American Church Union Issues Seabury Statement
Diocesan Press Service. January 31, 1975 [75037]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- Meeting at the National Conference Center of the Episcopal Church (Seabury House) in Greenwich, Connecticut, January 22-23, 1975, the Executive Committee of the American Church Union (A. C. U.) rejects the competence of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church to permit ordination of women to the priesthood and still claim the continuance of Catholic Faith and Order.
The Rev. Canon Charles H. Osborn, Executive Director, in announcing the Seabury statement, called upon the hundreds of thousands of loyal, faithful Catholic-minded Episcopalians to work positively and actively in their respective dioceses in making their opposition to the "innovations" being foisted upon the Church by liberal reductionists known. "The mind of the Church," said Canon Osborn, "is not expressed by the will of a simple democratic majority. On the questions of Church Union and Prayer Book revision a consensus of the whole body in at least a 75 percent popular vote should be required in these matters before 900 people decide a question which affects millions. "
The group also called for maintaining the present form of Confirmation as a necessary and indelible part of Christian Initiation.
On revision of the Book of Common Prayer, the A. C. U. does not oppose all changes but insists revision preserve the continuity of the summary of reformed Catholic Doctrine and bond of Episcopal and Anglican unity which is explicit in the present Prayer Book.
The full statement which was unanimously adopted, is as follows :
"The people of our church are looking for emphasis on evangelism and education and are not getting it from the established sources. They need to be assured that the ACU will exercise all influence in these areas for the benefit of the life of the Church at large. It should be the posture of the ACU not so much to compete with the giant resources of the National Church (which is unfeasible) but to lobby for their correct use. The National Church must be made to realize the need for educational materials that are geared to teaching people what they need rather than giving them what they want -- from children through to adults. Today, as ever, there is a need for support of foreign mission. Open communion service of witness are destructive of true evangelism because they imply that there are no constructive differences between the Episcopal Church and protestant bodies. The dissipation of national resources on other areas must give way to meeting the priorities established at the grass roots.
"Further, it is to be emphasized that no true increase in the line of the moral and spiritual life of our church can take place without, in paraphrased words of our Presiding Bishop, a concomitant increase in the ordered devotional and spiritual life of all the Faithful.
" In conformity with its constitution and By-Laws the A.C.U. reaffirms its loyalty and primary allegiance to the Catholic and historic Church of Christ in its entirety; expresses its adherence to the entire Catholic Church as the seat of authority in all matters of Faith and Order; rejects the pretended independence of any local, regional or national body in deciding essential questions of Faith and Order; and recognizes that all such decisions by any particular body, contrary to historic Catholic consent, are null, void and not binding on any member or part of the Catholic Church.
" In the matter of efforts to ordain women to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church we do not recognize the competence, or authority of either the House of Bishops, of General Convention, or Synods of separate dioceses to change the subject of Holy Orders from exclusively male to include females. Such attempts represent a breach of Catholic Faith and Order within our Church and as such are themselves schismatic.
" Concerning proposals which would eliminate the central role of the Bishop in the Initiatory Rites of the Church, namely Confirmation; the latter should be safeguarded and we stand firm for the necessity of maintaining the present form because it, as opposed to current alternates, keeps the Bishop as the center of unity and the Sacrament of Confirmation as a necessary and indelible part of Christian initiation.
"With regard to proposals to change radically the Book of Common Prayer, we recognize the authority of General Convention to authorize alternate forms and usages so long as the substance of the Faith contained in the Book of Common Prayer is maintained; therefore, we do not oppose all changes but insist revision preserve the continuity of the BCP both as an order of service, but, more, as a summary of reformed Catholic Doctrine and a bond of Episcopal and Anglican unity.
"In the light of increasing predictions indicating a possible turmoil in the Episcopal Church if the Minnesota General Convention in September, 1976 overturns Faith and Order and authorizes the ordaining of women to the priesthood, we wish to assure our brethren in Christ that we are optimistic that the Faithful Laity together with the Clergy in the House of Deputies will once again bring balance back to our Church and that even the House of Bishops might reverse its trend. We will do all in our power to convince thinking Churchmen to remain loyal as Anglicans while maintaining Catholic integrity as Christians. We do not preach schism, but do further pledge to pursue plans to gain adequate pastoral and Episcopal support so that unbroken leadership can be provided the Faithful even in the even of General Convention erring in these matters. "
The American Church Union is a National body of "High" or Catholic-minded Episcopal bishops, priests and lay people with headquarters in Pelham Manor, N. Y.