Conger

First published in The Living Church.

Discussions of America, ecumenism and theology animated the May 5 meeting of Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was a “friendly and informal meeting in which we discussed a number of ecumenical issues; some of the Pope’s impressions of his American visit; and common issues in Christian-Muslim dialogue,” Archbishop Rowan Williams told The Living Church, as reported by his press secretary Marie Papworth.

Speaking to Vatican Radio before his meeting with the Pope, Archbishop Williams said he hoped to inform the pope about the latest plans for the Lambeth Conference and touch base with him about churches in China, among other concerns. Archbishop Williams acknowledged the Anglican Communion was passing through an “unprecedentedly difficult time, no two ways about that.”

He said, though, that relations with the Roman Catholic Church remained strong, partly through the work of the Anglican Centre, whose directors had laid “deep foundations” of “personal trust and confidence and in terms of ease of access and honesty of discussion, I think we’re in a very good phase.”

On May 7, Archbishop Williams will install the new director of the Anglican Centre in Rome at an ecumenical service at the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva Basilica. The Very Rev. David Richardson, the former dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, Australia, will also serve as Archbishop Williams’ representative to the Vatican in Rome.

First published in The Living Church.

Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire has not been banned from pulpits in the Church of England according to a spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury, who denied press speculation that the Archbishop Rowan Williams was attempting to silence Bishop Robinson.

A press officer confirmed on May 2 that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams had not issued Bishop Robinson a license to officiate in the Province of Canterbury. However, Church of England canon law does not grant the archbishop the authority to ban preachers, the spokesman noted.

While traveling in Britain to promote his book, Bishop Robinson told the BBC “in the past [Archbishop Williams] has… declined to give me permission to preach and to celebrate the Holy Communion and I would never do so without his permission.” Episcopal News Service reported April 30 that Archbishop Williams would not permit Bishop Robinson “to preach or preside at a Eucharist while he is in England, according to reports.”

Under the Church of England’s Canon C17.6 “by statute law it belongs to the archbishop to give permission to officiate within his province to any minister who has been ordained” by an “overseas” province of the Anglican Communion. All visiting clergy who seek to perform the sacraments within the Province of Canterbury must secure the permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The same rules apply for the Province of York in the northern part of England. But another canon gives the authority to preach to a parish incumbent, with the permission of the diocesan bishop.

Bishop Robinson has sought permission to officiate in the past and Archbishop Williams has declined to accede to the request, the spokesman said. Bishop Robinson broached the topic again in a letter to Archbishop Williams, seeking permission to officiate in the province this summer and seeking his endorsement to preach. Archbishop Williams again declined to license Bishop Robinson to officiate, and had given “no endorsement for any of the invitations [Bishop Robinson] has received” to preach, said the Rev. Jonathan Jennings, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s press secretary.

The Rev. Arun Arora, director of communications for the Archbishop of York, said he was unaware of any request from Bishop Robinson to officiate in the Province of York.

Sufficient legal grounds exist for presenting Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori for ecclesiastical trial on 11 counts of violating the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church, according to a legal memorandum that has begun circulating among members of the House of Bishops.

A copy of the April 21 document seen by a reporter representing The Living Church states Bishop Jefferts Schori demonstrated a “willful violation of the canons, an intention to repeat the violations, and a pattern of concealment and lack of candor” in her handling of the cases of bishops Robert W. Duncan, John-David Schofield and William Cox, and that she “subverted” the “fundamental polity” of The Episcopal Church in the matter of the Diocese of San Joaquin.

Prepared by an attorney on behalf of a consortium of bishops and church leaders seeking legal counsel over the canonical implications of the Presiding Bishop’s recent actions, it is unclear whether a critical mass of support will form behind the report’s recommendations for any action to be taken, persumably as a violation of the Presiding Bishop’s ordination vows. Title IV, Canon 3, Section 23a requires the consent of three bishops, or 10 or more priests, deacons and communicants “of whom at least two shall be priests. One priest and not less than six lay persons shall be of the diocese of which the respondent is canonically resident.” Victims of sexual misconduct and the Presiding Bishop also may bring charges before the Title IV [disciplinary] Review Committee. Title IV, Canon 3, Section 27 specifies that the Presiding Bishop appoints the five bishops to the Review Committee and the president of the House of Deputies appoints the two members of the clergy and two lay members. A spokeswoman said the Presiding Bishop was unable to respond to the charges as she had not yet seen the memorandum.

The Rev. Ephraim Radner, a member of the Anglican Covenant Design Group, said he found the matters addressed by the brief troubling. The lack of a common understanding of the church’s constitution and canons was “tearing apart our very episcopate and the credibility of our church’s ability to make formal decisions,” he said

The 7,000-word memorandum states it does not address issues of doctrine under Title 4, Canon 1, Section 1c, but limits its review to the “recent actions she has taken against bishops Cox, Schofield and Duncan and the Diocese of San Joaquin.”

The paper argues the Presiding Bishop “failed to seek the inhibition of Bishop Cox as required by [Title IV, Canon 9].” This failure was not a “technical issue that could be waived,” but was an “important procedural protection that is integral” to the use of the canon. Nor did she comply with the requirement that the bishop be given timely notice of the legal proceedings, as the Presiding Bishop withheld notice for seven months.

By not inhibiting Bishop Cox during the two-month period she gave him for denying the charges, the Presiding Bishop was also creating “new procedures” for deposing bishops. The 60-day notice to deny the charges applies only to an “inhibited bishop,” according to the memorandum. Bishop Jefferts Schori had made the same error in her treatment of Bishop Duncan, the document noted.

Bringing Bishop Cox before the House of Bishops without securing his inhibition first also violated Title IV, Canon 9, Section 2, the memorandum said, as “a bishop who has not been inhibited is not ‘liable to deposition’ under this canon.”

To suggest that the provision of Section 2 of the Canon: “Otherwise, it shall be the duty of the Presiding Bishop to present the matter to the House of Bishops at the next regular, or special meeting of the House,” was “nonsensical,” the paper argued for “if the ‘Otherwise’ sentence deals with uninhibited bishops such as Bishop Cox (and Duncan), there is no provision under which the Presiding Bishop is authorized to depose an inhibited bishop such as Bishop Schofield. No rule of legal interpretation permits such a nonsensical result.”

The Presiding Bishop’s deposition of Bishops Cox and Schofield was done without the “necessary consent” of the House of Bishops. “The conclusion that the requisite consent was not given is irrefutable” as the “plain meaning” of the words of the canon, as well as voting procedures detailed in other parts of the Constitution and Canons do not permit the interpretation interposed by the Presiding Bishop’s chancellor, the paper said

Concerning the Diocese of San Joaquin, the Presiding Bishop’s announcement that she did not recognize the “duly elected” diocesan standing committee violated Articles IV and II.3 of the church’s constitution and repudiated her duties under [Title I, Canon 2, Section 4(a)(3)] which permits her only to “consult” with the diocesan ecclesiastical authority in the event of an episcopal vacancy.

The appointment of “representatives and vicars” to act in San Joaquin violated Article II.3 of the church’s constitution, the document stated, while the convening of a special convention in San Joaquin and installation of Bishop Jerry Lamb as the provisional bishop violated Article II.3 and Title III, Canon 13.

“The violations with respect to Bishops Cox and Duncan, although willful and repeated, pertained primarily to individual bishops. The violations with respect to [San Joaquin] however, subvert the governance of an entire diocese and go to the heart of TEC’s polity as a ‘fellowship of duly constituted dioceses’ governed under Article II.3 by bishops who are not under a metropolitan or archbishop,” the legal memorandum concluded.

The procedural difficulties in bringing this matter to adjudication were formidable, the paper argued, as the “ability of the complainants to hold accountable the Presiding Bishop or another bishop thus ends at the [Title IV] Review Committee.”

The authors of the legal memorandum were not optimistic the current legal and political environment within the church would be conducive for a conviction. The Title IV committee could issue a presentment, it could decline to issue a presentment and “produce a rationale that is persuasive to most objective observers,” or it could “decline to issue a presentment on grounds that are not persuasive and serve only to discredit the Review Committee and the process as well as the respondent,” it said.

This third outcome is “highly likely,” the paper concluded, but it noted the effort should nonetheless be made to hold the institution “accountable.”

First published in The Living Church magazine.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams discussed his hopes and called on all Anglicans to pray for the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops in a seven-and-a-half minute video published on the internet on April 23.

“Yes this is a conference for bishops, not for bishops with their clergy and laity as so often happens, but primarily for bishops,” Archbishop Williams said. “We don’t want at the Lambeth Conference to be creating a lot of new rules, but we do obviously need to strengthen our relationships and we need to put those relationships on another footing, slightly firmer footing, where we have promised to one another that this is how we will conduct our life together. And it is in that light that at this year we are discussing together the proposal for what we are calling a covenant between the Anglican Churches of the world.”

A spokesman for Archbishop Williams told The Living Church the internet video presentation was “not related” to his forthcoming letter to the bishops of the Communion. In that letter, the archbishop is reported to ask that they predicate their attendance at the Lambeth Conference upon their willingness to accept the Windsor Report and Anglican Covenant processes.

The video presentation, titled “Better bishops for the sake of a better church,” was a pastoral didactic tool, the spokesman. The presentation broadcast on the internet video service, outlines the archbishop’s hopes for the conference.

The title of the “Better bishops” video, whose alliterative qualities mimic Country Life’s popular “better butter” advertisements on British television, speaks to the cause of some of the divisions within the church, and follow upon Archbishop Williams’ concern for stronger clerical formation and closer cooperation among the bishops of the Anglican Communion.

The letters affirming support for Windsor and the covenant processes had not yet been mailed, but would go out presently, the spokesman said.

The Rt. Rev. Kenneth Price, Bishop Suffragan of Southern Ohio and secretary of the House of Bishops, said it is his understanding, “based on private conversations held prior to the meeting,” that the number of votes necessary to depose bishops John-David Schofield and William J. Cox was determined prior to the house’s March 12 business session by David Booth Beers, chancellor for the Presiding Bishop, and the Rt. Rev. John Clark Buchanan, House of Bishops’ parliamentarian.

Bishop Price told The Living Church he was not consulted on the number of votes needed for a deposition and he does not recall the resolutions approving the depositions of bishops Schofield and Cox being “singled out” as requiring a higher threshold of consent prior to enactment.

Title 4, canon 9, section 2 states that the vote requires “a majority of the whole number of bishops entitled to vote,” a higher threshold than that necessary to conduct business. There were 116 bishops registered at the meeting at 6 a.m. on March 12. The total number of bishops eligible to vote is 294, according to online sources.

“None of the votes taken were unanimous, each having both negative votes and abstentions,” Bishop Price said.

“However, the affirmative votes were so overwhelming that the Presiding Bishop declared them as having passed and no one challenged her ruling.”

In a statement published by Episcopal News Service, Mr. Beers contended that the vote conformed to the canons. His statement came following publication of an article on The Living Church News Service website on March 14 that raised the issue of whether the house had the canonically necessary number to depose two of its members.

“In consultation with the House of Bishops’ parliamentarian prior to the vote, we both agreed that the canon meant a majority of all those present and entitled to vote, because it is clear from the canon that the vote had to be taken at a meeting, unlike the situation where you poll the whole House of Bishops by mail. Therefore, it is our position that the vote was in order,” he said.

Bishop Price said the House of Bishops had “well in excess” of the minimum 68 bishops needed for a quorum to conduct business. Article I, section 2 of the constitution of The Episcopal Church, which defines a quorum as 50 percent plus one of all bishops “exclusive of bishops who have resigned their jurisdiction or positions.”

First published in The Living Church.

Slightly more than one-third of all bishops eligible voted to depose  bishops John-David Schofield and William J. Cox during the House of Bishops’ spring retreat, far fewer than the 51 percent required by the canons.

The exact number is impossible to know, because both resolutions were approved by voice vote. Only 131 bishops registered for the meeting March 7-12 at Camp Allen, and at least 15 of them left before the business session began on Wednesday. There were 294 members of the House of Bishops entitled to vote on March 12.

When questioned about canonical inconsistencies during a telephone press conference at the conclusion of the meeting, Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina said the bishops had relied on advice provided to them by canonical experts, and did not examine canonical procedure during plenary debate prior to the votes to depose bishops Schofield and Cox.

Bishop Schofield was consecrated Bishop of San Joaquin in 1989. Last December, he presided over a diocesan convention at which clergy and lay delegates voted overwhelmingly to leave The Episcopal Church and affiliate with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone. Bishop Cox was consecrated Bishop Suffragan of Maryland in 1972. He resigned in 1980, later serving as Assisting Bishop of Oklahoma from 1980 to 1988. In 2005, Bishop Cox ordained two priests and a deacon at Christ Church, Overland Park, Kan. Christ Church affiliated with the Anglican Church of Uganda after purchasing its property from the Diocese of Kansas.

Both bishops were charged with abandonment of communion. The procedure for deposing a bishop under this charge is specified in Title IV, canon 9, sections 1-2. The canon stipulates that the vote requires “a majority of the whole number of bishops entitled to vote,” not merely a majority of those present. At least a dozen bishops voted either not to depose Bishop Schofield or to abstain, according to several bishops. The number voting in favor of deposing Bishop Cox was reportedly slightly larger than the number in favor of deposing Bishop Schofield.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was questioned about the history of the canonical proceedings against Bishop Cox. At first she said during the press conference that she had not sought the canonically required consent of the three senior bishops of the church for permission to inhibit Bishop Cox pending his trial. However Title IV, Canon 9, sections 1-2 do not describe a procedure for deposing a bishop who has not first been inhibited.

Consent Never Sought

Later in the press conference, Bishop Jefferts Schori clarified and extended her remarks, saying she had been “unable to get the consent of the three senior bishops last spring. That’s why we didn’t bring it to the September meeting” of the House of Bishops. One of the three senior bishops with jurisdiction confirmed to The Living Church that his consent to inhibit Bishop Cox was never sought.

In 2007, Bishop Cox sent a written letter to Bishop Jefferts Schori, announcing his resignation from the House of Bishops.  Since he was already retired, he did not have jurisdiction, and therefore unlike Bishop Schofield, his resignation did not require consent from a majority of the House of Bishops. A trial of the 88-year-old retired bishop was not mandatory.

Bishop Cox also does not appear to have been granted due process with respect to a speedy trial. Once the disciplinary review committee formally certifies that a bishop has abandoned communion, the canons state “it shall be the duty of the Presiding Bishop to present the matter to the House of Bishops at the next regular or special meeting of the house.” The review committee provided certification to Bishop Jefferts Schori on May 29, 2007. His case should have been heard during the fall meeting in New Orleans last September. When asked about the apparent inconsistency, Bishop Jefferts Schori said initially she did not include Bishop Cox’s case on the agenda for the New Orleans meeting “due to the press of business.”

Title IV, canon 9, section 1 requires the Presiding Bishop to inform the accused bishop “forthwith,” in other words immediately, after the review committee has provided a certificate of abandonment, but Bishop Jefferts Schori did not write to Bishop Cox until Jan. 8, 2008, more than seven months afterward.

The two-hour business session at which the deposition votes were taken ran slightly longer than originally scheduled. First a resolution was read followed by prayer from the chaplain. A period of silence followed the prayer. After the silence was broken, the bishops discussed the resolution in small table groups followed by plenary discussion. When it appeared that everyone who wanted to speak had done so, the voice vote was taken. Each resolution was read and voted on separately.

The Primates in private session at Dromantine on Feb 25, 2005. Photo first published in The Living Church and The Church of England Newspaper.

The Diocese of Central Florida is “poised for a new round of significant growth,” after three months of tense negotiations with clergy and lay leadership from nine congregations seeking to leave The Episcopal Church, according to Bishop John W. Howe.

At the conclusion of the diocesan convention Jan. 25-26 at St. James’ Church, Ormond Beach, Bishop Howe told a reporter for The Living Church that though exhausted, he was pleased with the negotiations.

“We are on the best of terms with all those leaving,” he said. “And we are committed to rebuilding where there have been losses.”

In his address to convention, Bishop Howe said the last three months had been the worst period of his life. However, amicable solutions had been reached with the members of the eight congregations who sought to withdraw from the diocese.

“There are those who simply have to leave The Episcopal Church for conscience sake,” he said. “I understand that. I don’t agree, but I don’t believe we should punish them. We shouldn’t sue them. We shouldn’t depose the clergy. Our brokenness is a tragedy. The litigation that is going on in so many places is a travesty. And although some seem to be trying to do so, I don’t think you can hold a church together by taking everybody you disagree with to court.”

During the business portion of the meeting, delegates passed the first reading of an amendment to Article III of the diocese’s constitution, designed to strengthen the diocese’s ties to the wider Anglican Communion.

The resolution “does not change the constitution,” the Very Rev. Eric Turner told the convention, but “clarifies what once did not need clarifying.”

Proposed by the diocesan board, the resolution appended a sentence to the constitutional article defining the diocese’s “purpose,” stating the diocese was a “constituent member” of the Anglican Communion.

The amendment defines the Anglican Communion as a “fellowship of those duly constitution Dioceses, Provinces and regional Churches in Communion with the See of Canterbury, upholding and propagating the historic Faith and Order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer.”

The Rev. Thomas C. Seitz, Jr., rector of Good Shepherd, Lake Wales, endorsed the resolution, saying it “more accurately reflects who we are and have been.”

The Very Rev. Donald Lyon objected to the amendment. He said he was a “constitutional minimalist.” As there “was not an explicit need to state this,” he counseled against adopting “unnecessary” language.

After a half hour’s debate, a roll call vote by orders was called, and the resolution passed among the clergy 89-66 and in the laity 139-91.

Note: I did not write this story published by The Living Church, but contributed to some of the reporting in the article. GC

A group of traditionalist Anglican primates and other bishops have announced an eight-day event to be held in the Holy Land next summer that will be structured as “a pilgrimage back to the roots of the Church’s faith.”

The Global Anglican Future conference will “outline the mission imperatives for the next 25 years for orthodox Anglicans, according to the Dec. 24 announcement. Conference details were completed at a meeting of primates and others in Kenya last week.

According to a press release, bishops and their wives, senior clergy and laity from every province and from “both the Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic wings” of the Communion will be invited to participate in the event, which is scheduled to be held June 15-22. Those dates put the conference less than a month before the start of the Lambeth Conference of bishops.

“While this conference is not a specific challenge to the Lambeth Conference, it will provide opportunities for fellowship and care for those who have decided not to attend Lambeth,” said the Rev. Canon Chris Sugden, executive secretary of the advocacy group Anglican Mainstream, who attended the Nairobi gathering. “There was no other place to meet at this critical time for the future of the Church than in the Holy Land.”

“Our pastoral responsibility to the people that we lead is now to provide the opportunity to come together around the central and unchanging tenets of the central and unchanging historic Anglican faith,” said the Most Rev. Gregory Venables, Primate of the Province of the Southern Cone. “Rather than being subject to the continued chaos and compromise that have dramatically impeded Anglican mission, [the conference] will seek to clarify God’s call at this time and build a network of cooperation for global mission.”

Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya said conference organizers hope to inform and inspire invited leaders “to seek transformation in our own lives and help impact communities and societies through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

American representatives at the organizing meeting included Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, representing the Anglican Communion Network; Bishop Martyn Minns of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA); and the Rt. Rev. Bill Atwood, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of All Saints’ Cathedral, Kenya.

The meeting will be self-funding, one member of the steering committee told The Living Church, as some provinces will use funds earmarked for the Lambeth Conference to pay for their delegations to attend, while others will pay their costs out of pocket.

The Rt. Rev. Catherine S. Roskam, suffragan bishop of New York, being greeted by Archbishop Rowan Williams at the door of St. Mary the Virgin Church, Nottingham on June 25, 2005 following the ACC-13 Sunday eucharist.

First published in The Living Church.

Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti, along with the congregations and clergy of 44 parishes of the Diocese of Recife in northeastern Brazil, were received last week by Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables as an extra-territorial diocese of the Church of the Province of the Southern Cone.

The reception marks a shift in the status of the traditionalist Brazilian congregations from a personal prelature of Bishop Venables over individuals in Recife to a formal ecclesial entity within the province.

In 2005, Bishop Venables extended his personal primatial oversight to Bishop Cavalcanti and 40 priests of the Diocese of Recife after they were deposed by the Brazilian church for contumacy. Approximately 90 percent of the diocese backed Bishop Cavalcanti and withdrew from the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB) to form the Anglican Diocese of Recife (DAR). The IEAB appointed a new bishop to oversee the remaining clergy.

Following last month’s vote by the Southern Cone synod to welcome ecclesial entities into the province, delegates to the annual synod in the DAR voted on Dec. 8 to ask to be received as an “extra-territorial” diocese, and adopted legislation conforming the diocese’s constitution and canons to those of the Southern Cone.

Published in The Living Church.

The Rt. Rev. Donald Harvey, retired Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, announced Nov. 16 that he had quit the Canadian Church and will be “resuming full-time Episcopal ministry” on behalf of “biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans who are distressed and feel they no longer have a home in the Anglican Church of Canada.”

Bishop Harvey is moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), a group of traditionalist members of the Anglican Church of Canada aligned with the Anglican Communion Network in the U.S. His departure comes after the Canadian House of Bishops said it would launch a disciplinary investigation into complaints that he had participated in unauthorized episcopal acts in Canada and the U.S.

“This is a full-blown schism now within the Canadian church and it is a direct attack upon the catholicity of the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster in a recent interview with Anglican Journal, the church’s editorially independent newspaper. “It is one thing to hold differing opinions as many Anglicans obviously do on matters of sexual ethics. It’s quite another thing to establish alternative ecclesial bodies, which is schism.”

Bishop Harvey’s departure came one week before the annual conference of the ANiC, and may presage a wholesale defection of Canadian traditionalist congregations and clergy to the South American province. Bishop Ingham said he had written to Bishop Harvey prohibiting him from ordaining two deacons at a parish in his diocese next month. He has also written to the candidates and the clergy of four ANiC parishes in his diocese warning them of possible disciplinary action if they participate.

According to its website, ANiC’s national conference on Nov. 22-23 will “outline details of the option available to biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans who are in ‘serious theological dispute’ with the Anglican Church of Canada and want to be recognized as ‘fully Anglican’ and in the mainstream of global Anglicanism.”

In his letter to Archbishop Hiltz relinquishing his membership in the Canadian Church, Bishop Harvey said “this decision was not made lightly or for any other motive than the realization that I cannot continue to follow the obvious path that the Anglican Church of Canada is taking.”

On Nov. 17 the Council of General Synod said Bishop Harvey’s secession was unnecessary as an “appropriate provision for pastoral care and episcopal support” already existed.

“Interventions in the life of our church, such as ordinations or other episcopal acts by any other jurisdictions are inappropriate and unwelcome,” council members said. “In particular, we cannot recognize the legitimacy of recent actions by the Province of the Southern Cone in purporting to extend its jurisdiction beyond its own borders.”

The Canadian church’s governing body between meetings of General Synod called upon the Archbishop of Canterbury to defend Canada, requesting that he “make clear that such actions are not a valid expression of Anglicanism and are in contravention of the ancient and continuing traditions of the Church.”

Published in The Living Church.

Following a joint meeting of the standing committee and diocesan council, the Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, Bishop of Central Florida, announced Nov. 15 that they were unable to agree upon a protocol for congregations desiring to secede from The Episcopal Church.

The rejected proposal would have permitted a departing congregation to purchase church property from the diocese provided that they made adequate provision for those members who desired to remain Episcopalians and participated in a parish discernment process devised and supervised by the diocese.

The diocese’s special task force on property would seek to revise the document, Bishop Howe said, for reconsideration at a joint meeting on Dec. 13.

Participants to the joint meeting were able to agree on the language of a proposed amendment to the diocesan constitution for consideration at the annual convention to be held Jan. 25-26, 2008, at St. James’, Ormond Beach. The proposed revision to Article 3 of the diocesan constitution would delete a statement that the diocese gives an unqualified “adhesion” to the constitution and canons of The Episcopal Church.

The proposed revision states that Central Florida is a “constituent member of the Anglican Communion, a fellowship of those duly constituted dioceses, provinces, and regional churches in communion with the See of Canterbury, upholding the propagating the historic faith and order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. So long as The Episcopal Church is the constituent member province of the Anglican Communion with rightful jurisdiction in this country, the Diocese of Central Florida declares its adhesion to the same and accedes to its constitution and canons.”

The proposed revision to the constitution passed the joint meeting on a unanimous voice vote.

Published in The Living Church

The House of Bishops’ statement following their Sept. 20-25 meeting in New Orleans failed to answer the primates’ Dar es Salaam communiqué, according to nine Global South leaders who met Oct. 25-30 in Shanghai, China.

In a statement posted on the Global South Anglican website, the archbishops wrote that The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops “has not given an unequivocal response to the requests of the primates.” However, the Global South group stopped short of calling for immediate disciplinary action against The Episcopal Church.

They called for an “urgent meeting of the primates to receive and conclude the draft Anglican Covenant and to determine how the Communion should move forward,” and also urged the postponement of the Lambeth Conference in 2008 to a date when all of the Communion’s bishops could “participate in a spirit of true collegiality and unity in the faith.”

Primates present at the Shanghai meeting were Archbishops Peter Akinola of Nigeria, Justice Akrofi of West Africa, Mouneer Anis of Jerusalem and the Middle East, John Chew of South East Asia, Fidèle Dirokpa of the Congo, Ian Ernest of the Indian Ocean, Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, Bernard Malango, (retired) Central Africa, and Henry Orombi of Uganda. The Primate of Korea, Archbishop Francis Park, was present for the consultation but did not endorse the final communiqué.

Archbishop Akinola subsequently sent an open letter on All Saints’ Day to the primates of all 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion. He defended his province’s decision to offer temporary oversight to parishes and individuals who have left The Episcopal Church (TEC). A report prepared by the Joint Standing Committee of the primates and the Anglican Consultative Council, who met jointly with the House of Bishops in New Orleans, severely criticized those primates who have welcomed former Episcopalians into their provincial structures.

“These pastoral initiatives undertaken to keep faithful Anglicans within our Anglican family have been at a considerable cost of crucial resources to our province,” Archbishop Akinola wrote. “There is no moral equivalence between them and the actions taken by TEC.

“Until the Communion summons the courage to tackle that issue headlong and resolve it, we can do no other than provide for those who cry out to us. It is our earnest prayer that repentance and reconciliation will make this a temporary arrangement. One thing is clear, we will not abandon our friends.”

Published in The Living Church.

Dioceses that wish to secede from The Episcopal Church because of disputes over doctrine and discipline will be given an ecclesiastical home in the Church of the Province of the Southern Cone.

Meeting Nov 5-7 at St. Paul’s Church, Valparaíso, Chile, the Southern Cone synod voted to extend the province’s jurisdiction to North America, allowing dioceses and other ecclesial entities to affiliate with the province.

The Provincia Anglicana del Cono Sur de América is comprised of the dioceses of Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Northern Argentina. The Diocese of Bolivia already has provided pastoral oversight to several dozen congregations in the United States comprised of former members of The Episcopal Church. In addition, Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone exercises a personal prelature over former members of the Diocese of Recife (Brazil).

Bishop Venables told The Living Church the offer of a provincial home for traditionalist American dioceses merely recognized the existing splits within the church. He said the Southern Cone was not precipitating a crisis or invading The Episcopal Church, but was offering a safe haven within the Anglican Communion for those wishing to flee.

By a supermajority, delegates to the Valparaíso synod voted to permit traditionalist North American dioceses to affiliate with the province. The vote goes a step beyond Bishop Venables’ intervention in Brazil, and marks a major shift in the ecclesial structures of the Anglican Communion.

In 2005, Bishop Venables extended his personal primatial oversight to Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti and 40 priests of the Diocese of Recife after they had been deposed by the Brazilian church for contumacy.

Bishop Cavalcanti and his supporters, representing more than 90 percent of that diocese’s members, were issued a “statement of support” by Bishop Venables that recognized their “ordinations and ministries, and provide a special status of extra-provincial recognition by my office as Primate of the Southern Cone until such time as the Panel of Reference, the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Anglican Communion has, in some way, adequately addressed this crisis.”

The Nov. 7 vote permits dioceses as ecclesial entities, not merely individuals, to join the province.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Pittsburgh noted the Southern Cone was one of a number of provinces offering a home to American dioceses. On Nov. 2 Pittsburgh adopted the first reading of an amendment to its constitution that stated the diocese “shall have membership in such Province of the Anglican Communion as is by diocesan Canon specified.”

Up to five dioceses of The Episcopal Church may affiliate with the Southern Cone. In December, San Joaquin’s diocesan convention will vote on a second reading of a secession clause, allowing the diocese to join other provinces — a move Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has called unlawful.

A spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury said Archbishop Rowan Williams had no comment at this time on the Southern Cone vote

Published in The Living Church.

The Diocese of Florida has welcomed an independent report on the state’s faith and character-based prisons that found that prison ministry is an effective tool in turning around the lives of inmates.

The Urban Institute’s report released Oct. 19 stated Florida’s Faith and Character-Based Institution (FCBI) program resulted in lower rates of inmate recidivism and better adjustment to civilian life.

Faith-based prisons were “absolutely a great thing,” the Rt. Rev. Samuel Johnson Howard, Bishop of Florida, told The Living Church. The Urban Institute report confirms all of the “anecdotal evidence we have that prison ministry is effective in reducing recidivism and helps improve inmate behavior.”

Six months after leaving North Florida’s Lawtey Prison and its volunteer-led rehabilitation programs, none of the 189 inmates surveyed were back behind bars, whereas 2.1 percent of a comparison group had re-offended.

The report, titled “Evaluation of Florida’s Faith and Character-Based Institutions,” noted that more research needed to be done, as a similar study of women participants in the faith-based program found no significant difference in recidivism in relation to those who did not participate in the program.

“Our findings are strictly preliminary, but they suggest that inmates throughout the Florida prison system could benefit from self-betterment programs that are volunteer run and virtually budget neutral,” said Nancy La Vigne, the study’s lead author.

The report found that the FCBI program improved inmate behavior, prepared inmates for successful re-entry into society, promoted family reunification and job prospects for released prisoners, and improved the “prison environment for inmates, volunteers, and staff.”

The voluntary program FCBI program includes worship and scriptural study, personal relationship building through mentoring and small-group activities, and character development programs on parenting and anger management. The programs are funded and operated by volunteers.

Bishop Howard said Prison Ministry was a priority for the Diocese of Florida. “There are 30,000 inmates in this diocese, and 30,000 Episcopalians,” he said.

Three priests — two men and one woman — had been “ordained for work in the prisons” Bishop Howard noted, and a fourth would be ordained in December.

The interdenominational Kairos Ministries is at work in half of North Florida’s prisons, Bishop Howard said, and “day in and day out, there is an Episcopal presence in a third of our prisons.” Last year the diocese inaugurated “Camp St. Elizabeth,” a residential summer program where the children of inmates received “one-on-one adult supervision.”

Bishop Howard said his experiences as an assistant U.S. attorney and criminal lawyer before he entered the ministry had taught him that prison outreach was vital both to the spiritual health of inmates and to society.

Published in The Living Church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Oct. 14 letter to Bishop John W. Howe of Central Florida was not a statement of Anglican Communion policy but a particular response to a local situation.

In a formal statement released on Oct. 23, Archbishop Rowan Williams said the letter “was neither a new policy statement nor a roadmap for the future but a plain response to a very urgent and particular question about clergy in traditionalist dioceses in TEC who want to leave TEC for other jurisdictions, a response reiterating a basic presupposition of what the Archbishop believes to be the theology of the Church.

“The primary point was that - theologically and sacramentally speaking - a priest is related in the first place to his/her bishop directly, not through the structure of the national church; that structure serves the dioceses. The diocese is more than a ‘local branch’ of a national organisation,” the statement noted.

Archbishop Williams responded to a note from Bishop Howe concerning strife within the diocese. Nine congregations have entered into formal secession talks with Bishop Howe, in response to what they see as The Episcopal Church’s rejection of traditional Anglican doctrine and discipline.

Archbishop Williams told Bishop Howe traditionalist secessions from traditionalist dioceses were misguided. Central Florida’s place within the Communion was not at risk, he said.

“Any diocese compliant with Windsor remains clearly in communion with Canterbury and the mainstream of the Communion, whatever may be the longer term result for others in The Episcopal Church,” Archbishop Williams wrote. “Those who are rushing into separatist solutions” were “weakening that basic conviction of Catholic theology and in a sense treating the provincial structure of The Episcopal Church as if it were the most important thing.”

The Archbishop’s letter offered a theological rationale for conservatives to hold fast and not quit the church. “The organ of union with the wider church is the bishop and the diocese rather than the provincial structure as such,” according to Archbishop Williams.

“Dr. Williams is clear that, whatever the frustration with the national church, priests should think very carefully about leaving the fellowship of a diocese,” according to the statement. “The provincial structure is significant, not least for the administration of a uniform canon law and a range of practical functions. Dr. Williams is not encouraging anyone to ignore this, simply to understand the theological priorities which have been articulated in a number of ecumenical agreements, and in the light of this not to increase the level of confusion and fragmentation in the church.”

Published in The Living Church.

The Anglican Province of Central Africa has removed Bishop Nolbert Kunonga of Harare and another diocesan bishop in Zimbabwe from its college of bishops.

In a statement released on Oct. 19, the Dean of the province, Bishop Albert Chama of Northern Zambia, stated that Bishop Kunonga and Bishop Elson Jakazi of Manicaland were no longer bishops of the church and the Sees of Harare and Manicaland had been declared vacant “with immediate effect.” Vicar generals would be appointed to supervise the election of new bishops, Bishop Chama wrote.

In late September, Bishop Kunonga and Bishop Jakazi each wrote to Archbishop Bernard Malango saying their dioceses had withdrawn from Central Africa in protest to what they alleged was a pro-gay bias in the province. Since then Archbishop Malango has retired. Bishop Chama is carrying out primatial responsibilities for the province until a new primate is selected.

In his letter, Bishop Chama cited the province’s constitution, noting that changes to its membership required approval by all dioceses and two-thirds approval from the provincial synod.

Despite the removal of the two bishops, recovery of diocesan property is not assured. On Oct. 21, a Zimbabwe court declined to issue an emergency injunction on behalf of the province that would have forced Bishop Kunonga, an ally of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe, to turn over the diocesan assets. Bishop Kunonga told the state-owned Harare Herald newspaper he would fight the province for control of church property. He was quoted saying the diocese was seeking to align with the Anglican Church of Kenya, a statement that could not be confirmed with the Kenyan Church in Nairobi.

Bishop Kunonga has also gone on the offensive, writing to discontented clergy in other dioceses seeking to split them off from their bishops. In an Oct. 11 letter sent to a Botswana parish and reviewed by The Living Church, Bishop Kunonga urged the congregation to write to Bishop Chama saying it was joining Harare in leaving the province.

Bishop Kunonga’s removal relieves Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams of one dilemma related to the Lambeth Conference. Bishop Kunonga’s invitation had been withheld pending wider consultations. Bishop Jakazi had been extended an invitation to Lambeth last May, according to a spokesperson for Archbishop Williams.

Published in The Living Church.

The Rt. Rev. Norbert Kunonga must go, leaders of the Anglican Province of Central Africa said, calling upon the controversial Bishop of Harare to relinquish control of diocesan assets by Oct. 16 or face a civil lawsuit.

“There is no justification for your continued conduct of episcopal duties as diocesan Bishop” of Harare, lawyers acting on behalf of the province told Bishop Kunonga last week.

In a letter to Archbishop Bernard Malango dated Sept. 21, Bishop Kunonga said that Harare had quit the province over the issue of homosexuality, citing the Aug. 4 passage by the diocese of Pastoral Motion 8c which he said authorized secession.

However Harare diocesan chancellor Robert Stumbles told The Living Church no such resolution was adopted. Bishop Kunonga’s purported secession resolution “appeared after synod” and had “not been on the agenda.” At no time did the Harare synod give Bishop Kunonga “absolute authority to drag the diocese out of the province,” he said.

Bishop Kunonga’s actions were “tantamount to a schism,” Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana told TLC on Sept. 22.

“The next logical step is for the Bishop of Harare to resign,” he said. “The See of the Diocese of Harare will then be declared vacant and a new bishop elected to replace Bishop Kunonga. The schismatic group should not be under any illusion in thinking that they have title to the properties and various trusts legally vested in the Diocese of Harare.”

The letter to Archbishop Malango by Bishop Kunonga followed a controversy-plagued provincial synod on Sept. 10. The province consists of 15 dioceses in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In their letter to Bishop Kunonga, the province’s solicitors, Gill, Godlonton & Gerrans of Harare wrote “that despite your withdrawal from our client [the Church of the Province of Central Africa] you continue to conduct episcopal duties in the diocese of Harare and administrative business at our client’s premises at Paget House.”

He was asked to surrender the diocese’s automobiles, bank accounts, books of account and real estate which were “held in trust by the diocesan trust for the benefit of the Diocese of Harare but remain the property of our client, Church of the Province of Central Africa.”

Should Bishop Kunonga fail to comply with the province’s request, the letter said the province would pursue civil legal remedies.

Published in the Living Church

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has begun soliciting the views of the primates as to whether the Sept. 25 statement from the House of Bishops adequately responds to the primates’ request for clarification on The Episcopal Church’s stance on gay bishops and rites for the blessing of same-sex unions.

Archbishop Williams has begun telephoning and writing the primates, seeking their views. However, his trip to Armenia and Syria, and the opening of the Church of England’s House of Bishops meeting on Oct. 1, has hindered a speedy response to the New Orleans statement.

Public statements from some of the primates indicate a split of opinion along factional lines, with some declaring the statement adequate, while others have dismissed it as dishonest and non-responsive to the primates’ request.

Archbishop Alan Harper, Primate of Ireland, said the “American bishops have gone a considerable way to meeting the reasonable demands of their critics.”

Bishop David Beetge of the Highveld, the acting primate and vicar general of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, said he welcomed the decision “for the simple reason it gives us more space and time to talk to each other.”

The Primate of Australia, Archbishop Philip Aspinall of Brisbane said he believed the bishops had “responded positively to the substance of [the primates'] requests.”

Other primates were more critical. “What we expected to come from them is to repent. That this is a sin in the eyes of the Lord and repentance is what we, in particular, and others expected to hear” from the House of Bishops, said Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, Primate of Kenya.

The Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola, said the bishops’ response fell short. The primates had given The Episcopal Church “one final opportunity for an unequivocal assurance” that it would conform “to the mind and teaching of the Communion,” he said, and the bishops failed to do that. The primates are unwilling to accept further “ambiguous and misleading statements” from The Episcopal Church, he said.

Published in The Living Church.

The Rt. Rev. Thabo Cecil Makgoba, Bishop of Grahamstown, was elected Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan and Primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa on Sept. 25.

Bishop Makgoba, 47, will succeed the Most Rev. Njongonkulu Ndungane as archbishop, and will assume office on Jan 1. Viewed as a conservative on issues of human sexuality, he is expected to try to move the South African church closer to the other African Anglican provinces. The spiritual reconstruction of the church and of South African society will guide his tenure as archbishop, he told the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

Bishop Makgoba was elected on the second ballet by the Cape Town electoral assembly. His name will now be submitted to the province’s House of Bishops for confirmation.

The outgoing primate celebrated his final service Sept. 23 at St. George’s Cathedral, Cape Town. “Thank you for putting up with me over the years of my ministry,” Archbishop Ndungane said.

Published in The Living Church

Neither observers nor participants received many public clues how the new episcopal visitor proposal, introduced on the opening day of the House of Bishops’ Sept. 20-25 meeting in New Orleans, was conceived or how it is intended to function.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori began the first plenary session with an announcement that eight bishops had accepted her invitation to serve as episcopal visitors. Other than the names, no further details were given and there was no follow-up discussion.

Some of the eight episcopal visitors who spoke with reporters for The Living Church were equally uncertain of the scope of the proposal or how it would be implemented. None of those surveyed by TLC said they knew the identities of the other seven ahead of time. To a person, they said their primary reason for accepting was a willingness to be helpful at what they considered a critical time.

“The Presiding Bishop is open to considering more episcopal visitor invitations,” said the Rev. Charles Robertson, Canon for the Presiding Bishop. Canon Robertson said the Presiding Bishop envisioned the episcopal visitor plan being potentially applied in a wide variety of circumstances for parishes and dioceses. He noted it would be possible to discuss the plan in greater detail, including a consultative contribution by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, after Archbishop Williams’ final session with the bishops Friday morning.

Archbishop Williams held two of his three plenary sessions with the bishops on Thursday. During the morning session he listened, quietly taking notes as about two dozen bishops were recognized by Bishop Jefferts Schori. Many of the comments and questions were directed to Archbishop Williams personally.

Archbishop Williams then addressed the bishops shortly after lunch. The bishops are seated at table groups which were assigned at the start of the triennium. After Archbishop Williams spoke, the bishops participated in table group discussion which subsequently was reported and discussed further.

During a media briefing at the conclusion of the afternoon session, Bishop Robert O’Neill of Colorado described the conversation throughout the day as respectful. Prior to the start Bishop Jefferts Schori assured Archbishop Williams he would be received “with great respect and hospitality.” The primates and Anglican Consultative Council representatives from the joint steering committee who are present have been given seat and voice.

Archbishop Williams made a late afternoon pastoral visit to greet the neighborhood residents around All Souls’ Chapel, a newly planted congregation in the city’s Lower Ninth Ward. Many of the residents who have returned to the neighborhood in the wake of Hurricane Katrina remain in substandard, flood-damaged housing. Nearby, the Diocese of Louisiana has recently started converting a former Walgreen’s Drug Store into a church.

In the evening Archbishop Williams led an ecumenical jazz vesper service at the city’s rebuilt Morial Convention Center, which suffered severe damage after serving as a shelter for evacuees made homeless by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Published in The Living Church.

The Rev. Quin Bates (right), a deacon in the Diocese of Louisiana, briefs Bishop Robert Ilhoff of Maryland (left) and Bishop Paul Marshall of Bethlehem Sept. 22 at the start of their tour of a mobile medical clinic operated by the diocese in New Orleans.

First printed in The Living Church.

Archbishop Rowan Williams addressing a press conference at the US House of Bishops’ meeting in New Orleans, Sept 21 2007

First published in The Living Church

When Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams meets with the House of Bishops beginning this morning in New Orleans, he will have at least three questions. The responses to those questions will likely be of historical significance to the Anglican Communion.

A senior member of Archbishop Williams’ staff confirmed as accurate comments contained in a letter to his diocese by the Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray III, Bishop of Mississippi. Bishop Gray wrote that the archbishop will seek clarification of the meaning and intent on three subjects, including Resolution B033 approved during the 75th General Convention in 2006. The resolution “call[s] upon standing committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.”

Archbishop Williams also will ask the bishops to clarify their stance on the blessing of same-sex unions. While the Book of Common Prayer does not permit the practice, several dioceses have authorized rites for the blessing of gay unions as a “pastoral” measure. Resolution C051, approved at the 74th General Convention in 2003, stated that “local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions.”

Finally, Archbishop Williams will ask the House of Bishops to explain its views on a proposed Anglican Covenant. While the final covenant language has not been drafted, failure by The Episcopal Church to be open to considering any common statement would be a significant setback likely to diminish the chances of it achieving the necessary two-thirds approval by the 38 provincial synods.

A number of members of the House of Bishops believe they already have responded sufficiently to the first two of Archbishop Williams’ three questions during their meeting last spring. At that meeting, the bishops approved four resolutions: affirming their desire as a body to remain a part of the Anglican Communion; stating only General Convention could legally interpret the meaning of the preamble to its constitution; urging rejection by Executive Council of the primates’ proposed pastoral scheme and pledging to continue to “work to find ways of meeting the pastoral concerns of the primates that are compatible with our own polity and canons.”

The level of church-wide interest in an Anglican Covenant is difficult to determine. Episcopal News Service recently reported that only about one third of the church’s 110 dioceses formally responded to reflection questions contained in a study document aimed at helping the House of Bishops during their meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Published in The Living Church.

The Rt. Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson, Jr., Bishop of Upper South Carolina, was erroneously listed as a contributing author of a legal paper prepared for the House of Bishops’ meeting next week.

“My name is on it because there was a criss-cross of e-mails,” Bishop Henderson told a reporter from The Living Church. “I asked that my name be removed, but I was informed that it had already been sent to the printer. There are parts in which I concur, but others where I dissent.”

The 98-page paper is titled “The Constitutional Crisis, 2007: A Statement to The House of Bishops, the Archbishop of Canterbury, & Honored Visitors by Legally Trained Members of the House.” In addition to Bishop Henderson, five other bishops who are licensed attorneys are listed as authors: the Rt. Rev. Cabell Tennis, retired Bishop of Delaware; the Rt. Rev. Robert D. Rowley, Jr., retired Bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania; the Rt. Rev. Joe Morris Doss, retired Bishop of New Jersey; the Rt. Rev. Creighton Robertson, Bishop of South Dakota; and the Rt. Rev. Stacy F. Sauls, Bishop of Lexington.

“We do not want the Anglican Communion to be defined by juridical ecclesiology,” the report states. “By training and experience we are poignantly aware of the meaning and value of law as well as of theology. This gives us a unique perspective, which in turn leads us to conclude that the Anglican Communion must not be reduced to a hierarchically controlled, monolithic confessional structure.”

The report concludes that the Anglican Communion already has an adequate constitution and the proposals for a covenant, alternate primatial oversight, and jurisdictions that cross provincial and diocesan boundaries would represent a radical break with previous polity and practice. “The fundamental issue in the current conflict is not the matter of theological innovation, but the proposals and actions that would revolutionize the Anglican Communion,” the report states.

Bishop Henderson said it was his understanding that the report was prepared at the initiative of Bishop Doss. Neva Rae Fox, a spokeswoman for Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, said she was not aware of the report and could not comment as to whether the Presiding Bishop had commissioned it or appointed its members. Bishop Doss and Bishop Sauls had not returned a phone message left for them before this bulletin was published.

“My major disagreement with the report has to do with its understanding of the authority of bishops,” Bishop Henderson said. “I believe bishops have authority and responsibility to act quite apart from General Convention, and you need look no further than the catechism in The Book of Common Prayer from where my views derive.

“Bishops are asked to guard the faith and unity of the Church; that responsibility is not ascribed to any other order of ministry. I remain convinced that the House of Bishops needs to come to terms with what it means to be a bishop in the church catholic and for the church to be more aware of what it means to be a part of something larger than itself.”

Published in The Living Church

The Rev. Canon David Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council, is one of four new bishops that the Anglican Church of Nigeria announced it is adding to the roster of CANA, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

The Rev. Roger Ames, rector of St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Akron, Ohio, is another American elected by the Nigerian House of Bishops on Sept. 12. The other two bishops-elect are Nigerian priests serving expatriate African congregations in the United States, the Ven. Amos Fagbamiye and the Rev. Canon Nathan Kanu.

Plans call for the four to be consecrated in the United States either in late November or the first week of December, according to Fr. Ames, who said that he has been informed that a number of Global South primates will participate in the consecration.

The new bishops will join the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, missionary bishop of CANA, and the Rt. Rev. David Bena, the retired suffragan Bishop of Albany, in the oversight of Nigeria’s American congregations.

In an interview with The Living Church, Fr. Ames said all of the parish leadership and the congregation of St. Luke’s left The Episcopal Church about two years ago for the Diocese of Bolivia in the Province of the Southern Cone, but because the Diocese of Ohio has not to date included the departure in its parochial report filings with the national church, he and the congregation continue officially to be designated members in good standing of The Episcopal Church.

Fr. Ames said there are currently about 50 former Episcopal congregations affiliated with the Diocese of Bolivia. These are in the process of being transferred to CANA by mutual agreement of Bishop Minns and the Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons, Bishop of Bolivia. According to a press release published on CANA’s website, the convocation now has 60 congregations and 80 clergy in 20 states.

The election of the four will increase the number of African-sponsored missionary bishops in the United States to 17: six from Nigeria, two from Uganda, two from Kenya, and seven from Rwanda.

Published in The Living Church.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will offer a revamped primatial vicar plan to the House of Bishops at their meeting next week in New Orleans, sources who have been briefed on the broad outline of the new proposal told The Living Church.

The plan is said to call for a nominee of the Presiding Bishop’s to exercise delegated pastoral authority over those dioceses that had requested alternate primatial oversight from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams following the 2006 General Convention.

However, the Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker, Bishop of Fort Worth, said a plan that placed the ultimate authority in the hands of the Presiding Bishop was a non-starter. Fort Worth would not accept the “unilateral dictates” of the Presiding Bishop, he said.

Last November, Bishop Jefferts Schori proposed a “primatial vicar” scheme where she would appoint a bishop to serve as her “designated pastor,” presiding at consecrations and acting in her stead for “any other appropriate matters.”

Neva Rae Fox, a spokeswoman for the Episcopal Church’s Office of Communications, stated she had no knowledge of a new plan, but hypothetically if something like that were introduced during the meeting, it would probably be during the business sessions Sept. 24-25.

Bishop Iker said bishops affiliated with the Anglican Communion Network would not be present if a primatial vicar plan was brought forward during the House of Bishops’ business session, as they were withdrawing from the meeting following the departure of Archbishop Rowan Williams on Sept. 22.

The Presiding Bishop is understood to have canvassed a number of bishops and received conflicting opinions about the suitability of the modified plan. Her consultation reportedly included at least one bishop active in the Camp Allen meetings of “Windsor” bishops.

In March, Bishop Iker told the Archbishop of Canterbury’s chief of staff, Chris Smith, that Fort Worth envisioned three possible scenarios for alternate oversight, including moving Fort Worth into a different province of the Anglican Communion, and creating a personal prelature or exarchate by Archbishop Williams that would give the diocese extra-provincial status.

All of the scenarios, however, were predicated on metropolitan pastoral authority being exercised by someone other than the Presiding Bishop, Bishop Iker said. Mr. Smith responded that the Archbishop of Canterbury at that time could not commit to such plan, but would counsel the Presiding Bishop to take heed of the pastoral scheme put forward by the primates at their meeting in February in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Also, a senior advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury told The Living Church it was a serious misreading of the primates’ communiqué to say that an ultimatum had been given to the House of Bishops to take certain actions by Sept. 30 or face expulsion from the Anglican Communion. The communiqué had asked for certain clarifications from the House of Bishops, he said, but did not envision a breaching of The Episcopal Church’s constitution.

Published in The Living Church.

The political disputes over The Episcopal Church’s place within the Anglican Communion have spilled over into Central Africa, leading to the replacement of the provincial dean, the Rt. Rev. Trevor Mwamba, Bishop of Botswana.

The Rt. Rev. Albert Chama, Bishop of Northern Zambia, was appointed to replace Bishop Mwamba as dean by the church’s General Synod, which began meeting on Sept. 6 in Mangochi, Malawi.

The government-backed Harare Herald reported Bishop Mwamba was “relieved of his duties” due to his “pro-gay” and pro-American lobbying, and because he misrepresented “the province’s position on the issue of homosexuals.”

A guest of General Convention in Columbus last year, Bishop Mwamba had urged the African churches to moderate their tone on the issue of homosexuality, and address first the continent’s social and economic problems.

Discussions over the political crisis in Zimbabwe, plans to divide the province, the ongoing saga of the failed episcopal election in Lake Malawi, and the Anglican Communion’s disputes over human sexuality have also animated the meeting. Resolutions addressing the humanitarian and economic crisis in Zimbabwe were shelved following the objections of the Zimbabwe dioceses led by the Rt. Rev. Nolbert Kunonga, Bishop of Harare.

This week’s synod will be the last for the church’s primate. Archbishop Bernard Malango turns 65 in January and is expected to retire at that time. Bishop Chama will oversee the election of a successor and will serve as acting primate.

Published in The Living Church.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has denounced as unchristian a statement demonizing gays and lesbians that was allegedly made by a Nigerian bishop and published by United Press International (UPI).

In a statement released by the Anglican Consultative Council’s press office on Sept. 7, Archbishop Williams expressed “deep shock” at remarks made by the Bishop of Uyo, the Rt. Rev. Isaac Orama. The Nigerian bishop has denied making the remarks attributed to him.

A Sept. 2 report widely circulated by UPI the same weekend that three former Episcopal priests were consecrated Anglican bishops for the United States was based on a News Agency of Nigeria article in which Bishop Orama was quoted in part saying: “Homosexuality and lesbianism are inhuman. Those who practice them are insane, satanic and are not fit to live because they are rebels to God’s purpose for man.”

Archbishop Williams said that such comments were “unacceptable and profoundly shocking on the lips of any Christian” noting that the “primates, along with all other official bodies in the Anglican Communion, have consistently called for an end to homophobia, violence and hatred.” The statement noted that Archbishop Williams has asked the Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola, for an explanation.

A spokesman for the Church of Nigeria, Archdeacon Akintunde Popoola, told The Living Church the quote attributed to the bishop was false.

The Bishop of Uyo “denied making such a statement,” Canon Popoola said. While the bishop’s address to his diocesan synod did speak to the issue of human sexuality dividing the Communion, and the Church of Nigeria’s position on these issues, “he did not say that [gays and lesbians] are to be hated, nor that they are insane or unfit to live.”

The News Agency of Nigeria reporter has “apologized for the misrepresentation and promised a retraction,” Archdeacon Popoola told TLC.

Published in The Living Church.

The Catholic movement in The Episcopal Church has degenerated from a theological imperative into haberdashery, the retired Bishop of Fort Worth, the Rt. Rev. Clarence C. Pope, Jr., told a reporter for The Living Church, explaining his departure to the Roman Catholic Church.

On Aug. 6, Bishop Pope wrote to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, resigning from the House of Bishops, and telephoned his successor, the Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker, to announce his decision.

Bishop Pope said the Catholic movement, which has been part of “Anglicanism from the time of the Elizabethan Settlement, has gradually dissipated until we are left with lots of ‘catholic’ vestments worn in areas of The Episcopal Church where ‘low church’ used to be the order of the day.”

The movement has reached its end within the current institutional structures of The Episcopal Church, Bishop Pope asserted, and as a matter of conscience, it was time for him to go.

“Without the stable center provided by the Holy See of Peter,” he said, the Catholic movement within the church will “ultimately die away.”

The culprit in what he believes to be the death of Anglo-Catholicism is the usurpation of powers and prerogatives by General Convention. Bishop Pope argued that over the past generation, the “vote” in General Convention had led to the triumph of “political correctness” over sound doctrine. The vision of corporate reunion “put forth by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop [of Canterbury Michael] Ramsey can now never be realized.

“General Conventions are not General Councils but they have come to behave as such,” he said. “Doctrinal changes concerning holy matrimony, holy orders, and matters of sexual morality have put The Episcopal Church outside the limits of the Vincentian Canon, and marginalize everyone within it from the Catholic world.”

Bishop Pope said he regretted his return to The Episcopal Church in 1995, after having spent a year as a Roman Catholic. He explained that shortly after he was received into the Roman Catholic Church by Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, “I was discovered to have advanced prostate cancer and that because it had spread so aggressively, I probably would not survive.”

The series of chemotherapy treatments and radiation he underwent left him “very impaired in my thinking,” he explained. The toll of his treatment and his tepid reception from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, which had refused him ordination as a priest, provoked depression.

“In the midst of all this sense of losing any awareness of belonging, Presiding Bishop Ed Browning called to see how I was,” Bishop Pope said. His classmate from the 1954 seminary class at Sewanee encouraged him to return to The Episcopal Church.

“Needing some ground of belonging, I gave in to his nudging and, as he claimed never to have received my letter of resignation, I drifted back to The Episcopal Church,” Bishop Pope said. He asserts now that “being of sounder emotional stability and out from under a fog bank of severe depression, I would never have made such a return.”

He characterizes his move to Rome not a rejection of Anglicanism but as a culmination of a spiritual journey.

“My love of Anglicanism is very deep,” he said, and it had “shaped and brought me to my present understanding” of the faith. Joining the Roman Catholic Church is “the final step for which this preparation was, I think, intended,” and was “by a desire for wholeness and settlement in the home I believe God has erected.”

Published in The Living Church.

The bishops of the Diocese of Sydney have told Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams that they will not respond to his invitation to attend the 2008 Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion’s bishops until they learn how The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops responds to the primates’ communiqué.

If the bishops who participated in the consecration of the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson as Bishop Coadjutor of New Hampshire attend Lambeth, the bishops of Sydney might not, Archbishop Peter Jensen and his five suffragans said.

Read it all in The Living Church.

The Diocese of Massachusetts has settled its lawsuit against the former rector and members of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Attleboro. On Aug. 1, the diocese discontinued litigation against the Rev. Lance Giuffrida and members of the vestry of All Saints’ Anglican Church, a parish of the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMIA), in consideration of payment of an undisclosed sum.

Both sides hailed the agreement. The Rev. Gregory A. Jacobs, diocesan staff officer for urban ministry development, said the settlement will help support the remnant of the parish that chose to remain in The Episcopal Church. The agreement “will allow the continuing congregation at All Saints’ Episcopal Church to grow their ministry as they continue to be a vital presence in the faith community of Attleboro,” he said.

Fr. Giuffrida also lauded the agreement, writing to his congregation on Aug. 4 that the agreement was fortuitous.

“In a shorter time than seemed possible, God has removed every obstacle from our paths,” he said, reporting both the settlement of litigation and the purchase of a redundant Methodist church for the AMiA congregation.

In September 2006, the congregation voted to withdraw from the Diocese of Massachusetts and affiliate with the Rwandan-backed AMiA. Following negotiations, the congregation turned over the property to the diocese in January.

However in late June, the diocese filed suit against the former rector and 18 vestry members, alleging they had diverted $196,863 from parish coffers to the newly formed AMiA congregation. The diocese also sought damages against Fr. Giuffrida, seeking repayment of a $10,000 home equity loan given by the parish to its rector and $7,600 in salary paid during the transition from The Episcopal Church to the AMiA. The leaders of the breakaway group denied the allegations.

Fr. Giuffrida told the Attleboro Sun Chronicle the agreement included a hold-harmless agreement binding both parties, repayment of a $10,000 home loan, and the return of some prayer books.

First published in The Living Church.

Three former congregations of the Diocese of Los Angeles that left The Episcopal Church for the Church of Uganda have asked the California Supreme Court to decide whether they or the diocese own their properties.

In an appeal filed on Aug. 6, St. James’, Newport Beach; All Saints’, Long Beach; and St. David’s, North Hollywood, asked the state’s Supreme Court to overturn a June 25 ruling by the Fourth Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal that found the Diocese of Los Angeles controlled the parish property.

Read it all in The Living Church.

The retired Bishop of Fort Worth, the Rt. Rev. Clarence C. Pope, Jr., has rejoined the Roman Catholic Church.

In an e-mail sent to the clergy of the Diocese of Fort Worth on Aug. 6, the Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker announced that his predecessor had “telephoned me this morning” to say that he and his wife had “returned to membership in the Roman Catholic Church, in full communion with the See of Peter.”

Bishop Pope is the second Episcopal bishop to join the Roman Catholic Church this year, and the fifth bishop of The Episcopal Church to resign from the House of Bishops since January. The retired Bishop of Albany, the Rt. Rev. Daniel Herzog, also returned to the Roman Church this year. The retired Bishop Suffragan of Albany, the Rt. Rev. David Bena, joined the Church of Nigeria; the retired Assistant Bishop of Oklahoma, the Rt. Rev. William Cox, joined the Church of the Province of the Southern Cone; and the retired Bishop of North Dakota, the Rt. Rev. Andrew Fairfield, joined the Church of Uganda.

Elected the second Bishop of Fort Worth in 1984, Bishop Pope was the first president of the Episcopal Synod of America, and a long-time advocate for corporate reunification with the Roman Catholic Church. Upon his retirement in 1994, Bishop Pope announced that he and his wife were joining the Roman Catholic Church. Citing the Church of England’s 1992 Act of Synod permitting the ordination of women, Bishop Pope said then that the “pilgrimage I had longed to take corporately would now have to be taken alone.”

Received by Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston at a ceremony in a former Episcopal church in Arlington, Texas, Bishop Pope applied for