Two Protest Harris Consecration
Episcopal News Service. February 16, 1989 [89025C]
Nicols Fox, Freelance writer, former communications officer, Episcopal Diocese of Maine
BOSTON (DPS, Feb. 16) -- Two voices of protest were heard at the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris who on Saturday, February 11, became the first woman bishop in the Episcopal Church and in the worldwide Anglican Communion of which the Episcopal Church is a part. The brief and orderly statements were read by John Jamieson, who represented the traditionalist Prayer Book Society, and by the Rev. James Hopkinson Cupit, Jr., rector of the Church of the Resurrection in New York City.
The protests came at a dramatic moment in the service where the "people" are asked by the Presiding Bishop if "any know of any reason why we should not proceed...." The two men came forward and delivered their remarks to a crowd of 7,500, most of whom were Harris supporters and primed for an event of jubilant celebration. Scattered boos and hisses were heard from the congregation as each man ended his statement and left the hall.
Speaking for the Prayer Book Society, Jamieson, calling the ceremony a "pretended consecration" and a "sacrilegious imposture," said that "Harris cannot be made a bishop because she is not and cannot be made a priest....This action is illegal because the Church constitution has not been amended to allow it."
"Please weigh the consequences," asked Jamieson of the Presiding Bishop, referring to what some have feared might be the divisive results of the consecration of a woman bishop.
Cupit, who later said that he was speaking for himself alone and not for his congregation, said that he believed the election and consecration to the office of bishop [of a woman] to be contrary to sound doctrine. Cupit said that her intended consecration would be "...an intractable impediment to the realization of that visible unity of the Church...for which the Church has prayed in all ages." The consecration would be divisive and contrary to "... the unbroken tradition of 2,000 years of apostolic order."
Following the reading of the statements, Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning said that the questions presented had been raised and aired in previous months and that a majority of the standing committees and bishops had nevertheless consented to the election.
"We shall proceed with the service of ordination," he said, a statement greeted with loud applause from people throughout the hall. When, a few moments later, he asked the congregation, "Is it your will that we ordain Barbara a bishop?" the crowd roared its response, "That is our will."
The protests were not unexpected in light of the debate that followed Harris's election as Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts last September. Although there were those who questioned her credentials, the strongest objections came from those in the Church who continue to believe that women cannot be priests.
Episcopalians United, another traditionalist organization, had voiced its objections loudly during the consent process, but Executive Director John Throop had said prior to the consecration that the group planned no protest. "Our objections were raised through the process. Once the Church has made its decision through the standing committees and the bishops, the Church has spoken legislatively...on the fitness of the candidate for bishop."
In a later interview, Jamieson said that he had been surprised at the mild reaction to his protest. "It was less than I expected," he said. "Pains were taken to ensure that this was a very dignified ceremony."
The Rev. Lindsay Hardin, a woman priest from Pennsylvania, said that she was disappointed to hear any negative reaction to the protests at all. "They deserved to have an opportunity to speak," she said.