wfn.org | Fate of Little Rock traditionalist parish still

[John Rollins <rollins@intac.com>]

unsettled

98-2228
Fate of Little Rock traditionalist parish still
unsettled

by James Solheim
(ENS) The fate of a mission congregation formed last
spring in Little Rock,  Arkansas, without the support of
the diocese or Bishop Larry Maze, is still not settled.
Efforts by a Rwandan bishop to provide episcopal
oversight and preside at confirmation  in late September,
despite a resolution from the Lambeth Conference
reaffirming its  respect for diocesan boundaries, were
called off-at least for now.  The mission congregation
was started in the fall of 1997 and, when they called a
rector the following January,  Maze warned the Rev.
Thomas Johnston of South Carolina  that he would be
violating the canons of the church "by accepting an
irregular call in a  diocese where he was not canonically
resident." Johnston said that "he knew the canons  and
had prayerfully decided to take this call in spit of our
objections," said Maze.  Before the diocesan council
could take action, "to our utter amazement on April  13
we learned that the bishop of South Carolina had earlier
received a request to transfer  Mr. Johnston to the
Diocese of Shyira, Rwanda, Africa, and on April 6 had
complied  with the request," Maze told his diocese. The
action effectively removed Johnston from  "accountability
to the America church." In effect, "what had been a
national dispute  involving the integrity of diocesan
boundaries is now an issue transplanted to the larger
Anglican Communion."
     In 1988 Lambeth passed a resolution that "reaffirms
its unity in the historical  position of respect for
diocesan boundaries and the authority of bishops within
those  boundaries," Maze pointed out. The resolution said
that it would be "inappropriate  behavior for any bishop
or priest of this Communion to exercise episcopal or
pastoral  ministry within another diocese without first
obtaining the permission and invitation of  the ecclesial
authority thereof."
     The Lambeth resolution in 1988 arose when Bishop
Graham Leonard, at that time  bishop of London and now a
Roman Catholic, visited a traditionalist parish in Tulsa,
Oklahoma.

Spiritual asylum
     "My simple but clear concern and commitment is to
give St. Andrews and Rev.  Johnston spiritual asylum,"
wrote Bishop John Rucyahana in June to Maze. "I am
saddened even more that you got to a point where church
leaders force people into  schism. I pray that this
congregation remains Anglican up to a time when you
resolve  your differences or give it a flying bishop, who
will nurture their faith from your  province." He said
that the congregation had been "pushed to the edge and
applied for a  refuge and they have it. I hope that you
and your province will find a solution to this  problem."
     In a letter to Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey
just before the Lambeth  Conference began in July,
Rucyahana repeated his allegation that the parish was
being  formed "because they disagreed doctrinally" with
the bishop, noting that Maze had  signed the Koinonia
Statement that emerged from the 1994 House of Bishops
meeting in  Indianapolis. The statement says that sexual
orientation is morally neutral and that it is  possible
for God to bless monogamous same-sex relationships.
Rucyahana dismissed the Lambeth resolutions, saying that
"the issue of  boundaries and collegiality cannot hold
when the central unity in Jesus is damaged."
     Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold and Maze met at
this summer's Lambeth  Conference with Archbishop
Emmanuel Kolini and Rucyahana in an effort to head off
any further confrontation, only to find that Rucyahana
had not called off his plan to go to  Little Rock. In a
letter to Kolini, Griswold reminded him of Lambeth's
position on the  integrity of diocesan boundaries and
asked the primate "to make clear to Bishop  Rucyahana
that his current plan is most unwise and harmful."
Archbishop of Canterbury  George Carey also used his
office to intercede with both sides.    In his own letter
of July 28, Maze said that the offer of asylum "is based
on  misinformation" the bishop had received. "There
simply is no situation in which people  are being denied
a place in the Diocese of Arkansas because of what they
may or may not  believe. It is rather a case in which
diocesan leadership must be free to decide where,  when
and how new congregations are formed."
     "It's clear to me that St. Andrew's has become a
cause for conservative groups in  this country," Maze
said in a telephone interview. "And the sad thing is that
well-intentioned local Episcopalians are getting caught
up in that cause, one that doesn't have  anything to do
with our life as a diocese," he added. "There is no
conversation on the  local level in an attempt to resolve
the issue."

--James Solheim is the Episcopal Church's director of
news and information.