wfn.org | Singapore situation continues

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

For more information contact:
Episcopal News Service
Kathryn McCormick
kmccormick@dfms.org
http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens
2000-049
Anglicans continue to sort out implications of consecration in 
Singapore
by James Solheim
(ENS) Anglicans around the world continue to sort out the 
implications of the consecration of two Americans as "missionary 
bishops" by the primates of Rwanda and South East Asia.

     The January 29 consecration of John Rodgers, Jr. of 
Pennsylvania and Charles Murphy of South Carolina is meant to 
help "reestablish the unity that has been violated by the 
unrebuked ridicule and denial of basic Christian teaching" in the 
Episcopal Church, according to an initial press release.

     Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold said that he was 
"appalled by this irregular action and even more so by the 
purported 'crisis' that has been largely fomented by them and 
others." Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey said in a February 
17 statement 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." Lambeth Palace later 
said that the consecrations were "valid but illegal," meaning 
that Rodgers and Murphy were bishops but lacked legality because 
of shortcomings in the consecration process.

     Archbishop Moses Tay of South East Asia and Archbishop 
Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda defended their action in a January 30 
letter to Carey. "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."

Sorry affair?

     Reaction has varied widely, and does not split neatly 
between liberals and conservatives. 	

     The bishops of the Province of Southern Africa issued a 
statement March 1 saying that they are "deeply shocked" by the 
consecration, agreeing with Carey that they are "totally 
irregular and irresponsible. The action taken is thoroughly 
anarchic and undermines proper order in the Church of God."

     The bishops also agreed with comments by Archbishop Michael 
Peers of Canada that the local church chooses bishops, adding 
that the consecration "actually makes a mockery of the church's 
sacrament of episcopal ordination." They recommended that the 
meeting of the Anglican Communion primates in Portugal in March 
should condemn the consecrations, declare the bishops out of 
communion with Canterbury and the other provinces, support the 
Americans in a search for reconciliation and call for repentance 
from "those who have erred so grievously."

     Peers called the consecrations "a sorry affair" in a column 
in the Toronto Globe and Mail. "There simply is no mandate for 
these ordinations... It was 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 in Christ of which a bishop is to be 
a sign and minister," he said.

     Bishop Paul Marshall of Bethlehem sounded a similar note 
when he said, "To consecrate bishops intending to create a fifth 
column in a place where the sacraments are already celebrated is 
to deny directly the nature of the episcopate as a sign of unity 
and the church as the context in which Holy Orders have meaning." 
While he agreed that "liberal bishops could be more accommodating 
to conservative parishes," consecrating "missionary bishops" 
suggests that there is no church in America.

     The new primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, the 
Most. Rev. Peter Carnley, described the consecration as "wicked" 
and said that such "vagrant" bishops are irregular and unlawful 
within Anglicanism.

Nature of episcopacy

     But three conservative archbishops from different parts of 
the world, who "share in a deep concern for Anglican orthodoxy 
and where it is being eroded, disagreed. "We regret that 
pressures upon traditionalists within the Episcopal Church in the 
U.S. should have accumulated to the point at which two primates, 
whom we hold in esteem, 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," said Archbishops 
Harry Goodhew of Sydney, Donald Mtetemala of Tanzania and Maurice 
Sinclair of Southern Cone.

     Last November they participated in a meeting where 
conservatives from the American church pleaded for bishops of 
their own but were given little encouragement. Yet several of the 
primates held out the possibility that they would take some 
action before the Portugal meeting of primates.

     Bishop James Stanton of Dallas, who participated in the 
Kampala meeting, agreed with Carey's response as "both reasonable 
and appropriate" because the archbishop of Canterbury "upholds 
the traditional understanding of the office of bishop and points 
out the dangers inherent in bishops acting unilaterally for any 
cause." He concluded, "We in the West, and in the American church 
in particular, need to be reminded of the collegial and 
accountable nature of the episcopate."

     Bishop Claude Payne of Texas said that acting independently 
is not a solution. The consecration does not encourage Christian 
community but is "a reaction by conservatives who are frustrated 
by the continued lack of due process in gaining consensus before 
decisions are made."

     Bishop Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina argued that 
the consecration "strikes at the very heart of Anglicanism, the 
polity and order of the church" but he agreed with Bishop Ed 
Salmon of South Carolina that more anger would not help the 
situation. He hoped that there would be time "for wisdom to be 
discerned, for a godly solution to be reached. Further disunity 
and division is to be avoided if at all possible."

Biblical faithfulness

     That may not be possible, according to Rodgers. In an 
interview with the Living Church, he said that over the years 
parishes which found themselves caught in dioceses "departing 
from biblical teaching and morals" actually considered leaving 
the denomination. "Every one of these congregations wanted to be 
part of the Anglican Communion but did not believe that they 
could remain in the diocese of the Episcopal Church in which they 
were located, with good conscience," he said.

     In a series of pre-Lambeth meetings he talked with church 
leaders in other provinces "to see what possibilities might lie 
for their oversight."

     When asked what he hoped to accomplish, Rodgers said that 
"we hope just to draw the attention of the whole Communion to the 
importance of biblical faithfulness." And he hopes that the 
primates "will see in this the depth of the issue. It just simply 
cannot go on the way it's been going on--the differences are too 
profound and deep...." On the touchy issue of respecting diocesan 
boundaries, he said that where a diocese honors all the 
resolutions of Lambeth--on the authority of Scripture and human 
sexuality--"we will be happy to respect the boundary resolution 
on diocesan structure."

     In an attempt to place the controversy in context, Bishop 
Rogers Harris said that he has seen the church's unity "tested 
sometimes by raging controversies such as whether women can truly 
worship God without wearing hats. We have been threatened by 
schism over the civil rights movement, Prayer Book revision, the 
role of women in the church and much more. In my opinion," the 
retired bishop of Southwest Florida asserted, "we have never been 
more united in the mission of Christ than we are now." While not 
glossing over differences of opinion, Harris said that "the way 
we are handling these differences is constructive and conducive 
to real unity."

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