Six Episcopal dioceses seek oversight outside denomination
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, July 26, 2006
Six of the 111 dioceses in the Episcopal Church (USA) have requested “alternative primatial relationships” with traditional Anglican provinces. While they have not declared their intention to leave the ECUSA, they have registered their pronounced disagreement with the denomination.
Click here for larger view of map.“We are and will remain the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan said in a statement about the oversight request.
Later, Duncan described himself as an “elder brother in this battle” between Biblical faith and liberal policies adopted by mainline denominations during a sermon preached at the New Wineskins Convocation in Tulsa on July 21.
“We are living within the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church,” Duncan said in his statement about the oversight request. “But as the presiding bishop-elect, Katharine Jefferts Schori, herself so helpfully stated during the recently completed General Convention, there are really two bodies within our church, each with its own heart and mind. The decisions made today don’t change who we are in the least, but they do make clear here in Pittsburgh and to the rest of the communion with which body in the Episcopal Church we stand.”
Several individual congregations in the Episcopal Church (USA) have already broken ranks and affiliated with African Anglican provinces that are committed to traditional Anglican orthodoxy. Some of those congregations have defeated legal attempts by the ECUSA to claim their property.
In the ECUSA, dioceses are comparable geographically to presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church (USA). They are regional bodies led by bishops, who are under the authority of the presiding bishop of the ECUSA.
Pittsburgh is one of the largest dioceses in the U.S. The five other dioceses seeking new primatial relationships with traditional Anglicans, especially in Africa and other emerging regions, are:
- 1. Springfield, which issued a statement resolving “that the Standing Committee of this Diocese requests our Bishop to intentionally and deliberately explore avenues for alternative primatial relationship and, as appropriate, oversight, notwithstanding this Diocese’s status as a constituent member of the Episcopal Church.”
- 2. Central Florida, which appealed to the “Archbishop of Canterbury, the panel of reference, and the Primates of the Anglican Communion for immediate alternative primatial oversight. We understand that none of our actions violate the canons of the Episcopal Church.”
- 3. San Joaquin, which said its petition “envisions the continued recognition of this Diocese as a constituent member of the Anglican Communion by as many Primates and Provinces of the same, and by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who acknowledge the Diocese of San Joaquin without relying on subsidiary recognition from or through ECUSA.”
- 4. South Carolina, which asked that Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, “in consultation with the Primates of the Communion and the Panel of Reference, [to] speedily provide alternative Primatial oversight …”
- 5. Fort Worth, which appealed to Anglican leaders “for immediate alternative Primatial oversight and Pastoral Care following the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. This action is taken as a cooperative member of the Anglican Communion Network in light of the Windsor Report and its recommendations.”
The Windsor Report had called on the ECUSA to repent of its consecration of a homosexual bishop and commit to observe Biblical standards prohibiting gay ordinations. The recent General Convention of the ECUSA did not take those actions, and the election of Jefferts Schori created an even larger gulf between ECUSA’s progressives and traditionalists. She has worked for the ordination of homosexuals and same-sex unions.
In some ways, the vote at the New Wineskins Convocation creating the New Wineskins Association of Churches parallels the movement in the ECUSA by providing an opportunity for congregations to align with the association and remain – at least temporarily – in the PCUSA.