wfn.org | [ENS] Griswold asks bishops for clarification on letters

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Griswold asks bishops for clarification on letters

By Jan Nunley

ENS 042105-1

[ENS] -- Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold learned April 21 that a group
of
bishops who had written to him requesting the establishment of a
commission
to explore reconciliation within the Episcopal Church had also written
the
Archbishop of Canterbury on the same day to ask for an emergency
meeting"
whose purpose would be a realistic appraisal of the life of our Church."

News of the two simultaneous appeals was posted April 20 on a website
belong
to The Living Church magazine.

Griswold asked the group of 21 bishops to explain the thinking behind
their
simultaneous appeals to him and to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan
Williams
on April 6, and shared the correspondence with the House of Bishops.

I had read your letter as a sincere and honest attempt to build on the
spirit established at Camp Allen and our Covenant. I had already been in
conversation with the President of the House of Deputies about
establishing
a group to address many of the concerns implicit and explicit in your
letter. I plan to respond further to what you have written," Griswold
wrote. ... It seems to me extremely discourteous to me, and to the
Office I
hold on your behalf, not to inform me or send me a copy of what you
submitted to the Archbishop. I must also ask myself why an appeal was
made
to Canterbury before receiving a response from me.

No appeals to primates of other provinces can excuse us from the hard
work
of living the mystery of Christ's reconciling love within our own
province.
This difficult and demanding work may not in the end bring us to the
reconciliation of opinions but rather a reconciliation of hearts. My
belief
in the power of Christ to draw all things to himself is the ground of my
faith and the source of my hope for the future of our church."

Griswold asked the group -- whose members, he said, hold a variety of
viewpoints -- for clarification on their positions.

In my discussions with several of you it became clear that there is a
fundamental difference of opinion among you. Some of you are clearly
committed to the ongoing life of the Episcopal Church and are eager to
find
the best way forward. Others among you question if, in fact, there is a
way
forward other than walking apart from the Episcopal Church while seeking
a
way to remain within the Anglican Communion," he wrote. Given the
different
hopes and expectations that may exist among you, before I proceed any
further it would be extremely helpful to me to have some indication from
each of you as to your own thinking at this time.

Eighteen of the 21 signers are diocesan bishops with jurisdiction, out
of
100 domestic dioceses. Eleven of the signers' dioceses are among the 12
belonging to the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes
(NACDP).

The bishops sent a letter to Griswold on April 6 requesting the
establishment of a commission composed of those among us who dissent
from
and those who support the request of the Windsor Report and the Primates
Communiqué." The proposed commission would address the question of
whether
or not 'irreconcilable differences' exist among us in our understanding
of
the faith and discipline of the Church."

The text of the letters follows.

April 21, 2005

Dear brothers and sisters:

In the interest of transparency and in the spirit of the Covenant we
made at
Camp Allen - and given the fact that what was sent to me as a private
letter
to me is now the subject of a magazine article which lists names of
signatories - I want to make you aware of a communication I received
from a
number of our brothers. At the same time, I think you should have a
copy of
what I sent to them today.

Yours in Christ,

Frank

(Response to letter of April 6, 2005)

April 21, 2005

Dear brothers:

Since receiving your letter I have spoken to several of you to get a
fuller
sense of what you have requested. I had read your letter as a sincere
and
honest attempt to build on the spirit established at Camp Allen and our
Covenant. I had already been in conversation with the President of the
House
of Deputies about establishing a group to address many of the concerns
implicit and explicit in your letter. I plan to respond further to
what you
have written.

Meanwhile, this morning I learned that you had submitted a request to
the
Archbishop of Canterbury set out along similar lines and asking for a
meeting with him. The circulation of the letter to me and the
Archbishop of
Canterbury has been reported by The Living Church. It seems to me
extremely
discourteous to me, and to the Office I hold on your behalf, not to
inform
me or send me a copy of what you submitted to the Archbishop. I must
also
ask myself why an appeal was made to Canterbury before receiving a
response
from me. 

Your concerns are quite properly addressed to me because it is our task
together to continue to seek a way in which we can situate our
differences
within the larger context of Christ's mission to the world. Given the
nature
of the Anglican Communion, the determination of how best we can do this
needs to be worked out within the givenness of our life together as the
Episcopal Church.

No appeals to primates of other provinces can excuse us from the hard
work
of living the mystery of Christ's reconciling love within our own
province. This difficult and demanding work may not in the end bring
us to
the reconciliation of opinions but rather a reconciliation of hearts. My
belief in the power of Christ to draw all things to himself is the
ground of
my faith and the source of my hope for the future of our church. 

In your letter you have drawn attention to my comment at Camp Allen in
response to the notion of "irreconcilable differences" that such is a
"faithless" perspective. I believe what I went on to say was that we
have in
fact been reconciled to God in Christ through the Cross and that it is
our
work to remove all that obstructs what has been achieved in Christ.

In my discussions with several of you it became clear that there is a
fundamental difference of opinion among you. Some of you are clearly
committed to the ongoing life of the Episcopal Church and are eager to
find
the best way forward. Others among you question if, in fact, there is
a way
forward other than walking apart from the Episcopal Church while seeking
a
way to remain within the Anglican Communion. Given the different hopes
and
expectations that may exist among you, before I proceed any further it
would
be extremely helpful to me to have some indication from each of you as
to
your own thinking at this time. 

Given that your letter to me has been made public, I am sending it to
bishops by email along with a copy of my response to you.

Yours in Christ,

Frank

(Letter of April 6, 2005)

April 6, 2005

The Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold, D.D.
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church Center
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Dear Bishop Griswold:

We, whose signatures appear below, write to you out of a passionate
concern
for our Church and our place in the Anglican Communion.
 
We strongly encourage you to heed the word of the Primates regarding our
representation at the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in
June. We urge you to use the moral authority of your office with the
Executive Council as they make decisions affecting the future of our
Church. We look forward to the opportunity for ECUSA to express
humility
instead of arrogance, and a desire to walk with the wider Communion
rather
than apart from it.

As bishops, our lives are formed by vows made at our consecration. Among
these is a statement calling us "to guard the faith, unity, and
discipline
of the Church."  Those within ECUSA who continue to act in
opposition to the
normative teachings of the Anglican Communion, as described in the
Windsor
Report and the Primates' Communiqué, make healing and reconciliation
within
ECUSA and the Communion all the more difficult.

This letter is our request for an immediate and compassionate
conversation
to provide for the welfare of all the members of the Episcopal
Church. We
ask you to establish a commission composed of those among us who dissent
from and those who support the request of the Windsor Report and the
Primates Communiqué. It is our earnest hope this will enable our
church to
make a positive witness to the Gospel by intentionally addressing the
question of our ability to walk together with one another and in a wider
Communion. Such a commission would be in the spirit of our Covenant
and its
commitment to prayerful conversation.

At Camp Allen, several of us spoke to you regarding what we believed to
be
"irreconcilable differences" in the life of our Church. Your response
noted
the language of "irreconcilable difference" is "faithless." We believe
it is
precisely contradictory positions in essential matters of faith and
practice
which precipitate the current crisis in our Church. The report of the
House
of Bishops Theology Committee, made prior to the General Convention
2003,
noted there exists within our Church mutually exclusive theological
integrities on the matter of homosexual practice. This has not changed
and
has become even more apparent over these past 18 months. It is our
earnest
hope the proposed commission will faithfully address the question of
whether
or not "irreconcilable differences" exist among us in our understanding
of
the faith and discipline of the Church.

The Camp Allen Covenant represents a generous and gracious attempt to
seek
common ground on a difficult and painful issue. Bishops representing a
variety of strongly-held convictions worked together to craft a document
that an overwhelming majority of the House embraced. This is
encouraging. However, the very fact that we need such a Covenant
reminds us
that our divisions are deep. These divisions stand as a threat to our
own
unity and that of the Anglican Communion.

We believe a realistic appraisal of the life of our Church is critical.
It
has been suggested that those who oppose the change in faith and order
made
by the 2003 General Convention are a "disgruntled and fractured
minority." This view cannot be sustained given the current indicators
regarding the vitality of our Church.

A recent study by William L. Sachs, Director of Research at the
Episcopal
Church Foundation, reported in the "Christian Century," only 20% of the
laity of our Church fully endorse the decisions that led to the
consecration
of the current bishop of New Hampshire. With regard to local
congregational
leadership, they "...view the General Convention's decisions as
compelling a
position on a complex issue before the church at the grassroots was
ready to
take such a position."  The same report indicates 84% of the senior
wardens
and clergy of our Church report that their congregation sees itself as
part
of the broader Anglican Communion.

At a recent meeting of Congregational Development Officers, Charles
Fulton,
Director of Congregational Development at the Episcopal Church Center,
reported average Sunday attendance in the congregations of the Episcopal
Church declined from 2001 to 2003. It appears continued decline will
place
our average Sunday attendance below 800,000 in 2004. This presents a
much
different picture of who we are from the Church Annual report that we
are a
community of 2.3 million members.

Continued attrition impairs the mission of the Church and the viability
of
many congregations. The report of the loss of Christ Church, Overland
Park,
Kansas, representing 10 percent of the communicant strength of that
diocese,
is indicative of the continued erosion of the Church. Other reports of
losses from the dioceses of Lexington, Los Angeles, and Pennsylvania are
simply representative of actions taking place across the Episcopal
Church. In order to make wise and informed decisions, we need further
and
accurate information regarding the continuing impact of General
Convention
2003 on the life of the whole Church.

You are in our prayers in this most difficult time demanding strong
leadership and reflection. May God grant to this whole Church the
wisdom and
humility to sustain the mission and ministry we share with those in
Communion with the See of Canterbury as we seek the truth that sets us
free.

In Christ,

James Adams
Diocese of Western Kansas

David Bane
Diocese of Southern Virginia

David Bena
Suffragan, Diocese of Albany

Peter Beckwith
Diocese of Springfield

Robert Duncan
Diocese of Pittsburgh

James Folts
Diocese of West Texas

Bertram Herlong
Diocese of Tennessee

Daniel Herzog
Diocese of Albany

John Howe
Diocese of Central Florida

Jack Iker
Diocese of Forth Worth

Edward Little
Diocese of Northern Indiana

John Lipscomb
Diocese of Southwest Florida

Bruce MacPherson
Diocese of Western Louisiana

Wallis Ohl
Diocese of Northwest Texas

Edward Salmon, Jr.
Diocese of South Carolina

John-David Schofield
Diocese of San Joaquin

Henry Scriven
Assistant, Diocese of Pittsburgh

William Skilton
Suffragan, Diocese of South Carolina

James Stanton
Diocese of Dallas

Jeffrey Steenson
Coadjutor, Diocese of Rio Grande

Don Wimberly
Diocese of Texas

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