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Singapore Consecration Provokes Strong Response Throughout the Church

Episcopal News Service. February 18, 2000 [2000-030]

(ENS) The news of the consecration of two American priests as bishops in Singapore on January 29 by a group of conservative primates and bishops has prompted outspoken, colorful outbursts from across the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion -- and a strong rebuke from Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey.

The two new bishops, Charles H. Murphy III, head of First Promise, a network of conservative Episcopalians, and rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and the Rev. John H. Rodgers, Jr., dean emeritus of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, were consecrated to help "reestablish the unity that has been violated by the unrebuked ridicule and denial of basic Christian teaching" in the Episcopal Church.

They intend to "actively seek to plant Anglican missions in areas where there are receptive communities," according to a press release issued after the consecration in St. Andrew's Cathedral. The release pointed to declining membership of the church in recent years, calling the decline "a crisis of the Christian Faith that has left the Episcopal Church divided."

The consecrators included Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, primate of the Province of Rwanda, and Archbishop Moses Tay, primate of the Province of South East Asia, as well as John Ruchyahana, bishop of Shyira in Rwanda; Fitzsimmons Allison, former bishop of South Carolina; Alex Dickson, former bishop of West Tennessee, and David Pytches, former bishop of Chile, Bolivia and Peru who has been serving a parish in England.

Presiding bishop 'appalled'

"I am appalled by this irregular action and even more so by the purported 'crisis' that has been largely fomented by them and others, and which bears very little resemblance to the church we actually know, which is alive and well and faithful, as the Zacchaeus report so clearly indicates," said Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold in a letter sent January 31 to all the bishops in the Episcopal Church.

He also sent copies of the letter to the 37 other primates of the Anglican Communion, scheduled to meet in Oporto, Portugal, March 23-28.

In an interview, Griswold made it clear that "the Episcopal Church is not in crisis," but that it is attempting to deal openly and honestly with divergent points of view as a community of faith. He expressed frustration that some in the church cling to a "caricature," ignoring the reality that the church "seems to be finding a common mind and moving ahead with a broader and more inclusive outlook, a shared commitment to mission." For example, in recent years the bishops have been moving to a deeper level, not ignoring issues but finding ways to "embrace multiple realities." He said that the bishops have worked very hard to establish "a stronger sense of community with respect for differences. And we have made incredible strides."

When asked about the Primates Meeting, Griswold said he fully expected to "to give the primates a more balanced impression of the Episcopal Church, a church far from being in chaos." He added, "I go to the meeting with an open mind, ready for revelations of the Spirit, ready for the wisdom of the primates. And I will listen with great care to their stories of mission."

He said that the ordination of the two bishops was "outside all formal structures of the Anglican Communion. They were not elected and their consecrations did not follow a canonical process. They were highly irregular and outside all acceptable norms."

Ballistic missiles?

Archbishop Michael Peers of the Anglican Church of Canada was even more blunt. "Bishops are not intercontinental ballistic missiles, manufactured on one continent and fired into another as an act of aggression," he said in a statement. He called the consecrations "an open and premeditated assault on Anglican tradition, catholic order and Christian charity."

Peers said that the consecrations were "an act designed to divide a church that is prayerfully seeking to grow in unity in the midst of real differences on a variety of issues. These ordinations have nothing to do with the unity of Christ of which a bishop is to be a sign and minister," and represent "an act designed to produce schism."

Retired Bishop Maurice Benitez of Texas, on the other hand, said that the "sad divisions" in the Episcopal Church are the result of "the steady and continuing erosion of apostolic and biblical orthodoxy in the Episcopal Church over the past 20 years."

The new primate of Australia, Bishop Peter Carnley, described the action as "wicked" and said that such "vagrant" bishops were irregular and unlawful within the Anglican Communion.

The primate of Tanzania, Donald Mtetemela, and the primate of the Southern Cone, Maurice Sinclair, and Archbishop Harry Goodhew of Sydney said that they were sorry to see that their colleagues "felt compelled to take this present action on their own initiative and contrary to what was agreed in a meeting in which they shared in Kampala."

Profound disappointment

Many questioned the timing of the consecrations. In Australia, Goodhew, a leading conservative, declared, "While I appreciate the concern and frustration that has prompted this action, I wish to express my profound disappointment that these consecrations have taken place at this time and in this manner." Goodhew heads one of the largest dioceses in the Anglican Communion and was a member of a group of church leaders invited to visit the Episcopal Church last year. He wrote the group's report that was largely critical of the Episcopal Church and the way it has dealt with the issues of sexuality and continuing opposition to the ordination of women.

Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, who was on a visit to the Province of Southern Africa, also expressed regret at the action in a statement released by his office. "It has come as a grave disappointment to the archbishop," the statement read, "as it is his view that such consecrations are irresponsible and irregular and only harm the unity of the communion."

Kolini and Tay wrote to Carey January 30, "Far from being an attack on the Communion, this action is an affirmation of the unity of Anglican doctrine and faith which has been frequently and flagrantly violated in the ECUSA." They described the consecrations as a "pastoral step" and an" interim action" that "simply gives pastoral care until faithful doctine and ecclesiastical discipline has been restored."

Carey wrote to the Anglican Communion's bishops February 17 stating that the consecrations did not follow the proper procedures and that he "cannot recognize their episcopal ministry until such time as a full rapprochement and reconciliation has taken place between them and the appropriate authorities within the Episcopal Church of the United States." He added that it was "unrealistic" to expect that the Primates Meeting could resolve the issues facing the church and that the primates "have no authority to impose our will on any province." (see separate article)

Uncertain status

While critics and supporters debated the merits of consecrating bishops in Singapore to send as missioners to the Episcopal Church, others wondered about the official status of the new bishops.

Bishop Edward L. Salmon, Jr. of South Carolina initially said he did not know what Murphy's future status would be. In a statement issued to the diocese, Salmon said that the consecrations "pose serious questions about the relationships of Provinces of the Anglican Communion to the American church, doctrinal and canonical issues within the American church," as well as the diocese. Later, at the diocesan convention, Salmon said that he would be willing to license Murphy so that he could "function sacramentally" but that he could not continue to serve his parish.

When he heard the plans for the consecration of three Americans on January 13, Salmon said that he expressed his opposition, especially in light of the Primates Meeting -- and because four of the six primates who had seemed to favor such an action at a meeting in Uganda last November were now opposed. "The action had the potential of dividing faithful people who are in agreement about doctrinal and moral issues in the American church," he said. "I believe that in all of these events it is important to minimize further divisions and to urge the whole church to seek a godly solution. This action is obviously a symptom of much larger issues. More anger and hatred will not help the situation."

Kampala meeting

Tay and Kolini both attended the meeting of conservative primates in Kampala, Uganda, at which the group agreed to voice its dismay at what it perceives as the Episcopal Church's rejection of Anglican orthodoxy. The primates had planned to ask their colleagues at the Primates Meeting to use a potential option outlined in a resolution passed at the 1998 Lambeth Conference.

The resolution asks that the Primates Meeting include among its responsibilities "positive encouragement to mission, intervention in cases of exceptional emergency which are incapable of internal resolution, and giving of guidelines on the limits of diversity in submitting to the sovereign authority of Holy Scripture and loyalty to Anglican tradition and formularies."

The primates at the Kampala meeting rejected a bid by First Promise for its own bishops but they acknowledged that some in their group were ready to take action before the gathering of primates.

Bishop James Stanton of Dallas, head of the American Anglican Council and an observer at the Kampala meeting, asked the primates not to take precipitate action. He said that, unlike First Promise, the AAC was eager to see American bishops working with Griswold to deal with "liberal bishops running roughshod over their people."

In a statement issued January 31, the AAC said that, while it had hoped that the consecrations could have been avoided, the act marked "the beginning of a new reality for the Episcopal Church." Much of the church's leadership, the statement continued, "has utterly failed to recognize the magnitude of the crisis that is tearing apart our church." Declaring that it "prayed that the Episcopal Church would provide for alternative oversight for orthodox parishes," the statement ended by saying, "Nothing less than the integrity of the Gospel and the future of the church is at stake."

Later, in a column in the diocesan newspaper, Stanton said that he feared that the consecrations would "deepen the fractures in our own church," and that he did not support "alternative" or "missionary" bishops as a way forward.

Major shift in power

Dean Peter Moore of Trinity School for Ministry, pointed out that the election of Rodgers and Murphy as bishops "sends shock waves throughout the Anglican Communion at a time when numerical decline in the Western Hemisphere, and robust growth in the Southern Hemisphere, signal a major shift in power...."

The two bishops, he said, are being sent from younger missionary churches to "re-evangelize a listless and doctrinally uncertain church in the West." However, their service will present challenges to Episcopal Church bishops who disagree with Rodgers and Murphy or who fear losing members to their work.

Moore said that his seminary sympathizes with those who performed the consecrations, sharing the understanding that this was an attempt to keep frustrated Anglicans in the fold. He added that "we view this action as a direct result of the rejection of the 1998 Lambeth Resolutions on sexuality by diocese after diocese within the Episcopal Church..."

While noting that "there is a note of desperation" in the action at this time, he said that his seminary did not share that feeling but feared that it could lead to an erosion of evangelical and orthodox solidarity within the church.

Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, who has been an outspoken conservative, said in a letter to his diocese that the consecrations were "but another in the spiral of events of the last thirty years by which the fabric and the direction of our Episcopal Church are being tested and shaped."

He noted that as one of the American observers at Kampala he had told the primates there that there "was no hope of reform of the Episcopal Church without the international primates and the wider Anglican Communion calling us to some reasonable accountability," but he had worked to discourage the First Promise plan to establish an additional Anglican province in the U.S.

He urged the members of his diocese to focus on their local mission and continue to support each other across congregational lines, even as the national and international church grappled with the turmoil prompted by the consecrations.

In remarks that recalled the diocese's unanimous vote at its November convention for partnership with Rwanda, and with Ruchyahana's diocese, Duncan said one quotation from Kolini had been "indelibly seared" in his memory: "At the genocide in 1994, the whole world stood back and no one came to Rwanda's aid. We will never stand back when others are similarly threatened, physically or spiritually."

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