Not content with deposing an honorable and godly priest, Smith continued to dig in his heels and told a hastily called congregational meeting yesterday that he wanted to build their trust, but when asked if he would remove the 24-hour guards around the church he said "no". When asked would he give the Vestry back the keys to the building he answered categorically "no".

So there you have it, the heavy handed acts of a thoroughly spiritually bankrupt bishop who has shown himself to be worse than a canonical fundamentalist. He twists the canons for his own purposes. Bishops like Smith care nothing for the 'faith once delivered to the saints' only in their ecclesiastical power governed by General Convention resolutions, not Holy Scripture.

And what makes it all so much worse is that the Righter Trial has demonstrated for all time that conservatives who want to use canonical discipline on revisionists are simply wasting their time. Said orthodox Anglican theologian Stephen Noll, "If the entire HOB is willing to twist the abandonment of communion canon to punish orthodox clergy, why should we expect a fair trial under the judicial canons of one of their own?"

He is absolutely right, of course. It is futile to bring charges of heresy or apostasy against a bishop like Jack Spong it would never get past the Title IV Review Committee. Bishop Clayton Matthews would see to that. Ditto for Smith who said when asked his view of the Bible, responded, "The Bible is not to live by and we shouldn't take it literally." Tammy Vogt a 12-year parishioner and a vestry member of the congregation who heard him say that responded, "why would anyone that is Christian ever listen to him?"

Cried Vogt: "We've been robbed of our priest and of our building! The people that now occupy my beautiful building have no regard for the congregation as a whole, the vestry or even the Canons. And now I'm told the Gospel no longer sits on my beautiful altar at St. John's! I pray they put it back! Smith is motivated by power and by power alone."

The vestry of St. John's expressed its anger declaring, "We are deeply disappointed and shocked by the action you [Smith] have taken in the last week in invading our parish home without announcement, and without permission, changing the locks on the doors so we are locked out of our own building, and inhibiting our rector. We cannot understand this action. It certainly does not seem to be the behavior of someone who wants to reconcile himself with this parish. We believe that canon, civil, and criminal laws have been violated and that we have cause for legal action against you."

But it is not just the legal storm clouds that are gathering over Bishop Smith, anger and outrage is coming at him from orthodox ECUSA bishops and theologians alike.

The Rev. Dr. Robert C. Munday, President and Dean of Nashotah House summed up his own feelings when he said, "The Bishop of Connecticut appears to have dealt in a harsh and highly questionable manner and to have inflicted unnecessary suffering on a priest and parish in his diocese. Secondly, this and other conflicts present a terrible witness both to those within and those outside the Episcopal Church and are hurting our efforts to plant and grow churches. "A real human tragedy is happening in Connecticut," said Munday.

The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, an orthodox theologian in the Diocese of Colorado had this to say, "...the bishop inhibited a priest who in every respect, except in his lack of concrete support of his bishop's teaching, seems to have been a faithful pastor to his congregation. The manner in which the inhibition took place, including an unannounced visit to change locks and take possession of computer files and other materials, was, to most observers, shocking in its brazen and clumsy assertion of power."

The Rev. Chuck Collins, a San Antonio ECUSA parish priest lit into the bishop saying; "You have misused the canon...you have disregarded the Windsor Report...you have done wrong...your actions this past week are an insult to everyone who values the diversity that makes up the Episcopal Church, and a shameless misuse of ecclesiastical authority.

"Liberalism, once a moniker for open-mindedness and respect for differences, has become a party label for the most intolerant worldview and a club to silence everyone who disagrees. Your actions and the Gestapo tactics you used constitute the next embarrassing chapter in the ongoing realignment, it exemplifies the graceless intolerant attitude of some of our bishops, and it reinforces and deepens the divisions in our church," he wrote.

"I hope every fair-minded bishop, whether liberal or conservative, will have the courage to confront you and such a blatant misuse of power. For the sake of diversity and toleration, and for the biblical faith that defines us as Anglicans and Episcopalians, I hope they will confront you," he said.

Among orthodox ECUSA bishops, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Anglican Communion Network expressed his outrage saying Bishop Smith had acted in an unlawful and punitive manner against a parish and priest and then appealed to the Panel of Reference to intervene.

In none too subtle language he made it clear that he had no choice but "to work with other communion leaders directly to challenge this action." Will he now personally cross diocesan boundaries with a group of Network bishops?

Duncan wrote at the time of the last HOB meeting: "Our agreement to this moratorium was based on other moratoria being observed as well as on the maintenance of status quo as regards actions against the conservative minority. Bishop Smith has again broken that status quo."

Albany Suffragan Bishop David Bena blasted Smith saying: "Ladies and Gentlemen, what is becoming of our Episcopal Church? It is quite obvious that this invasion was uncalled for. MANY other options could have been initiated, including the bishop calling a meeting of the vestry beforehand to discuss the situation, the bishop meeting with the rector and wardens, the bishop consulting the Standing Committee, etc, etc. I am shocked at the brutality of the actions by Bishop Smith. I once served as a Marine Line Officer, and never did I see such brutality even in war!

"Now the lawyers will get involved, and much time and money will be expended, as well as much embarrassment for all of this as it is continually written up in the media. This whole episode sickens me. There was absolutely no need for this to happen. But since legal proceedings will now begin, my prayer is that justice will be served."

Clearly the Panel of Reference will have its work cut out for it when they come to examine this case. The question will be; if the Panel recommends that Smith allow alternative pastoral oversight of Fr. Mark Hansen's choosing will he accept it, or will he blow it off like he has the Windsor Report. In the meantime the civil courts await.

END