An event which took place thousands of miles away from the United States in one of the Anglican Communion's smallest jurisdictions proved to have a major impact on the Episcopal Church during 2000.

The consecration of two American priests as bishops in St. Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore, on Jan. 29 angered many Episcopal Church leaders as well as leaders in other parts of the Anglican Communion. The Rev. Charles H. Murphy III, rector of All Saints' Church, Pawleys Island, S.C., and the Very Rev. John Rodgers, retired dean of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, were consecrated by a group of Anglican bishops, including two primates and two Americans. The Most Rev. Moses Tay, who was soon to retire as Archbishop of South East Asia, and the Most Rev. Emmanuel Kolini, Archbishop of Rwanda, were among the consecrators. So were the Rt. Rev. Alex D. Dickson, retired Bishop of West Tennessee, and the Rt. Rev. C. FitzSimons Allison, retired Bishop of South Carolina.

"Our calling is to minister to those congregations who believe that the authority of scripture and the historic creeds are central to our faith, conduct and unity as Anglicans," Bishop Murphy said. Bishop Rodgers noted the decline of membership of the American church and said, "This crisis of decline is a crisis of the Christian faith that has left the Episcopal Church divided."

While it was not clear at the time of their consecration what role Bishops Murphy and Rodgers would have, the direction of their ministries came into focus as the year unfolded. Originally listed as "missionary bishops" to North America, Bishop Murphy is a member of the House of Bishops of the Rwandan church, and Bishop Rodgers is aligned with the Province of South East Asia.

The Most Rev. George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, said he was not in communion with the missionary bishops and said the consecrations were "a grave disappointment" as well as "irresponsible and irregular and only harm the unity of the [Anglican] Communion." In March, the archbishop said he could not accept the consecrations.

As the year went on, the "Singapore Two" began to attract a following. Originally aligned with the First Promise Movement, headquartered in Pawleys Island, they later announced that organization would be named the Anglican Mission in America. In an attempt to remain Anglican but not be part of the Episcopal Church, some congregations aligned themselves with the new organization, including Christ Church, Mobile, Ala., and St. Andrew's, Destin, Fla. By the end of the year about 40 congregations were under the jurisdictions of Bishops Murphy and Rodgers.

Another major news event was the 73rd General Convention, which took place in Denver in July. Held every three years, the convention is the church's major legislative body, and its deputies and bishops spent 10 days dealing with a wide range of legislative matters, participating in daily Eucharists and Bible study, and hearing a variety of speakers.

Convention's major accomplishment was adopting a resolution which establishes full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Convention voted overwhelmingly in favor of Called to Common Mission, a document which will go into effect Jan. 1 and will be celebrated with a major service at Washington National Cathedral Jan. 6.

Full communion between the two churches does not mean merger, but rather enables clergy to serve in each other's churches, - "the full interchangeability and reciprocity of pastors ... as priests or presbyters within the Episcopal Church" with no added ordination. Lutherans, who previously had approved the matter at their Churchwide Assembly, accept the historic episcopate, and Episcopalians provide a temporary suspension of the preface to the ordination rites in order to accommodate ELCA clergy.

The convention also moved a step closer to providing for blessing committed same-sex couples when it adopted a seven-point resolution following considerable discussion and debate. The resolution recognizes there are couples living in life-long, committed relationships outside of marriage, acknowledges there are persons, "acting in good conscience," who disagree with the teaching of the church on human sexuality and will act in contradiction with that position, and affirms "that those on various sides of controversial issues have a place in the Church."

An eighth resolve, directing the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to prepare for consideration by the 74th General Convention rites for blessing "relationships of mutuality and fidelity other than marriage" was defeated.

The convention set a deadline of Sept. 1, 2002, for the three dioceses in which women are not ordained to the priesthood - Fort Worth, San Joaquin and Quincy - to conform to a national canon on ordination. It also adopted a resolution calling for the Boy Scouts of America to stop discriminating against youth and leaders based on their sexual orientation, approved a $138 million budget for the next triennium, and adopted a measure calling for the church to double its membership in 20 years.

The Very Rev. George Werner, retired dean of Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh, was elected president of the House of Deputies, succeeding Pamela Chinnis. Mrs. Chinnis was honored by the Executive Council when it met in Bethesda, Md.

Rather than adopting the Revised Common Lectionary, convention approved it for three more years of trial use.

In January, convention headquarters were moved from the Adam's Mark Hotel in Denver at a cost to the church of more than $1 million when discrimination charges were brought against the hotel chain. The case was settled before convention got underway.

In December, the Rt. Rev. C.I. Jones, Bishop of Montana, awaited word whether he would be admonished, suspended or deposed by an ecclesiastical trial court which met in Minneapolis Nov. 20. Bishop Jones was charged with immorality and conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy by a woman who was a member of the congregation in Russellville, Ky., he served from 1977 to 1985. The court had determined previously that Bishop Jones had committed those offenses, but needed to decide whether he had been disciplined sufficiently in 1993 and 1994 on those charges. The case was the first brought against a bishop under the revised Title IV canons.

The church mourned two retired Archbishops of Canterbury who died during 2000. The Rt. Rev. Donald Coggan, archbishop from 1974 to 1980, died May 17, and the Rt. Rev. Robert Runcie, who served from 1980 to 1991, died July 11.

Bishops from other parts of the Anglican Communion administered confirmation to more than 70 persons at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pa., Nov. 26. A potential incident was averted when Bishop Charles Bennison of Pennsylvania welcomed the foreign primates and others.

In another news-making incident in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, Bishop Bennison was denied communion when he appeared one Sunday in August at St. John's, Huntingdon Valley. Two assistant clergy at St. John's refused to administer the sacrament to the bishop because he espoused "unbiblical theological and ethical positions."

Episcopalians showed great concern and fervent prayer for Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, who underwent surgery for prostate cancer Sept. 11. Bishop Griswold later reported that the surgery had been a success and that the cancer had not spread. He continued to recuperate as the year wound down.

During October, Episcopalians kept a wary eye on the Diocese of Cariboo in the Anglican Church of Canada. At its synod, the diocese voted itself out of existence after it was unable to pay the legal fees for lawsuits resulting from sexual and physical assault charges brought by former students at residential schools operated by the church and the government.

Two dioceses elected bishops who were never consecrated. The Rev. Robert Trache was elected in Atlanta, but resigned as bishop-elect when it was learned there were major concerns over his personal finances, and the Rev. A. James MacKenzie, elected in Eastern Oregon, was not consecrated because of improper personal communications on the internet.

Among other major news stories of 2000:

• Members of the House of Bishops report their meeting in Lake Arrowhead, Calif., in April, is a positive experience.
• Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE, of Massachusetts, spends a month in Washington as a congressional intern.
• More than $2 million is grants is awarded by Episcopal Relief and Development, formerly the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief.
• Joel E. Cunningham is named president of the University of the South.
• The first Boone Porter Institute is held at Nashotah House in June.
• Offices of the Diocese of West Tennessee sustain considerable damage in a fire Aug. 24.
• Daniel B. England is named director of communications for the Episcopal Church.
• More than 800 persons from 15 countries attend the New Wineskins conference at Ridgecrest (N.C.).

There were considerable changes to the episcopate during 2000. The following bishops were elected and consecrated: Wendell Gibbs, Michigan; Michael B. Curry, North Carolina; Duncan M. Gray III, Mississippi, coadjutor; Edward S. Little II, Northern Indiana; Stacy Sauls, Lexington; William O. Gregg, Eastern Oregon; James Waggoner, Spokane, and James E. Curry and Wilfrido Ramos-Orench, Connecticut, suffragans.

Bishops elected and not yet consecrated: Roy F. Cederholm, Massachusetts, suffragan, Katherine Jefforts- Schori, Nevada, and Thomas C. Ely, Vermont.

Bishops elected in 1999 who were consecrated in 2000: Jack Croneberger, Newark, George Packard, Armed Forces, and Jon Bruno, Los Angeles. Bishop Leo Frade of Honduras translated to Southeast Florida when he was elected by that diocese.

Deaths of the following retired bishops were reported during 2000: Lloyd Gressle, Bethlehem; Joseph M. Harte, Arizona; J. Stuart Wetmore, New York suffragan; Robert P. Varley, Nebraska; George C. Harris, Alaska; James Duncan, Southeast Florida; Robert Mize, Damaraland; Charles T. Gaskell, Milwaukee; Jackson Gilliam, Montana; and Charles Gresham Marmion, Kentucky; George W. Barrett, Rochester.