Retired Albany bishop joins Roman Catholic Church
Episcopal News Service. March 29, 2007 [032907-02]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Daniel W. Herzog, the retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, New York, and his wife, Carol, have become Roman Catholics.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told Herzog in a March 28 letter (full text below) that she knows the couple’s decision was "made after careful prayer and consideration and so I wish you and Carol well as you enter another room in Christ's church."
"You were certainly a dynamic member of the House of Bishops and one who had a forceful and strong ministry," she wrote. "Your commitment to evangelism was notable. You will be missed."
"I know that prayers of many go with you and Carol as you journey on toward the final kingdom," the letter concluded.
Jefferts Schori said in a March 29 letter (full text below) to the House of Bishops that she received a letter from Herzog upon her return from the recent House of Bishops meeting telling her of the decision. She wrote that Herzog asked in his letter to be removed from the ordained ministry of the Episcopal Church.
"He has resigned his membership in the House of Bishops or any committees of which he was a member," she told the bishops. "I will now undertake the canonical procedures to remove him from the ordained ministry of this church."
Herzog, 65, became Albany's bishop in June 1998. He was ordained a priest in 1971 after graduating from Nashotah House seminary. He could not be reached for further comment.
Herzog had expressed disagreement with some decisions of the Episcopal Church’s General Convention, including its 2003 affirmation of an opening gay bishop elected in the Diocese of New Hampshire.
Herzog also joined a group of Episcopal bishops who met in November in Virginia with members of Global South Steering Committee to discussthe issue of alternative primatial oversight. Albany, however, is not among the seven of the Episcopal Church's 111 dioceses that asked for a such a relationship with a Primate other than the church’s current Presiding Bishop.
Herzog is apparently the third bishop in the history of the Episcopal Church to become a Roman Catholic. Levi S. Ives, bishop of North Carolina, left the denomination in 1853 after spending a number of years as both diocesan bishop and a monastic. Delaware Bishop Frederick Kinsman became a Roman Catholic in 1919. Meanwhile, after his retirement as bishop of Fort Worth at the end of 1994, Clarence C. Pope Jr. and his wife, Martha, attended Roman Catholic services but, after a short time, returned to the Episcopal Church.
Herzog is the second Albany bishop in recent days to change his affiliation. On March 5, the current diocesan bishop, William Love, announced that the diocese’s retired bishop suffragan, David Bena, had transferred to the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, where he has been received by Archbishop Peter Akinola.
Love said that Bena would be working with Martyn Minns -- the former rector of Truro Church in Virginia who was recently ordained a bishop in Nigeria -- as a "missionary bishop" of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).
Herzog gave him a letter dimissory to the Nigerian church, Bena said in a letter that Love included in his announcement. Both Herzog and Bena retired early this year.
"Since I have now been transferred from one Province in Communion with the See of Canterbury to another Province in Communion with the See of Canterbury, I am neither renouncing my Orders as a Bishop, nor am I abandoning the Communion of the Church," he told Love in that letter.
Love, who became Albany's diocesan bishop on February 4, wrote to the diocese March 28 saying that Herzog's decision came at "great personal cost."
"Unfortunately, unlike Bishop Bena's decision to transfer to the Church of Nigeria, continuing as a bishop in good standing in the Anglican Communion, Bishop Dan's decision has necessitated the resignation of his orders as bishop, priest and deacon," Love wrote in a letter not yet posted on the Albany website. "As such, he will not be able to function in an ordained capacity within the Diocese or larger Anglican Communion."
Love also called for unity in the diocese, saying that "it is absolutely essential that we stick together, as one body in Christ."
"The recent retirement and subsequent departure of both Bishop Dan and Bishop Dave from the Episcopal Church, can't help but have a major impact on each of us and our Diocese," he wrote. "One of my greatest concerns, as your new Bishop, is that others in the Diocese are also struggling with the current issues that threaten to divide the Church. Please know that I am here for you as we work through these issues."
The Diocese of Albany comprises about 19,700 Episcopalians worshipping in 120 congregations.
The full text of Jefferts Schori's letter to Herzog follows.
March 28, 2007
Dear Dan:
I have received your March 19th letter saying that you and Carol were received into the full communion of the Roman Catholic Church. I know that this was a decision made after careful prayer and consideration and so I wish you and Carol well as you enter another room in Christ's church.
You were certainly a dynamic member of the House of Bishops and one who had a forceful and strong ministry. Your commitment to evangelism was notable. You will be missed.
I will undertake the process of completing your removal from the ordained ministry of the Episcopal Church.
I know that prayers of many go with you and Carol as you journey on toward the final kingdom.
Your servant in Christ,
[signed: Katharine]
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
- - - - -
The full text of Jefferts Schori's letter to the House of Bishops follows.
To the House of Bishops
I received upon my return from the House of Bishops a letter from Daniel Herzog telling me that he has been received into the full communion of the Roman Catholic Church and that he desires to be removed from the ordained ministry of this church. He has resigned his membership in the House of Bishops or any committees of which he was a member. I will now undertake the canonical procedures to remove him from the ordained ministry of this church.
I know our prayers go with both Dan and Carol as they continue their journey in another room of Christ's church.
Katharine