Episcopal debates stretch over leadership, finances
The Layman Online, January 26, 2006
The ongoing rancor in the Episcopal Church (USA) about its fleeing flocks, leadership and money issues is stretching from blog to blog. Some of the latest news:
On Jan. 25, The Associated Press reported that the ECUSA has named four nominees to succeed its presiding bishop, the retiring Frank Griswold.
Three of the four voted in 2003 to approve the consecration of V. Eugene Robinson as a bishop, the event that touched off much of the turmoil. Robinson had left his wife and children to live with his homosexual partner.
The three nominees who supported Robinson are Bishop J. Neil Alexander of Atlanta; Bishop Edwin F. Gulick Jr. of Louisville, Ky.; and Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of Las Vegas, who seeks to become the first woman elected presiding bishop.
The fourth nominee, Bishop Henry N. Parsley Jr. of Birmingham, Ala., voted against Robinson’s consecration, but many traditional Episcopalians do not consider him in their camp. Parsley recently attempted to suppress attendance at a recent meeting of traditional Anglicans in Birmingham, according David Virtue’s Viewpoints, a blog site. Virtue said Parsley tried to convince the publisher of the Birmingham News not to cover the meeting, but the News sent a reporter anyway.
Alexander is the author of This Far by Grace, A Bishop’s Journey Through Questions About Homosexuality, in which he gives his personal reasons for believing that none of the Bible passages that condemn homosexual behavior “contemplates anything like a committed or monogamous relationship,” according to a review of his book on amazon.com.
In Pennsylvania, Bishop Charles Bennison wrote a Jan. 25 letter to the clergy saying the Standing Committee of the diocese “voted unanimously to ask me to retire or resign as your bishop by March 31.”
Bennison himself previously raised the possibility. Under criticism for his opposition to spending cuts, he told the Diocesan Convention in November 2005 that if “you feel I’m not leading you effectively, tell me, and if I feel it is God’s will, I’ll resign.”
In his January letter, Bennison said, “I am seriously praying about the Standing Committee’s request, and I ask that you pray for me, for our colleagues throughout the diocese, and above all for the unity and health of our diocese.”
The beef against Bennison stems from his opposition to reducing the diocese’s pledge to the national church – from $750,000 to $500,000. He called it the “most radical proposal before us.”
Bennison has also been criticized for his leadership during a time while the diocese has subsidized its programs and national dues by drawing down nearly $10 million from unrestricted assets, according to the Living Church Foundation, which serves the Episcopal Church (USA).
A special Diocesan Convention will be held in March to consider the proposed spending cuts.