From:
Albany Via Media
Concerned Episcopalians of St. Lawrence Deanery
Episcopal Forum of South Carolina 
Episcopal Voices of Central Florida
Fort Worth Via Media
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh
Remain Episcopal, San Joaquin, Cal.
Concerned Episcopalian in the Diocese of Florida

Date: January 16, 2004

For Immediate Release

Groups Praise the Strong Leadership of Bishop of West Tennessee

Schenectady, NY; Charleston, S.C.; Orlando, FL, Fort Worth, TX; Pittsburgh, PA;  Fresno, CA; Jacksonville, FL: Bishop Don Johnson of West Tennessee has acted with laudable promptness and firmness in responding to the disclosure of the confidential plans of the American Anglican Council (AAC) to dismantle the Episcopal Church, U.S.A. Bishop Johnson did not vote in favor of consecrating Bishop Gene Robinson (the first openly homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church), and he has been a conservative voice working within the church and encouraging others to do likewise.

But Bishop Johnson knows disloyalty when he sees it. The recent publication by the Washington Post of the letter from the Reverend Geoff Chapman, a member of the AAC “Committee on Adequate Episcopal Oversight,” provided evidence of a secret agenda that the Bishop could not ignore.  He has called on all within his diocese to disassociate themselves from an organization that he says intends “to methodically create anarchy in the Church” and “to destroy The Episcopal Church as it currently exists.”  As expected, supporters of the AAC have attacked Bishop Johnson for his actions, but we urge him to stay the course.  We applaud Bishop Johnson’s courageous stance and hope that other Bishops will take similar stands in their own dioceses.

Further Information:
http://www.episwtn.org/Pastoral%20Letter.htm
http://www.episwtn.org/AAC%20Letter.htm

Contacts:

Joan R. Gundersen
412-799-0440
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh
http://progressiveepiscopalians.org/

John Sorensen
518-561-7971
Albany Via Media
http://www.albanyviamedia.org/

Andrew Grimmke
Concerned Episcopalians of the St. Lawrence Deanery
http://www.cesld.org/

Dottie Pagliaro
843-768-7055
Episcopal Forum of South Carolina
dottiepag@usa.net

Leslie Poole
407-647-3492
Episcopal Voices of Central Florida
http://www.episcopalvoicescf.org/

Barbi Click
817-220-2046
Fort Worth Via Media
http://fwviamedia.org

The Rev. Rick Matters
209-369-3381
Remain Episcopal, San Joaquin, Cal.
http://www.remainepiscopal.org/

Earl M. Barker, Jr.
Concerned Episcopalian in the Diocese of Florida
Slott & Barker
334 East Duval Street
Jacksonville, FL 32202

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Note: The “Further Information” pages referenced in the original press release are no longer on the Web. The first is available from the Internet Archive, however, and the so-called Chapman Letter can be read on Thinking Anglicans.