wfn.org | Two consecrations cause conflict throughout Episcopal Church

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Episcopal News Service
Kathryn McCormick
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2000-030A

Singapore consecration provokes strong response throughout the 
church

by Kathryn McCormick and James Solheim

     (ENS) The news of the consecration of two American priests 
as bishops in Singapore on January 29 by a group of conservative 
primates and bishops has prompted outspoken, colorful outbursts 
from across the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion--and 
a strong rebuke from Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey.

     The two new bishops, Charles H. Murphy III, head of First 
Promise, a network of conservative Episcopalians, and rector of 
All Saints Episcopal Church in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, 
and the Rev. John H. Rodgers, Jr., dean emeritus of Trinity 
Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, were 
consecrated to help "reestablish the unity that has been violated 
by the unrebuked ridicule and denial of basic Christian teaching" 
in the Episcopal Church.

     They intend to "actively seek to plant Anglican missions in 
areas where there are receptive communities," according to a 
press release issued after the consecration in St. Andrew's 
Cathedral. The release pointed to declining membership of the 
church in recent years, calling the decline "a crisis of the 
Christian Faith that has left the Episcopal Church divided."

     The consecrators included Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, 
primate of the Province of Rwanda, and Archbishop Moses Tay, 
primate of the Province of South East Asia, as well as John 
Ruchyahana, bishop of Shyira in Rwanda; Fitzsimmons Allison, 
former bishop of South Carolina; Alex Dickson, former bishop of 
West Tennessee, and David Pytches, former bishop of Chile, 
Bolivia and Peru who has been serving a parish in England.

Presiding bishop 'appalled' 

     "I am appalled by this irregular action and even more so by 
the purported 'crisis' that has been largely fomented by them and 
others, and which bears very little resemblance to the church we 
actually know, which is alive and well and faithful, as the 
Zacchaeus report so clearly indicates," said Presiding Bishop 
Frank T. Griswold in a letter sent January 31 to all bishops in 
the Episcopal Church. 

     He also sent copies of the letter to the 37 other primates 
of the Anglican Communion, scheduled to meet in Oporto, Portugal, 
March 23-28.

     In an interview, Griswold made it clear that "the Episcopal 
Church is not in crisis," but that it is attempting to deal 
openly and honestly with divergent points of view as a community 
of faith. He expressed frustration that some in the church cling 
to a "caricature," ignoring the reality that the church "seems to 
be finding a common mind and moving ahead with a broader and more 
inclusive outlook, a shared commitment to mission." For example, 
in recent years the bishops have been moving to a deeper level, 
not ignoring issues but finding ways to "embrace multiple 
realities." He said that the bishops have worked very hard to 
establish "a stronger sense of community with respect for 
differences. And we have made incredible strides."

     When asked about the Primates Meeting, Griswold said he 
fully expected to "to give the primates a more balanced 
impression of the Episcopal Church, a church far from being in 
chaos." He added, "I go to the meeting with an open mind, ready 
for revelations of the Spirit, ready for the wisdom of the 
primates. And I will listen with great care to their stories of 
mission."

     He said that the ordination of the two bishops was "outside 
all formal structures of the Anglican Communion. They were not 
elected and their consecrations did not follow a canonical 
process. They were highly irregular and outside all acceptable 
norms."

     Ballistic missiles?

     Archbishop Michael Peers of the Anglican Church of Canada 
was even more blunt. "Bishops are not intercontinental ballistic 
missiles, manufactured on one continent and fired into another as 
an act of aggression," he said in a statement. He called the 
consecrations "an open and premeditated assault on Anglican 
tradition, catholic order and Christian charity."

     Peers said that the consecrations were "an act designed to 
divide a church that is prayerfully seeking to grow in unity in 
the midst of real differences on a variety of issues. These 
ordinations have nothing to do with the unity of Christ of which 
a bishop is to be a sign and minister," and represent "an act 
designed to produce schism."

     Retired Bishop Maurice Benitez of Texas, on the other hand, 
said that the "sad divisions" in the Episcopal Church are the 
result of "the steady and continuing erosion of apostolic and 
biblical orthodoxy in the Episcopal Church over the past 20 
years."

     The new primate of Australia, Bishop Peter Carnley, 
described the action as "wicked" and said that such "vagrant" 
bishops were irregular and unlawful within the Anglican 
Communion.

     The primate of Tanzania, Donald Mtetemela, and the primate 
of the Southern Cone, Maurice Sinclair, and Archbishop Harry 
Goodhew of Sydney said that they were sorry to see that their 
colleagues "felt compelled to take this present action on their 
own initiative and contrary to what was agreed in a meeting in 
which they shared in Kampala." 

Profound disappointment

     Many questioned the timing of the consecrations. In 
Australia, Goodhew, a leading conservative, declared, "While I 
appreciate the concern and frustration that has prompted this 
action, I wish to express my profound disappointment that these 
consecrations have taken place at this time and in this manner." 
Goodhew heads one of the largest dioceses in the Anglican 
Communion and was a member of a group of church leaders invited 
to visit the Episcopal Church last year. He wrote the group's 
report that was largely critical of the Episcopal Church and the 
way it has dealt with the issues of sexuality and continuing 
opposition to the ordination of women.

     Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, who was on a visit to 
the Province of Southern Africa, also expressed regret at the 
action in a statement released by his office. "It has come as a 
grave disappointment to the archbishop," the statement read, "as 
it is his view that such consecrations are irresponsible and 
irregular and only harm the unity of the communion."

     Kolini and Tay wrote to Carey January 30, "Far from being an 
attack on the Communion, this action is an affirmation of the 
unity of Anglican doctrine and faith which has been frequently 
and flagrantly violated in the ECUSA." They described the 
consecrations as a "pastoral step" and an "interim action" that 
"simply gives pastoral care until faithful doctrine and 
ecclesiastical discipline has been restored."

     Carey wrote to the Anglican Communion's bishops February 17 
stating that the consecrations did not follow the proper 
procedures and that he "cannot recognize their episcopal ministry 
until such time as a full rapprochement and reconciliation has 
taken place between them and the appropriate authorities within 
the Episcopal Church of the United States." He added that it was 
"unrealistic" to expect that the Primates Meeting could resolve 
the issues facing the church and that the primates "have no 
authority to impose our will on any province."(see separate 
article)

Uncertain status

     While critics and supporters debated the merits of 
consecrating bishops in Singapore to send as missioners to the 
Episcopal Church, others wondered about the official status of 
the new bishops.

     Bishop Edward L. Salmon, Jr. of South Carolina initially 
said he did not know what Murphy's future status would be. In a 
statement issued to the diocese, Salmon said that the 
consecrations "pose serious questions about the relationships of 
Provinces of the Anglican Communion to the American church, 
doctrinal and canonical issues within the American church," as 
well as the diocese. Later, at the diocesan convention, Salmon 
said that he would be willing to license Murphy so that he could 
"function sacramentally" but that he could not continue to serve 
his parish.

     When he heard the plans for the consecration of three 
Americans on January 13, Salmon said that he expressed his 
opposition, especially in light of the Primates Meeting--and 
because four of the six primates who had seemed to favor such an 
action at a meeting in Uganda last November were now opposed. 
"The action had the potential of dividing faithful people who are 
in agreement about doctrinal and moral issues in the American 
church," he said. "I believe that in all of these events it is 
important to minimize further divisions and to urge the whole 
church to seek a godly solution. This action is obviously a 
symptom of much larger issues. More anger and hatred will not 
help the situation."

Kampala meeting

     Tay and Kolini both attended the meeting of conservative 
primates in Kampala, Uganda, at which the group agreed to voice 
its dismay at what it perceives as the Episcopal Church's 
rejection of Anglican orthodoxy. The primates had planned to ask 
their colleagues at the Primates Meeting to use a potential 
option outlined in a resolution passed at the 1998 Lambeth 
Conference.

     The resolution asks that the Primates Meeting include among 
its responsibilities "positive encouragement to mission, 
intervention in cases of exceptional emergency which are 
incapable of internal resolution, and giving of guidelines on the 
limits of diversity in submitting to the sovereign authority of 
Holy Scripture and loyalty to Anglican tradition and 
formularies."

     The primates at the Kampala meeting rejected a bid by First 
Promise for its own bishops but they acknowledged that some in 
their group were ready to take action before the gathering of 
primates.

     Bishop James Stanton of Dallas, head of the American 
Anglican Council and an observer at the Kampala meeting, asked 
the primates not to take precipitate action. He said that, unlike 
First Promise, the AAC was eager to see American bishops working 
with Griswold to deal with "liberal bishops running roughshod 
over their people."

     In a statement issued January 31, the AAC said that, while 
it had hoped that the consecrations could have been avoided, the 
act marked "the beginning of a new reality for the Episcopal 
Church." Much of the church's leadership, the statement 
continued, "has utterly failed to recognize the magnitude of the 
crisis that is tearing apart our church." Declaring that it 
"prayed that the Episcopal Church would provide for alternative 
oversight for orthodox parishes," the statement ended by saying, 
"Nothing less than the integrity of the Gospel and the future of 
the church is at stake."

     Later, in a column in the diocesan newspaper, Stanton said 
that he feared that the consecrations would "deepen the fractures 
in our own church," and that he did not support "alternative" or 
"missionary" bishops as a way forward.

Major shift in power

     Dean Peter Moore of Trinity School for Ministry, pointed out 
that the election of Rodgers and Murphy as bishops "sends shock 
waves throughout the Anglican Communion at a time when numerical 
decline in the Western Hemisphere, and robust growth in the 
Southern Hemisphere, signal a major shift in power."

     The two bishops, he said, are being sent from younger 
missionary churches to "re-evangelize a listless and doctrinally 
uncertain church in the West." However, their service will 
present challenges to Episcopal Church bishops who disagree with 
Rodgers and Murphy or who fear losing members to their work.

     Moore said that his seminary sympathizes with those who 
performed the consecrations, sharing the understanding that this 
was an attempt to keep frustrated Anglicans in the fold. He added 
that "we view this action as a direct result of the rejection of 
the 1998 Lambeth Resolutions on sexuality by diocese after 
diocese within the Episcopal Church"

     While noting that "there is a note of desperation" in the 
action at this time, he said that his seminary did not share that 
feeling but feared that it could lead to an erosion of 
evangelical and orthodox solidarity within the church.

     Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, who has been an 
outspoken conservative, said in a letter to his diocese that the 
consecrations were "but another in the spiral of events of the 
last thirty years by which the fabric and the direction of our 
Episcopal Church are being tested and shaped."

     He noted that as one of the American observers at Kampala he 
had told the primates there that there "was no hope of reform of 
the Episcopal Church without the international primates and the 
wider Anglican Communion calling us to some reasonable 
accountability," but he had worked to discourage the First 
Promise plan to establish an additional Anglican province in the 
U.S.

     He urged the members of his diocese to focus on their local 
mission and continue to support each other across congregational 
lines, even as the national and international church grappled 
with the turmoil prompted by the consecrations.

     In remarks that recalled the diocese's unanimous vote at its 
November convention for partnership with Rwanda, and with 
Ruchyahana's diocese, Duncan said one quotation from Kolini had 
been "indelibly seared" in his memory: "At the genocide in 1994, 
the whole world stood back and no one came to Rwanda's aid. We 
will never stand back when others are similarly threatened, 
physically or spiritually."

--Kathryn McCormick is associate director and James Solheim is 
director of the Office of News and Information of the Episcopal 
Church.