wfn.org | Episcopal Bishop seeks reconciliation with departing clergy

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Los Angeles bishop seeks reconciliation with departing clergy, parishioners 
as legal deadline nears

by Bob Williams

ENS 082904-1

[ENS, Los Angeles, August 29, 2004] - Keeping a second weekend open for 
reconciliation with people who have left three Episcopal parishes and 
aligned with a Ugandan diocese opposed to openly gay clergy and same-sex 
blessings, Los Angeles Bishop J. Jon Bruno preached this morning on "true 
religion" as a matter of remaining "bonded together using all our skills to 
settle our pain and grievance."

Bruno called for "unconditional love" to be extended to a group said to 
number 1,700 people -- from All Saints, Long Beach; St. James, Newport 
Beach; and St. David's, North Hollywood -- who have in the past two weeks 
voted to disavow the Episcopal Church and to affiliate with the Anglican 
Diocese of Luweero, Uganda. The parishes are among the 147 congregations of 
the six-county Diocese of Los Angeles, where overall membership is 
estimated at about 85,000.

The bishop said he hoped for reconciliation before a Monday-morning 
deadline that calls on departing clergy, wardens and vestry members to 
respond to letters hand-delivered to them August 27 from diocesan attorney 
John R. Shiner of the Los Angeles offices of the law firm Morrison &
Foerster.

The letters call on each congregation to adopt one of two courses of 
action: either "immediately surrender control of the Parish corporation and 
Parish property to the Bishop and those congregants who have elected to 
remain as faithful members of the Church" -- or affirm an alternate 
nine-point plan of action to "preserve the status quo of the Parish, its 
loyal congregants, and the Parish's real and personal property until the 
matter is either resolved by the Church or by a court of competent 
jurisdiction."

The latter requirements stipulate that the breakaway groups not conduct 
worship services or other activities on site without written permission of 
the bishop. The requirements also proscribe the use of any printed 
materials of the church, including the Book of Common Prayer, and calls on 
each parish to provide the attorney within five days a current financial 
statement and a copy of the parish register.

Clergy familiar with such proceedings tell the Episcopal News Service that 
the letters reflect a widely held view that "parishes do not leave the 
Episcopal Church; individuals do."

In an August 27 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Newport Beach rector 
Praveen Bunyan called the letter unfortunate. "We're just worshipping in 
our own property," he told the Times. "We're doing what is legally our 
right. We will continue to have worship services here. We have peace about
it."

Bunyon and other clergy affiliated with the congregations -- all of whom 
have been inhibited from priestly ministry by action of Bruno as bishop -- 
have refused interview requests from ENS. Bunyon was elected rector of St. 
James Parish after the retirement of the Rev. Canon David Anderson, current 
president of the American Anglican Council.

Meanwhile, Bruno reiterated reconciliation themes Saturday in remarks to 
the diocesan Commission on Gay and Lesbian Ministries. Referring to clergy 
and laity from the three congregations, "If they walked through these doors 
right now, I'd welcome them with open arms -- and I know you would, too," 
Bruno said to applause from 80-plus people gathered with commission members 
at a Los Angeles reception. Praising the commission's faithfulness through 
a decade of reconciliation dialogue and forums, Bruno encouraged commission 
members and friends not to be deterred in their work by the current 
struggle. "You're absolutely worth it," he declared.

Various commission members have joined with the Rev. Canon Brian Cox of the 
national Reconciliation Institute and with lay leader Cynthia Drennan of 
St. James, Newport Beach, in leading a series of diocesan workshops aimed 
at creating understanding and tolerance of differing points of view. The 
most recent workshop in this series was conducted in the Diocese of Western 
Massachusetts at the invitation of its bishop. Reconciliation efforts also 
included the 2002 "Hands in Healing" national tour which emphasized the 
eradication of violence in all forms.

Preaching today to a congregation of about 150 during his Sunday pastoral 
visit to St. John's Church in Los Angeles, Bruno said: "In difficult times 
when it is easier to walk away, we must choose for that which is difficult 
and 'let mutual love continue' as it says in the Epistle to the Hebrews. We 
are obligated to be the community of true religion, and not to flee because 
it is easier than being faithful to our vows."

-- Canon Robert Williams is director of Episcopal News Service and acting 
director of communication for the Episcopal Church.

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