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The Episcopal Church Welcomes You...On Your Terms
Anything Goes...The Episcopal Church...A Religion for the 21st Century
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
March 2, 2011
For decades the sign has been visible on roads, and outside every Episcopal Church in the US. It reads: "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You."
Well, Trinity Episcopal Church, Northport, NY, in the Diocese of Long Island has gone a step further. They have put a sign outside in a locked display that reads "Anything Goes. The Episcopal Church...A Religion for the 21st Century".
The church is trying to be inclusive, a spokesperson in the parish told VOL by phone. "The Vestry approved the sign," she said. "The sign was done by a Confirmation class who were given an advertising project to do, and this is what one child did as a poster. This begs the question what are they teaching or not teaching confirmands these days!?
After a concerned Episcopalian, who is a member of an Orthodox Episcopal (read Anglo-Catholic) parish in a neighboring town saw the sign (and photographed it), he sent an e-mail to his bishop, The Rt. Rev. Lawrence C. Provenzano and asked him if by "anything goes" are rape, murder, bestiality, or any belief or conduct the individual chooses now acceptable in The Episcopal Church? the bishop replied that it was a rather strange sign and he would look into it and correct the situation. That was several months ago. The reporting individual has heard nothing more and says the sign is still up.
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TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Long Island, NY - UPDATED
By David W. Virtue
March 15, 2011
It just gets worse. If that's possible.
On March 2 Virtueonline broke the news that an Episcopal parish in the Diocese of Long Island had posted a sign outside in a locked display that read, "Anything Goes. The Episcopal Church...A Religion for the 21st Century".
It was suggested to Long Island Bishop Lawrence C. Provenzano that perhaps he ought to look into it and address the issue with the church about its appropriateness. He told an Anglo-Catholic layman that he would do just that, but apparently did nothing at all.
Now the parish has gone even further in theological outrage and posted a new sign that has a picture of Mr. Spock from Star Trek fame that reads: "The Episcopal Church... It's the logical thing to do...Your beliefs should be what you believe, not what was told to you. Visit us, you deserve the opportunity."
Another part of the display case still has the original sign, "Anything Goes. The Episcopal Church...A Religion for the 21st Century" but it has been rearranged to blend in with other signs.
You can view them all here:
