Episcopal Synod Declares Intention to Form a Separate Province
Episcopal News Service. August 6, 1997 [97-1918]
James Solheim
(ENS) Not everyone left the 72nd General Convention in Philadelphia with a smile. Members of conservative organizations already are declaring the July meeting a "disaster," citing the decision to make the canons on women in the priesthood mandatory in all dioceses and several resolutions that express further acceptance of gays and lesbians in the church.
At a three-day meeting in a suburb of Philadelphia, the Episcopal Synod of America (ESA) issued an open letter that said the General Convention "refused to uphold orthodox doctrine and restore godly discipline, while acting to persecute the faithful." The ESA, an eight-year-old coalition of conservative congregations, institutions and individuals, deplored the convention's decisions to further study the blessing of same-sex unions and to offer insurance coverage for domestic partners. Its statement also criticized the convention for ignoring attempts to require "sexual fidelity within marriage and abstinence from sexual relations outside it."
According to the open letter, the convention "provided canonical authority for the persecution of those who cannot accept the ordination of women as priests and bishops, contradicting the basic Anglican principle that the church cannot demand of her people what cannot be proved from Scripture."
Approximately 100 ESA delegates attended the meeting held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, Pennsylvania
To protect orthodox belief and believers, the open letter said that the ESA would further its work on "a new province, a structure which would proclaim true doctrine and allow us to go forward with the work God has given each of us." It did not define or describe the new province, however, and also stated, "We are not leaving anything or going anywhere." Yet Bishop William Wantland of Eau Claire told the meeting that the Episcopal Church could "find itself bereft of the right to be the institutional church in America and we will grow to become the Anglican Church in America."
According to the statement, the "centerpiece" and "core" of the non-geographic province would be dioceses "who have declared with whom they are in communion," including those whose bishops are "faced with canons which violate their informed consciences," namely the canon on women's ordination. One of those bishops, Jack Iker of Ft. Worth, has already said that he will "actively resist" the canon's implementation. The bishops of Quincy (Illinois), San Joaquin (California), and Eau Claire (Wisconsin) have also expressed frustration over attempts to force them to provide access to the ordination process for women in their dioceses.
According to delegates at the meeting, dioceses that affiliate with the new province could stop financial contributions to the national church while parishes that affiliate could refuse to recognize the authority of their diocesan bishops and cease financial support of their dioceses.
Bishops of the ESA and of the American Anglican Council (AAC), a year-old network of conservative organizations, would offer episcopal oversight to member parishes located in non-sympathetic dioceses. "We acknowledge that some parishes may find it necessary to seek corporate separation from the institutional church, and pledge our solidarity with them," the letter states.
The AAC also attacked many of the convention's actions in a press release that raises concerns about "divisions that may appear serious enough to constitute an impaired communion with the Episcopal Church and between it and other provinces of the Anglican Communion."
The ESA delegates also adopted resolutions calling for the consecration of new bishops "who uphold our theological convictions," hopefully through the proper canonical route but declaring that, if that is not possible, they would be "compelled to act anyway" by consecrating their own.
Another resolution called for a registry of all clergy ordained by female bishops because in the delegates' eyes those ordinations are invalid. It announced plans to create a fund to assist parishes or priests who suffer financially for breaking from the Episcopal Church USA.
"We are trying to make it clear to our opponents that if they choose to press their agenda, there will be consequences," ESA executive director Sam Edwards told a reporter.
In the meantime, the synod will appeal to Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and Presiding Bishop-elect Frank Griswold, asking them to "assist us in our efforts to maintain our continued witness."