Breakaway Anglican Churches Continue Dialogue with ECUSA
Episcopal News Service. February 10, 2004 [021004-2-A]
Jan Nunley
Representatives from the Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA), the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) and the Anglican Province of America (APA)met in Orlando, Florida on January 13 to continue a sixty-year dialogue between the Reformed Episcopal Church and ECUSA. Since the REC and APA plan to merge by 2008, and the APA's original jurisdiction (the American Episcopal Church) began discussions with the ECUSA in the 1970s, the APA has become part of the REC meetings.
A total of fourteen representatives (five ECUSA, five REC, four APA) gathered for the meeting convened by the chairman, Bishop Ed Salmon of the Diocese of South Carolina.
The purpose of the talks has been described as the furtherance of a "communion of communions," including the possibility of full participation of the REC/APA in the Anglican Communion via the ECUSA, the Anglican Communion's official presence in the United States. Merger or amalgamation of one group into the other has not been the ultimate goal, nor is it allowable under ECUSA's Constitution and Canons.
The talks centered on a resolution passed at General Convention 2003 re-introducing a previous report/recommendation from the 1930s, known as the Wilson Report. Chaired by Bishop Frank Wilson of the Diocese of Eau Claire, the committee issued a report in which it was concluded that REC orders are valid. The most recent ECUSA resolution proposed updating the Wilson Report with an appendix on APA orders. The ECUSA, acting on behalf of the Anglican Communion, would then make recommendations to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates based on the results of the updated study. Members of the meeting unanimously supported sending the resolution to the Standing Commission on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations (SCEIR) for study and action. The expectation is that the updated Wilson Report will result in significant recommendations to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates regarding the REC and APA.
Discussion at a different level
But negative responses to General Convention's decisions confirming and leading to the consecration of a practicing homosexual to the episcopate also were on the discussion table. The REC/APA Bishops had jointly produced public statements of disapproval, which were restated in person to the representatives of the ECUSA-a number of whom, including the chairman, agreed with the REC/APA objections and concerns and are involved in the new Network of the Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes.
Bishop Christopher Epting, Deputy for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations for the ECUSA, spoke to the importance of the commission appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and charged with reporting in September with recommendations on how the Anglican Communion can and should respond to objectionable decisions made by provinces. Epting encouraged further trilateral talks for the purpose of factoring the commission's recommendations into ecumenical discussions. But REC and APA representatives said that "recent actions of the ECUSA" demand that any continuation of these discussions be at a different level and with different objectives.
The talks represent many levels of ecumenical efforts taking place within the ECUSA and the Anglican Communion, including diocese to diocese contacts. Diocese of South Carolina (ECUSA) and Diocese of the Southeast (REC) bishops have concelebrated, while the Diocese of Pittsburgh (ECUSA) and the Diocese of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic (REC) have transferred clergy without conditional ordination. The Diocese of Ft. Worth (ECUSA) and the Diocese of Mid-America (REC) have entered a process toward concordat and communion, beginning with Standing Committee dialogues, resulting in shared ministry to youth, and considerations of other aspects of joint ministry.
The REC/APA also have developing relationships with bishops and archbishops in the wider Anglican Communion and with various organizations within the ECUSA.