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South East Asia Bishops Distance Themselves from Archbishop's Actions

Episcopal News Service. June 20, 2001 [2001-160]

Jan Nunley

(ENS) Members of the Province of South East Asia's House of Bishops have written to Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, enclosing a letter, dated May 18, in which they strongly disassociated themselves from the proposed actions of their archbishop in consecrating four American priests for the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) in Denver on June 24. The signers were Lim Cheng Ean, bishop of West Malaysia; Made Katib, bishop of Kuching; and John Chew Hiang Chea, bishop of Singapore.

They warned Archbishop Datuk Yong Ping Chung that proceeding with the consecrations without a consensus from his colleagues was a breach of Article III(d) of the provincial constitution of the Province of South East Asia and "will have serious consequences to yourself." The letter did not specify the possible repercussions.

The bishops' letter points out that the legality of the consecrations is in question. "To proceed without the legality of your action being clearly resolved would be irresponsible and respectfully we wish to inform you that you will leave us no option but to take such steps as are necessary and expedient to disassociate the province from your unilateral action, with notice to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the information of the rest of the Anglican Communion," the letter stated.

In January 2000, Archbishops Moses Tay of South East Asia and Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda consecrated two American priests, Charles Murphy and John Rodgers, as "missionary bishops" for their respective provinces, to be sent back to the U.S. The consecration was held secretly in Singapore and announced after the fact. Six months later, the two announced the formation of the AMiA.

The four priests to be consecrated are based in each of four different U.S. time zones. They are the Rev. Thad Barnum of Pawleys Island, South Carolina; the Rev. Sandy Greene of Denver; the Rev T.J. Johnston of Little Rock, Arkansas; and the Rev. Doug Weiss of San Jose, California.

Yong said that the new consecrations were taking place to provide protection for American Episcopalians who felt they could not stay within the Episcopal Church. "We just provide this to keep them within the Anglican family. We are not creating a new church," he said.