On the eve of the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, September 28th, I hand-delivered a letter to the diocesan office in Jacksonville in which I provided a "100-day" advance notice of intent to vacate my interim rectorship at Nativity church in JAX, which period concludes on the Feast of the Epiphany, 2006, and to effect an orderly departure from the Episcopal Church, a departure that would seek to minimize the negative impact of my leaving on the good people at Nativity. To date I have not received a response from diocesan offices, and do not know whether or not I will be permitted to continue in ministry at Nativity through their patronal feastal season, as requested.

The history of this action includes a direct move of the Holy Spirit in which I heard, quite clearly, the Lord telling me on Holy Tuesday past, in good Cracker language, "you don't have a dog in this hunt anymore!". The Word to depart the ECUSA was shortly to be confirmed by a couple of other witnesses quite outside of my normal circle of influence, and I have sought Wisdom from the Lord as to how to obey that Word and to also best serve the needs of Nativity church, and the Diocese of Florida. The phased departure arrangement that I have requested from Bishop Howard seeks to accomplish that end.

The Lord was also, in my case, quite specific as to what future course I was to pursue - to seek absorption back into the Roman Catholic Church into which I was baptized in 1950, and not to any longer pursue any sort of Anglican ecclesial identity.

One-time Oxford Anglican and later priest-Cardinal of the Roman church, John Henry Newman, it was who came to constantly breathe the prayer, "Lead on, Kindly Light". That has also become my own spiritual aspiration before the Lord. Speaking only for myself at this point, I am convinced that I must seek the most solid apostolic grounding I can for the rest of my earthly life, which at 55 years and counting is clearly a considerably shorter period than the time on this planet I have already spent as a baptized child of God. For all of its difficulties Rome, along with Constantinople, represents the most ancient of apostolic sees still existent, and I have come to understand that for the past 15 years I have been on missionary "loan" to the Anglican/Episcopal world. I know for a fact that the Lord called me to engage in this ministry, and concerning it I have no essential regrets (even if I do have far more bruises from ordained service than I could have ever imagined when +Ed MacBurney first laid hands on me in diaconal, and then later, priestly ordination going on some 12 years ago now).

All that said, it's time to go home, and so to Rome I will be shortly departing. I have been in conversation with Bishop Victor Galleone, a true man of God and a humble soul so reminiscent of our Lord himself. It is most unclear, given my Roman origins, that I will be permitted to serve again as a married priest in that communion, but that is a side issue to me right now. What is important now is to obey the voice of God, and that I shall endeavor to do.

One final word about the ecclesial realities of the Diocese of Florida. I have never made a secret of my early and continued support for Ellis Brust in the episcopal election process in this diocese going back to my first incorporation here under the auspices of Bishop Jecko. THAT was the diocese I had come to call home at the time, a place of South Georgian/North Floridian gentility and charm. Oh my, what has happened to us since! Gone is the charm, the graciousness, the true Southern pace of church life around here, the focus on solid and traditional scriptural and gospel values. The tone and tenor have undergone a sea change, and all I can hear in the Spirit now is "Icabod! Icabod!".

I do not wish to cast personal aspersions against anyone in this matter, my spirit is tired and weary of the fighting and overall nastiness. I would simply counsel all of us to count up the cost of contentiousness - an unfortunate Episcopal pastime shared by conservatives and liberals, clergy and laity alike in this denomination - and to prayerfully ask the Lord what HE would have us to do. For myself the only course I can take is what I have outlined to you; each will have to follow their own path. What is essential in any case is obeying the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, and if contentiousness gets in the way of fulfilling those Uber-Mandates, then we will need to effect whatever adjustment in our circumstances we must in order to truly align ourselves with our Awesome Lord.

I hope I will see you all again in the Fullness of the Kingdom of God someday; don't know when I will see most of you before that again. In all things, know that I love you all, and will continue to be watchful unto prayer for you, my Anglican friends.

The Lord's richest Blessings to all of you!

Your brother and fellow yoke-fellow, in Christ,
Nick Marziani(+), priest-pro-tem
St. Augustine, FL
marniclaus@aol.com