Make That Seven Dioceses--Dallas Makes A Bold Statement

The diocese of Dallas has now become the seventh in the nation to appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury for alternative primatial oversight. The text of the statement recently released by the Standing Committee of the diocese of Dallas may be found here. Among the more interesting portions of this bold statement is a series of requests from the Standing Committee to Bishop James Stanton:

... we call upon the Bishop to appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury for a direct primatial relationship with him for the purpose of mission, pastoral support and accountability.

Further, we ask the Bishop, in concert with all who support the Windsor Process, to lead the diocese in vigilantly pursuing:
• protection of congregations, clergy and assets of the faithful who are resident in those dioceses of the Episcopal Church which oppose, in action or precept, Lambeth Resolution 1.10 of 1998;
• effective and adequate episcopal oversight to those same congregations and clergy, and as defined by them, on a long-term basis;
• an appropriate realignment or, if it becomes necessary, an “ordered and mutually respectful separation” of congregations and dioceses who desire to “opt-in” to the Anglican Covenant, proposed by the Windsor Report and the Archbishop of Canterbury himself, as distinct from those portions of the Episcopal Church which do not desire to do so.

This is clearly a very strong statement, which speaks openly about "protection" of orthodox parishes in heterodox dioceses (which will clearly involve crossing diocesan boundaries to provide episcopal oversight) and the real possibility of "separation" of the diocese of Dallas from the non-Windsor compliant portion of the Episcopal Church.

There is an excerpt from the AP story published in today's Dallas Morning News here.

FYI, the other dioceses appealing for APO at this time are Fort Worth (Texas), Springfield (Illinois), Quincy (Illinois), Pittsburgh (PA), San Joaquin (Cal.), South Carolina and Central Florida.