wfn.org | Conservative Episcopalians petition for protection of orthodox

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

99-005
Conservatives petition Anglican primates for protection of 
orthodox in Episcopal Church

by James Solheim
(ENS) Conservatives in the Episcopal Church, alleging that 
they are "increasingly marginalized and theologically offended," 
have supported a petition sent to the world's Anglican bishops, 
asking them for intervention to protect their orthodox status in 
the American church. 

The petition was sent in the name of the Association of 
Anglican Congregations on Mission (AACM), a group of parishes that 
have left the Episcopal Church. It asks the orthodox bishops of 
the Anglican Communion for "protection of orthodox Anglicans in 
the United States until the Episcopal Church of the United States 
of America is reformed or replaced as a province of the 
Communion."  The petition also asks the primates of the Anglican 
Communion for "emergency intervention" to protect orthodox 
believers.

AACM's petition to the primates includes almost 200 pages 
that "recounts the current state of the Episcopal Church and its 
response to and decisions made" since last summer's Lambeth 
Conference of Anglican bishops. "It reports with detailed 
appendix, ECUSA's continued violation of Lambeth resolutions and 
open rejection of them via specific actions in conflict," 
including resolutions passed by dioceses.

The petition states that the "reformation" of the 
Episcopal Church must include conformity with resolutions on human 
sexuality, the authority of Scripture, the authority of primates 
to intervene and limits of diversity. And it demands that 
"immediate action must be taken with respect to resolutions and 
canons to be adopted at the 2000 General Convention."

"If the revisionist ECUSA bishops do not cease violating 
the above resolutions and the 2000 General Convention does not 
take appropriate action to bring ECUSA into compliance, the 
Primates Meeting should take such action as may be appropriate to 
separate ECUSA from the Anglican Communion and replace it with an 
alternative province composed of a continuing Episcopal Church of 
orthodox believing Christians who submit to the sovereign 
authority of Scripture and are loyal to our Anglican tradition and 
formularies."

"We are working together to express the unity in the faith 
which we share and for a common goal of faithfulness to true 
Anglican, biblical orthodoxy in the Episcopal Church, or if 
necessary, in a continuing, alternative province in the Anglican 
Communion," said a statement by the First Promise Round Table 
endorsing the petition distributed in December.

The Rev. Chuck Murphy, leader of the First Promise 
coalition, argued that the American church was "in the middle of 
a major struggle" and needed the help of "an international 
alliance of primates" who hold orthodox views.

Many conservatives are predicting a theological 
confrontation at the next General Convention, scheduled for the 
summer of 2000 in Denver and are pressing for a non-geographic 
province to protect themselves. A recent meeting in Atlanta of 36 
leaders in the movement put forward the name of a potential bishop 
to guide such a province-the Rev. John H. Rodgers, former dean of 
Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. 
When asked by a reporter whether he would accept such an election, 
Rodgers responded that it might still be possible for the 
Episcopal Church to "repent," making radical action unnecessary.
Yet he admitted that it "would require a major miracle, similar to the
parting of the Red Sea."

Conservatives have raised the possibility of a diocese or 
province of orthodox Episcopalians before but Archbishop of 
Canterbury George Carey has sent clear signals that he would not 
recognize a separate jurisdiction outside of the Episcopal Church. 
"Are they aware they would not ever be recognized by the 
archbishop of Canterbury?" Bishop Mark Dyer of Virginia Seminary 
told a Washington reporter. "There isn't the slightest chance. 
Whatever differences the archbishop has with some practices in the 
Episcopal Church, he would never recognize this group."

--James Solheim is director of the Episcopal Church's Office of 
News and Information.

http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens