First of all, someone said that he heard that my license had been revoked. That is not true. I remain a priest in Good Standing in the Diocese of the South of the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) under Archbishop Haverland. For geographical reasons I expect to change my canonical residency, and even now am fully approved to serve as a priest, mostly to fill in as needed or invited.
Someone else said I was "fired." No, I retired after having taken part in the formation and training of my successor for about seven years. And, for the record, one cannot have a successor unless one has succeeded; and by the grace of God, I was able to hand on a healthy church that should endure. Like many Continuing Anglican parishes, it was full mostly of senior citizens when I took the helm there in 2009. I did so many funerals and memorial services over the years that we filled the Memorial Garden. Nonetheless, despite many deaths and relocations, the congregation was a good size at the time of my retirement, and it continues to grow. "I am a man under authority," even though I do not agree with the management model by which a Rector, upon retirement, is expected to go away. I see nothing about such a mindset in the Bible nor in the Catholic Tradition. Being away from those people causes me sorrow of heart.
I will address a few details. I once said that I had, at times, given Saint Benedict's Anglican Church "Mouth to mouth resuscitation." After that got spun through the rumor mill it came back to me from someone misquoting me as having said that I put the church on "life support." No, that is not what I said. Mouth to mouth resuscitation was a metaphor for something active; putting the church on life support would be a metaphor for something passive. I was very busy during my tenure. The same person said, "Fr. Hart did nothing to grow the church." If that were true, the parish would have closed down years ago. It was never the largest Continuing church, but its membership was always larger than most. We welcomed many new members in over the years, and I personally met with each of them as part of the process. In fact, because of so many deaths and relocations, upon my retirement only three members of the congregation had been there before I was in charge. But for those three, every member came in while I was the Rector. In a sense, by the grace of God, I built that congregation.
I freely forgive the people who have twisted my words and presented falsehoods as facts, some perhaps because they believe what someone told them. They know who they are. I prefer the idea of reconciliation (Matt. 18:21, 22, Gen. 33:3,4) to unilateral forgiveness (Mark 11:25), because it is the always the revealed will of God for His Church. My hand is held out. They still have my love, which at this time adds to my pain.
When I first went to Saint Benedict's I went to a parish that had gone through bitter division and that had often treated vestry meetings as occasions for strife. After a brief period of time under my rectorship, no trace of those things remained, and even vestry meetings were usually fun, certainly always friendly. I left the parish in very good spiritual health; better than what I had found.
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