Washington Bishop, Accokeek Vestry Settle Differences
Episcopal News Service. August 29, 2002 [2002-198]
Jan Nunley
(ENS) The 18-month-long impasse between a vestry in Accokeek, Maryland and the Diocese of Washington over the election of a rector was broken August 29 with the issuance of a joint statement between the vestry and Bishop John Chane, naming the Rev. Stephen Arpee as the parish's new rector. Arpee has served in recent months as priest-in-charge for the parish.
Agreement was reached between Chane and the vestry during a series of private conversations conducted since early June. The conversations involved Chane, diocesan chancellor Paul Cooney, senior warden Barbara Sturman and other members of the vestry.
The agreement also binds the Accokeek vestry not to appeal to the Supreme Court a decision in the case of Dixon v. Edwards. The case was brought by Washington's then-bishop pro tempore Jane Holmes Dixon in June, 2001 asking that a federal judge prohibit the Rev. Samuel Lee Edwards from officiating at Christ Church and declare his contract with the parish invalid, and prohibiting the vestry from barring Dixon from performing episcopal acts there. Two lower federal courts had ruled in Dixon's favor.
"The course of events involving the Parish and the Diocese over the past several years has been painful for all concerned," said the statement. "However, even as all concerned must acknowledge this pain, it is essential to affirm that the call of the Gospel is a call to live into a relationship in the future that is grounded firmly on our common commitment to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our recent discussions have offered the opportunity to discuss areas of disagreement in the context of mutual respect and trust."
The Accokeek vestry has agreed that the parish will "resume its participation in both the legislative and pastoral life of the Diocese of Washington," and Chane is to conduct a regular visitation to Christ Church on September 22, 2002. Chane was consecrated as the eighth Bishop of Washington in June. Dixon retires as bishop suffragan on August 31.
Controversy in court
The vestry and the diocese had been embroiled in controversy since March, 2001, when Dixon informed the vestry that she refused Edwards' election as rector on the grounds that he was not "duly qualified," based on reports of his teachings while executive director of the traditionalist group Forward in Faith/North America (FIF/NA) and on what Dixon termed his "unwillingness to guarantee his obedience" her as his bishop and his "lack of commitment to keeping Christ Church and church property" in the Episcopal Church. Edwards' backers claimed that Dixon had exceeded a canonical time limit for objection to his election, while Dixon and her attorneys argued that no such time limit existed in the canons.
Edwards and his family moved into the parish rectory, and he continued to function there as an unlicensed priest beyond the 60 days permitted by canon. The following Sunday Dixon was met at the parish door by vestry members who refused to allow her to officiate at services and threatened her and her supporters with criminal trespass charges. Shortly afterward, Dixon filed suit and in October, 2001, a federal district judge ruled in her favor, ordering Edwards to vacate the rectory.
An appeals court upheld the decision in May, 2002, stating that "in the Episcopal Church, the priests and the laity of a diocese are subject to the authority of their bishop." A month later, Edwards renounced his orders as an Episcopal priest in order to be received as a priest in the Anglican Province of Christ the King (APCK), a breakaway church formed in 1977 to protest the ordination of women and the proposed revision of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer by the Episcopal Church.
Presentment charges were filed against both Dixon and Edwards during the controversy. The charges against Dixon were dropped by the Title IV review committee, while one of the charges against Edwards was sustained and a trial set for his home diocese of Fort Worth. The trial was canceled in light of his renunciation of orders and Edwards was deposed by Fort Worth bishop Jack Leo Iker.
Original documents related to the Christ Church, Accokeek controversy are available as PDF files on the Episcopal Diocese of Washington's web site in the section marked Press Releases.