Smith, as Torquemada, says that unless you convert to the gay cause you will lose your living. You will be tossed onto the street because you dared to defy me and you have refused to buy into my "inclusive" understanding of the Episcopal Church's determination that human sexual behavior, based on what a General Convention says, is now the law of the church.

Never mind that Holy Scripture is abundantly clear that sex shall remain in holy wedlock between a man and a woman, I, Andrew Smith and some 60 of my fellow bishops know better than God (and you) and we have determined that God has changed his mind because Frank Griswold says so, and you must be obedient to the new thinking. In short, to hell with your gospel, your bible and the future location of your soul, we band of bishops have spoken and you will conform or else. We have elevated the canons above Holy Scripture.

In short the revisionist bishops of ECUSA have made themselves canonical fundamentalists and in doing so have mocked God for theirs.

Bishop Smith has given a whole new meaning to the term "koinonia". It is a one-sided fellowship by a man who participated in the consecration of an avowed homosexual to the episcopacy and now demands that ALL of his priests roll over to his viewpoint even if it means endangering their personal souls and those of their parishioners.

This is fascism first and last. It is to succumb to Satan (for there are only two alternatives and the law of non contradiction says that one must be right and the other wrong). In so many words Smith has said "conform to me and the Episcopal Church's resolutions or I will drive you out of your parish."

Now it's not as if Fr. Hansen is playing chicken with the bishop or that he wants to leave the Episcopal Church because he disagrees with his bishop on sexuality issues; he wants to remain in the ECUSA and he asks only for alternative pastoral oversight for him and five other clergy who disagree with the bishop on fundamental issues.

But the bishop will have none of it. He will not give them alternative pastoral oversight even though a Panel of Reference has been set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury, because that would mean giving ecclesiastical power to another bishop he doesn't agree with him, and he sees that as a fifth column being set up in his own diocese to work against him.

So in place of koinonia we have paranoia. Instead of "graceful conversation" we have disgraceful demonization; instead of the right hand of fellowship, we have a left handed hook to the ecclesiastical jaw, instead of love for those who love Jesus we have hatred for those who want to be obedient to His will and word. This is the ugly face of a raw revisionist bishop of the Episcopal Church. And it is hellish.

Having been stripped of his duties and rightful authority to lead his church, the Rev. Mark Hansen (who has an earned doctorate where the bishop has none), must now walk away from his church and watch as it is taken over by an Affirming Catholic priestess who has no gospel at all and thinks that UN resolutions and Griswold's understanding of "mission" will save the world with a little touch of Incarnational hope from the Almighty.

It is a tragedy that will, regrettably, play itself out in dozens of dioceses, dozens of times over the next few months. It is why the Episcopal Church will ultimately split and it is why it should.

The "inhibition" of the Rev. Mark H. Hansen is the tip of the theological iceberg. To place him and the other members of the Connecticut Six "out of communion" is to say that God can contradict himself and that the slow moral and theological erosion begun by Bishop James Pike and carried forward by Bishop John Shelby Spong is the truth and everything else is a lie. Inclusion is a fraud.

All the "Connecticut Six," asked for was to be placed under the authority of a bishop or archbishop from another province. Smith would not agree to that. Recently some 1,000 bishops, priests and clergy stood up in an orthodox parish in the diocese and told the world how they felt about the 'faith once delivered' a faith that differs dramatically from that held by Bishop Smith.

Smith said that his action against Hansen was not related to their differences on the gay bishop issue but because Hansen had left the parish without sustained clergy leadership to take a sabbatical. This is a fiction. The church had perfectly good supply priest in the person of Fr. Clayton Knapp whom Hansen described as "solidly orthodox". Smith used the occasion to dump a liberal woman priest into the lap of a godly group of believing Episcopalians to turn them to his agenda, a deliberate slap in the face if ever there was one. Hansen, naturally, has categorically denied the accusations against him.

Smith has said he would not want to see this initiative (that's a nice word for it) as a prelude to action at other churches. They are dreaming if they think he will stop with just this single action. He won't. He will find some excuse like their not paying their full assessment or say he has heard from a disgruntled parishioner or vestry person and initiate action against them. The Bishop of Central Pennsylvania did that against an Anglo-Catholic priest and successfully removed him.

The bishop moved against Hansen when he was out of town, a more cowardly act cannot be imagined. Hansen said he had met with Suffragan Bishop James Curry as recently as two weeks ago and discussed a range of issues, including his sabbatical and the interim priest hired to serve in his absence. Curry reports to Smith, and Curry's office is in the same building as the bishop's. Despite being on leave, Hansen said he had officiated at a wedding and a funeral at the church, and had a meeting with the church vestry this past weekend. Hansen also said his sabbatical was allowed under his contract with the parish, and that information about the agreement had been sent to the diocese, but the priest had not received a response.

Smith is the master of disinformation. The Rev. Christopher Leighton, rector of St. Paul's Church in Darien and one of the other priests facing inhibition, called Smith's action against Hansen "heavy-handed and unnecessary" but that doesn't begin to touch it. Nor is it simply intimidation. It is an inquisitorial act by a fascist bishop who will brook no opposition to his power and agenda.

The senior warden and two St. John's parishioners rushed to the church on hearing the news and said, "We have done nothing wrong at this church. Father Mark has done nothing wrong. We are a conservative church that teaches truth based on the Bible. The national church changed the rules and expects us to just fall in line." Indeed it does. The senior warden said his heart had been cut out of him by the bishop's actions. "We're taking a stand at this church, not just for ourselves, but for our grandchildren and all the people who come after us."

There is, however new hope for priests like Mark Hansen. A recent ruling has been handed down by a court in Pennsylvania that says bishops can be sued if they falsely fire priests without a trial, and the bishop can no longer hide behind the First Amendment to the Constitution. Bishop Bennison had argued that a civil court has no jurisdiction over issues relating to "discipline" of priests. Well he was wrong. He will have to answer for his fraud in open court. Bishops like Bennison will have to provide the documents and testimony that will show what really happened.

While there are no guarantees that priests who sue their bishops will win, it is a significant victory since it exposes these bishops to public scrutiny. Fr. Hansen will get his day in court, something that has never happened before and Smith will face a barrage of lawyers with some nasty questions about his actions.

Win or lose, one thing is for sure; a hole in the armor plating of these revisionist bishops has finally been pierced and in time there will be more. The Inquisitor (torturer) will now face the justice he has denied the Rev. Mark Hansen.

END