Nine Episcopal Parishes Don’t Want New Province (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
July 12th, 2006 by Peter Frank
Nine parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh yesterday decried efforts to meld biblically conservative dioceses into a new, non-geographical province.
The Rev. Dr. Harold T. Lewis of Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside and representatives of eight other parishes said recent decisions by Bishop Robert W. Duncan Jr. and the diocese’s standing committee are “tantamount to leaving the Episcopal Church.”
They issued a statement at a press conference refuting the June 28 decision to seek “alternative primatial oversight” for the diocese and the formation of a boundary-less, theologically conservative province.
“We believe that the proposed formation of a Province X … is canonically and constitutionally irregular,” the statement read. “We believe the request for alternative primatial oversight constitutes a rejection of the duly elected leadership and governing structures of the Episcopal Church.”
The two issues are flashpoints in the church, both locally and nationally.