{"id":20117,"date":"2013-08-17T21:04:14","date_gmt":"2013-08-18T01:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=20117"},"modified":"2013-08-17T22:47:27","modified_gmt":"2013-08-18T02:47:27","slug":"bishop-cyrus-pitman-to-retire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/bishop-cyrus-pitman-to-retire\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Cyrus Pitman to retire"},"content":{"rendered":"

From here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The bishop of the Anglican diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, Cyrus Pitman, has announced his retirement effective this November.<\/p>\n

In a letter to members of his diocese, Pitman said that he has informed Archbishop Claude Miller, Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, that the diocesan synod scheduled this November 15 to 16 will elect a new diocesan bishop.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy resignation as Bishop will be effective the date we elect a new bishop,\u201d said Pitman.<\/p>\n

On June 12,\u00a0 2004, Pitman was elected co-adjutor bishop of the diocese, with automatic right of succession to the office of diocesan bishop. He became diocesan bishop when then bishop, Donald Harvey, retired in November that same year.<\/p>\n

At the height of the controversy over same-sex blessings, which led to the departure of some clergy and laypeople \u2013 including the former bishop \u2013\u00a0 the quiet and soft-spoken Pitman surprised many when he asked clergy in his diocese to declare their loyalty to the Anglican Church of Canada as they renewed their ordination vows and renewed their licences.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, my friends, is a fresh start,\u201d he had said in his sermon at a mandatory gathering held Jan. 21,\u00a0 2008 at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John\u2019s, Nfld. \u201cIt\u2019s not a power grab as has been suggested by some. Whether someone is of a conservative bent or a liberal bent or some other bent, whatever these labels mean, I will support you\u2026 But let\u2019s not make any mistake about it. There are boundaries.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It shouldn\u2019t come as much of a surprise that Pitman\u2019s \u201cboundaries\u201d had little to do with maintaining the integrity of the Christian faith in the Anglican Church of Canada and, notwithstanding his protestation to the contrary, a lot to do with the exercise of power. As Malcolm Muggeridge observed: \u201cyou can choose love or you can choose power; you can\u2019t have both\u201d. Pitman chose power.<\/p>\n

On January 10 2008, Pitman wrote to his clergy<\/a> demanding their allegiance:<\/p>\n

In what could be the start of real schism in the Anglican Church, a Newfoundland bishop is demanding clergy come to the provincial capital to declare whether their loyalties lie with him or his predecessor, the leader of a breakaway conservative movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttendance at these gatherings is mandatory,\u201d Cyrus Pitman, bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador warns in a Dec. 18 letter to clergy obtained by the Star.<\/p>\n

Clergy from Eastern Newfoundland\u2019s 33 parishes are to be in St. John\u2019s on Jan. 21 to restate their ordination vows and to get new licences, with a date for those from the six Labrador parishes yet to be set.<\/p>\n

Clergy need a licence from the church to minister to a parish or perform marriages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On April 10 2008, Pitman fired one of his priests<\/a> for upholding Biblical standards:<\/p>\n

The Rev. Darrel Critch, Rector at St. Mary the Virgin on Craigmillar Avenue, St John\u2019s, Newfoundland has been removed from his position by Bp. Pitman and Archdeacon Peddle.<\/p>\n

This happened on the evening of Thursday the 10th of April at an emergency Vestry Meeting called by Bishop Pitman. Archdeacon Peddle showed up at the meeting and shortly thereafter Rev. Critch was relieved from his duties. Archdeacon Peddle has now been appointed administrator of St. Mary\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Why? Well what I have heard is that Rev. Critch made a stand on the Scriptures and removed a couple from choir who were living together in an immoral relationship.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In July 2008, Pitman, in a fit of ecclesiastical McCarthyism, made an attempt<\/a> to compile a register<\/i> of lay people who had left the Anglican Church of Canada to make sure that none of them exercise any ministry in an ACoC diocese:<\/p>\n

LAY RELINQUISHMENTS
\nLay people who have also left the Anglican Church of Canada are asked to indicate their intentions to the Bishop who will maintain a register for future information.
\nIt seems clear to us that lay people who leave also relinquish their privilege to be part of any Ministry that they have been allowed to perform.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After an illustrious career devoted to erecting boundaries designed to discourage undesirables – once ejected – from obstinately straying back into the Anglican Church of Canada, the bishop has decided to take a rest and retire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From here: The bishop of the Anglican diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, Cyrus Pitman, has announced his retirement effective this November. In a letter to members of his diocese, Pitman said that he has informed Archbishop Claude Miller, Metropolitan … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":13,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[2057],"class_list":["post-20117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diocese-of-eastern-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-bishop-cyrus-pitman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}