Our Mission Statement
Where there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29:18a It is the bounden duty and service of this parish, being part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, to worship God as He has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, to become saints and to make disciples of all people.
Preserving Our Anglican Roots
Although we go back to the beginning of the Church in Britain theologically, St. Peter's came into being after a long, often painful struggle with the heretical actions of the church. St. Peter's Anglican Church was founded as a congregation, formed by Episcopal clergy and laity who prayerfully separated themselves from the Episcopal Church and its departure from Biblical, Liturgical and Moral standards.
In 1976 , the Convention of ECUSA voted to allow women to be ordained priests and bishops. This action took place after several women had already been illegally ordained! This novel step was the first in the destruction of the Apostolic Ministry. Soon other heretical acts followed, including:
1. Changing the rules of marriage, thus encouraging the destruction of the Christian family.
2. Changing the written word of God to meet worldly standards.
3. Ordination of practicing homosexual men and women.
4. Blessing of same-sex unions approved by bishops.
At the beginning of these acts, and after efforts to work through the system, bishops, priests and laity of the church formed The Episcopal Synod of America (ESA) at a large international meeting in Ft. Worth, May 1989, under the direction of the Rt. Rev'd A. Donald Davies. Bishop Davies was the former Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas, the founding Bishop of the Diocese of Ft. Worth and the Bishop of the Episcopal congregations in Europe.
Soon after this historical meeting, the influence of the Synod and the growing unrest among Episcopal Churches led the National Church to approve the formation of a province within a province, the Diocese of the Missionary District of the Americas, as an institutional shelter for members who felt dispossessed. Bishop Davies was appointed to be the bishop. But it soon became apparent that remaining within the system would not bring hope, change nor solution.
Fr. Murphy, now retired after 41 years as a priest and 29 years as rector of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, organized a prayer group at the request of lay people. It was called St. Athanasius, and met in members homes. The Society was chartered by the State of Texas and approved by ECUSA's House of Bishops Committee on Religious Communities. Bishop Davies was Visitor and Advisor for the group.
On Nov. 11, 1991, after the defeat at General Convention of a proposal to afford traditionalists an institutional shelter, members of St. Athanasius petitioned Bishop Davies for membership in the Missionary Diocese of the Americas. Bishop Davies and Fr. Murphy petitioned Bishop Ben Benitez, Bishop of the Diocese of Texas, for permission to organize a mission for the disinherited. Bishop Benitez said No way and eventually allowed Fr. Murphy, to resign from ministry in ECUSA for reasons of conscience. Without ECUSA approval through General Convention, the Missionary Diocese of the Americas was dead in the water.
Bishops, priests and laity alike broke with ECUSA to form various jurisdictions across the country. Of these groups, The Episcopal Missionary Church, EMC, was unique: its organizational bishop was Bishop A. Donald Davies the first member of the House of Bishops to leave ECUSA . On Dec. 1, 1991, Fr. Murphy, organized a new congregation, named after St. Peter, The Rock, which met at the Post Oak YMCA. The Church of St. Peter became the first church to join Bishop Davies in the formation of the EMC.
In November, 1992, at a convention in Dickinson, Texas , Bishop Davies was elected Presiding Bishop. As a result of this meeting, Bishop Davies was deposed by the House of Bishops. At the first meeting of the Synod of EMC in Richmond, Virginia in November 1993, two suffragan bishops were elected. Bishop Murphy was elected bishop for the Diocese of the Holy Cross. States included in this diocese went from Texas to Wyoming. Bishop Murphy, as Ordinary of the Diocese of the Holy Cross, continued to serve as rector of St. Peter's church as well.
Upon the retirement of Bishop Davies, the diocese decided to become an independent diocese, keeping the whole Catholic and Apostolic faith and praying for the union of all separated bodies in the Anglican Communion. In 1999, the Diocese of the Holy Cross elected the Rev�d Robert F. Waggener, rector of the Church in Cheyenne, Wyoming, as Coadjutor. In September 2003, at a diocesan meeting of clergy in Birmingham, Alabama, Bishop Murphy resigned as Bishop Ordinary. Bishop Waggener became the Bishop of the Diocese. Bishop Paul Hewett is the current Bishop of the Diocese of the Holy Cross.
