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For more information contact:
The Rev. Jan Nunley
Deputy Director
Episcopal News Service
jnunley@dfms.org
212/922-5383
http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens

2000-117

Murphy and Rodgers launch traditionalist Anglican Mission in 
America

by Jan Nunley

     (ENS) Two American priests say they have been authorized to 
form an "Anglican Mission in America" under the auspices of the 
Provinces of Rwanda and South East Asia, whose archbishops 
irregularly consecrated them as "missionary bishops" to the 
American church in January. 

     Charles H. Murphy III and John H. Rodgers met with 
Archbishops Emmanuel Kolini (Rwanda) and Yong Ping Chung (South 
East Asia) during the recent "Amsterdam 2000" international 
evangelistic conference. Rodgers reported that they had been told 
to "go ahead full steam" with planting churches "in any part of 
the USA, no limits." He cited actions by the 2000 General 
Convention on homosexuality as the impetus for the two primates' 
new mandate.

     Also attending the Amsterdam meeting were Archbishop Harry 
Goodhew (Sydney) and Bishops John Rucyahana (Rwanda), Robert 
Duncan (Pittsburgh), Edward MacBurney (retired, Quincy), and 
Harry Griffith, executive officer of First Promise.

     In a letter, Rodgers indicated that the two American 
traditionalist organizations with which he and Murphy have been 
associated, First Promise and the Association of Anglican 
Congregations on Mission (AACOM), will merge into "one movement" 
overseen by the archbishops of South East Asia and Rwanda. AACOM 
will become "Missionary Congregations of South East Asia" under 
Rodgers' leadership, and First Promise will be known as 
"Missionary Congregations of Rwanda" under Murphy. 

     Rodgers said the two have been given permission to receive 
previously consecrated American bishops, and "as I understand 
it," to consecrate new bishops, following the next Primates' 
meeting at Kanuga, North Carolina, in March, 2001. MacBurney's 
name has been mentioned as a possible third missionary bishop, 
although there was no indication of whether he would be joining 
the church of Rwanda or South East Asia.

     "We also have a plan to add new Provinces to our sponsoring 
Provinces," Rodgers reported in the letter to AACOM. Sources 
indicate that one of those may be the Province of the Church of 
Nigeria. The traditionalist group Reform Ireland has officially 
recognized the AMA as "the authentic expression of Anglicanism 
within the United States." 

"A direct assault" on ECUSA

     The move came just weeks after a letter was sent to Kolini, 
in which Bishops Clifton Daniel III of East Carolina and Frank 
Neff Powell of Southwestern Virginia asked Kolini to discipline 
Murphy for performing episcopal acts in both dioceses without 
invitation or permission from them. "This is a direct assault on 
the polity and integrity of The Episcopal Church…and of the 
Anglican Communion," the July 14 letter stated. "Such action 
denies the consistent historical stance of the Lambeth 
Conferences regarding the integrity of provincial and diocesan 
boundaries."

     The two American bishops also challenged the legality of 
Murphy's consecration. "[A]ccording to the Constitution of the 
Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda…Charles Murphy is not 
a bishop," the letter stated. "[T]here is no provision in the 
Constitution of your Province for bishops to minister or reside 
outside Rwanda, nor for the election or consecration of any kind 
of bishop other than a diocesan." 

     Shortly after the release of that letter, the Rwandan House 
of Bishops reportedly "clarified and regularized" Murphy's 
consecration, formally incorporating him as part of that body. A 
welcoming letter to Murphy from six of Rwanda's nine bishops, 
sent earlier in the year, was also released. Reports indicate 
that Rodgers' recognition by the bishops of South East Asia is 
pending. 

     The Rwandan bishops said that they and the Province of South 
East Asia are "not in communion" with Anglican provinces that do 
not endorse the 1997 Kuala Lumpur statement on sexuality, 
including ECUSA. Therefore, they maintain that sending Murphy to 
the U.S. to do "missionary work" does not contradict Lambeth 
resolutions on diocesan boundaries. 

     To date, Kolini has not responded to the American bishops' 
letter, said Powell, adding that "the actions of Archbishop 
Kolini represent further attempts to weaken the fabric of the 
Anglican Communion."

"Exodus" of congregations predicted

     Both Rodgers and Murphy predicted an exodus of 
traditionalist congregations from ECUSA to the newly formed AMA. 
"There are about 17 or so congregations under Bishop Murphy and 
myself," Rodgers wrote to his AACOM congregations, "with many 
more on the way…I expect there will be between 50 to 80 
congregations under our care by March 2001." Rodgers did not 
indicate where the dissident congregations were located, but 
First Promise's Harry Griffith was quoted in the Church Times as 
saying that AMA-affiliated churches would not be planted in 
"friendly dioceses" without working with a local ECUSA bishop.

     While united in their criticism of the 2000 General 
Convention's actions on sexuality and women's ordination, 
American traditionalists remain deeply divided on whether the AMA 
"strategy" is the correct one. 

     Citing historical precedent, the Prayer Book Society's Dr. 
Peter Toon and Dr. Louis Tarsitano called for a "national 
convention" of dissident American Episcopalians to form an 
alternative Anglican province and then seek recognition from the 
archbishop of Canterbury. They warned of the "lessons" taught by 
the frequent splintering of so-called Continuing Anglican 
churches, which number approximately 50 U.S.-based groups at this 
time. 

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is Deputy Director of the Episcopal 
Church's Office of News and Information.