House of Bishops' actions draw reactions from interest groups, ELO readers
Episcopal News Service. March 13, 2008 [031308-03]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Reaction to news from the March 7-12 meeting of the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops centered on the bishops' consent to the depositions of Bishop John-David Schofield of San Joaquin and William Cox, retired bishop suffragan of Maryland, as well as the news that New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson would not be allowed to participate in an official capacity at the upcoming Lambeth Conference gathering of Anglican Communion bishops.
In a statement about their consents, the bishops pledged their support to the members of the Diocese of San Joaquin and said they would continue to seek reconciliation with the people whom both Schofield and Cox served.
"This outcome is the painful culmination of a lengthy process of conciliation and review led by two Presiding Bishops," the bishops said in their statement. "While earnest voices were raised asking if there were other alternatives at this time, the conclusion of the House of Bishops is that this action is based on the facts presented to us and is necessary for the ongoing integrity of The Episcopal Church."
Meanwhile, the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes (NACDP), issued a statement March 12 saying that since Cox and Schofield had both "come under the care of another province of the Anglican Communion" the action by the House of Bishops was "a symbolic, but essentially meaningless, gesture."
"It will have no practical effect on the ministry of these two godly leaders, but instead makes crystal clear the scorched earth policy that the current leadership of The Episcopal Church intends to prosecute against those who can not in good conscience follow them out of the Christian mainstream," said the Rev. Canon Daryl Fenton, the organization's chief operating officer, in the statement. "There is no question that both Bishop Cox and Bishop Schofield remain bishops in the Anglican Communion and will continue in ministry."
The statement from NACDP was emailed to reporters by Peter Frank, who is communications director for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan is NACDP's leader.
Both Cox and Schofield have told Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori that they are now bishops in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. At Schofield's urging, the convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin voted December 8 to leave the Episcopal Church and to align with the Argentina-based province.
Cox, 87, served as Maryland bishop suffragan from 1972 to 1980 and then was an assisting bishop in the Diocese of Oklahoma between 1980 and 1988. In June 2005, he ordained two priests and a deacon at Christ Church in Overland Park, Kansas, after he was asked to do so by Uganda Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi. Cox also later confirmed people at the parish. Earlier that year, the parish and the Diocese of Kansas negotiated Christ Church's departure from the Episcopal Church.
On March 12, Southern Cone Primate Gregory Venables wrote a short letter to Schofield saying the province was "deeply honored to have you as Bishop and your Diocese as full members of the Southern Cone" and pledging that the two would "continue to proclaim the Gospel together as brother bishops."
A number of Episcopal Life Online readers responded critically to the news about Cox and Schofield.
Among them, Ian Montgomery of Neenah, Wisconsin, called the depositions "a travesty and worthy of the inquisition of old."
Greg Shore of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, wrote that it was "shameful" to depose bishops who leave the Episcopal Church "while refusing to depose bishops who abandon the faith which they promised to defend."
However, the Rev. Dr. Raymond Hoche-Mong of Montara, California, wrote to say that Schofield has encouraged schism. "Schofield has insisted that he and he alone has the ability to speak for the Episcopal Church and in so doing has rejected the catholicity of the Church," he wrote.
Katherine Clark of Racine, Wisconsin, responded with a caution and a request. She wrote "to remind our Bishops that there is one group of people who are troubled to think the Church we love may not continue to seek the mind of Christ on this issue but content itself with acting responsively to those whose position against homosexuals is so strong and unbending."
"Those who question inclusion with charity and dignity and from their own allegiance to Scripture [are] another matter altogether," Clarke wrote. "Their opinion will surely be important as we seek the mind of Christ (which St. Paul says is already ours). I would like to suggest that this very large (and not vocal) group of laypeople who see inclusion as a Gospel mandate might be included in any acknowledgement of 'pain' this division of opinion is causing."
Meanwhile, Integrity USA, an organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Episcopalians and their allies, on March 12 expressed "profound disappointment and anger that the Archbishop of Canterbury has failed to find a way for the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson to meaningfully participate in the Lambeth Conference."
The Rev. Susan Russell, Integrity's president, said in the group's statement that what she called Robinson's "marginalization" is symbolic of the discrimination that LGBT people face daily throughout the Anglican Communion.
The decision "runs completely contrary to the promise made at the last Lambeth Conference 'to listen to the experience of homosexual persons' (Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10) " and makes "a travesty of the so-called 'Listening Process,'" she said.
The statement said that Integrity supports Robinson's call for the rest of the Episcopal Church's bishops to attend the Lambeth Conference. "We challenge them to speak not only for him, but for the LGBT faithful throughout the Anglican Communion who will have no voice in Canterbury."
Russell said Integrity will be at the Lambeth Conference "in numbers and we look forward to the opportunity to claim God's justice and proclaim Christ's love."
The group said it is working with two coalitions "to have a unified, effective presence at the Lambeth Conference." Those groups include the Chicago Consultation, a group of some 50 Episcopal Church bishops, clergy, and the St. Anne's Network, a collection of about 12 LGBT Anglican organizations.
Several Episcopal Life Online readers responded to the news of Robinson's exclusion from Lambeth. Among them was George Bedell of Gainesville, Florida, who wrote that he was disappointed that the House of Bishops "didn't tell the Archbishop of Canterbury [that] he'd missed a chance to become the actual leader of the Communion, instead of its putative leader."
Susan Gage of Tallahassee, Florida, wrote that "it is so wrong that those in Canterbury can only see the sexual orientation of a bishop and not the spirit of God that dwells within" Robinson.
The bishops, she wrote "must go to Lambeth on behalf of all of us in the church because we are all God's children. Jesus did not die for some; he died for all."
"In the past, such actions as that of the Archbishop of Canterbury would have driven me away from my Episcopal heritage. But not this time. I will pray for all of you, and will continue to seek God's loving presence in a world that doesn't always want to love me and 'my kind' back," she concluded.
Meanwhile, the response of Mark Nilsen of Kansas City, Missouri, was representative of a marked minority of people who wrote to ELO to criticize Robinson. "Gene Robinson speaks about his pain," Nilsen wrote. "What about the pain that he has caused millions and millions of Anglican's across the globe? The pain that has led to the breakup of the Anglican Communion?"
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