When the Diocese of Fort Worth disassociated from the Episcopal Church in 2008, the denomination initiated a lawsuit, one of many against departing Anglican dioceses and parishes.
On May 22, 2020, the Supreme Court of Texas handed down a unanimous ruling favorable to the withdrawing diocese. In the video interview below, Bishop Ryan Reed shares with me about what his diocese has learned in the past decade, and about the importance of seeking the Gospel while eschewing triumphalism and hardness of heart.
“One of the things that we have learned is the spiritual handicap or weight that comes upon you even when you are defending yourself in a lawsuit,” Reed shares. ” This Sunday on Pentecost I am calling the entire diocese to a day or penance and of repentance. We are all collectively going to pray the litany of penance together and repent of any way in which this lawsuit has kept us from being faithful to the Gospel, any way it may have hardened our hearts to those who differ with us or those who wanted to hurt us.”
“This Sunday is a day of penance and a day of re-dedication. On Pentecost we are all going to re-affirm our baptismal vows and return to 100 percent focus upon sharing the Gospel and the transforming love of Jesus because that is what is important,” Reed declares. “All of this property and these funds and the buildings — those are just tools to help us share the good news of Jesus Christ. We could do with or without them to be honest, but if we’re not doing that, then those things don’t matter at all.”
