you with His healing presence. It may be nice to see the familiar face of your parish priest, but recognize beyond it the face of Christ who brings healing in His wings.

I anoint thee with oil + beseeching the mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that all thy pain and sickness of body, mind and spirit being put to flight, the blessing of health may be restored unto thee.

May Crowning

One of the wonderful traditions of this parish is the annual crowning of Our Blessed Lady as queen of the May. This springtime month has long been dedicated to her and we take great joy in marking its beginning with the crowning of Our Lady's statue.

This year we will have the opportunity to use the completed altar and statue of our Lady in the West Garden for this occasion. Crowning will take place on Sunday , May 6th.

Bring a Friend

We all know the value of advertising. Purses, shirts, shoes, jewelry, any item you can wear, look at or make use of in any way is a potential advertising space.

Churches are discovering the value of advertising as well. We have had many "hits" on our website-a highly effective (and cost-conscious) way of keeping our parish in the public eye. We have also taken advantage of advertising in The Christian Challenge-one of the foremost traditionalist and orthodox news magazines. Thanks to the generosity of Nick Behrens we have recently begun to sponsor portions of a program of choral music on KVNO-FM. Each of these things has been responsible for bringing people to the door of this church that might not have found it otherwise.

While all these methods are effective, there is no better form of advertisement than word-of-mouth. Someone who is really personally sold on something can more readily make a sale than someone who is only doing it as a job.

Are you sold on your faith enough to bring others to experience its manifold blessings? Are you hiding the light of Faith under a bushel or setting it on a lampstand that it might give light to all? Consider bringing a friend to church with you. We all know people who have no church-who have either left a church or have never been part of a faith community. Often these people are only waiting for an invitation. If you don't extend the invitation, they may never make it into the household of Faith?

Start thinking of those acquaintances who you might invite and bring to church. The great commission still stands, "Go, baptize all nations."

You are invited to attend an

English High Tea and Solemn Choral Evensong and Benediction

Sunday, May 20, 2001 High Tea beginning at 4:30 in the afternoon Evensong following at 5:30

The feastday of St. George, patron of England and the natal anniversary of HRH, Elizabeth II, will be celebrated by the finest in English choral music and in the elegant prose of the Book of Common Prayer. Works by English composers Sir Charles MacPherson, William Smith, Adrian Batten, Felix Mendelssohn and Sir John Stainer will be featured.

Tell a friend-Bring a friend

Trouble in a Maryland Parish Could Have National Consequences

It is an area not unfamiliar with civil war. Accoceek, Maryland, in the diocese of Washington D.C., is the stage on which a new battle is being played out; another type of civil war, in which the stakes are the rule of law against the rule of tyranny.

Fr. Samuel Edwards, the former director of Forward in Faith, North America (an organization of orthodox parishes with which this parish is connected) is locked in a struggle with the ecclesiastical authority of the Washington diocese, the "Bishop pro tempore" (a non-canonical designation which does not exist) Dr. Jane Dixon, over his appointment as rector of Christ Church. The story begins when Fr. Edwards was chosen as rector-elect after a two-year search period. At the time of his election by the vestry, the diocesan bishop was notified, per canon law. At that time, the ordinary of the diocese was the Rt. Rev. Ronald Haines. With Bishop Haines' upcoming retirement, the vestry was notified that the suffragan bishop, Dr. Dixon, would be handling the process. On the 13th of December, last year, the vestry gave formal notice of their intent to hire Fr. Edwards and the canonical clock began to tick. Any diocesan bishop has a thirty day period to accept or reject the placement of a priest in a parish, determinant solely upon whether or not that priest is duly qualified and in good standing.

On January 22 the vestry of Christ Church, having had no communication pro or con from Dr. Dixon, sent notification that the 30 day period had expired and that it was their intent to sign a contract with Fr. Edwards and to move him and his family to Maryland. Again, no word from Dr. Dixon and plans were made for Fr. Edwards to begin work in the parish on March 15th.

At the end of February, on the 26th, Dr. Dixon met with Fr. Edwards in an interview which is not required by canon but was agreed to by Fr. Edwards. Dr. Dixon was concerned that Fr. Edwards would not be able to accept her ecclesiastical authority and wanted guarantees that he would do so. Fr. Edwards explained that he could not accept her as a bishop in apostolic succession, would not receive sacraments from her, but would accept her as the ecclesiastical authority. On the sixth of March, Dr. Dixon telephoned Fr. Edwards to tell him that she "would not call him" to the rectorship of Christ Church. She offered him one day to "withdraw" despite the fact that a binding contract had already been signed with the parish and that her legal window of time had long-since passed. Dixon claimed that she had a "higher authority" than the canon limiting the time in which a priest may be accepted or rejected.

At the present time, Fr. Edwards is serving Christ Church under a sixty-day grace period in which he may function without the licensing of the Ordinary. Dr. Dixon has rallied ex-parishioners and outside supporters to meetings at Christ Church but, by general consensus, usually comes out of these meetings looking less pastoral and knowledgeable than Fr. Edwards. Five active bishops have written Dr. Dixon asking her to remove herself from this argument and to let Fr. Edwards assume his rightful place as rector. Unfortunately, Dr. Dixon is being supported by the Presiding Bishop who has called Fr. Edwards a "schismatic" saying that he too would refuse to license him.

We are seeing a very serious drama being played out here-one that in the long-run could affect us and other orthodox parishes. It seems obvious that a concerted effort is being made at the present (and possibly in the future) to rid dioceses of orthodox, catholic priests. If the rule of canon law is found insufficient to counter the tyranny of revisionist bishops such as Dr. Dixon, Dr. Spong, Dr. Bennison and the like, there will be no way to maintain the traditional faith within ECUSA's house. If bishops can thumb their noses at canon law and turn down duly qualified priests, simply over personal dislike or disagreement, we are in a dangerous period of anarchy. One can envision a time in which any priest who has the courage of his convictions to stand against the contra-Scriptural teachings and actions of local Ordinaries and General Conventions will be deposed and replaced with someone whose heterodox theology more closely matches that of those bishops.

Your prayers are needed for this branch of Christ's Holy Catholic Church that she may weather yet one more attack upon her from the forces of the Evil One. Christ has promised that He will remain with His Church and that, though the forces of Hell rage against it, He will prevail. In Him is our hope.