Episcopal Conservatives Call for Action Against General Convention
After two days of hearing speakers denounce actions of the 74th General Convention, call for intervention by other Anglican primates in the American church, and advise redirection of funds by individuals and parishes, the majority in a gathering of some 2600 Episcopalians and others signed on to "A Place to Stand: A Call to Action" at a special meeting in Dallas, sponsored by the American Anglican Council (AAC) and Christ Episcopal Church of Plano and held October 7-9. Signed copies were to be presented to the special meeting of the primates in London.
The document repudiates both General
Convention's acceptance of the election of a gay priest to be bishop coadjutor of New Hampshire, and passage of a resolution recognizing same-sex blessings as part of the church's common life.
It demands that the leadership of the Episcopal
Church "repent of and reverse the unbiblical and schismatic actions of the General Convention" and promises to redirect financial resources " that support the unrighteous actions" of General Convention.
It also appeals to the primates to discipline bishops who supported the two resolutions, and to "realign" or effectively replace the current structures and governance of the Episcopal Church with a new body reflecting conservatives' values.
At the meeting's final session, the declaration
was read aloud in the manner of the Prayer Book's baptismal covenant, as participants were asked, "Do you so affirm?" and responded, "I do."
The AAC's "A Place to Stand" meeting, in
the works months before General Convention, grew from a modest gathering of like-minded leaders at a prominent parish in the Dallas suburb of Plano to a conference hosting several thousand, fueled by conservative outrage over the church's refusal to repudiate all homosexual conduct. Most see that refusal as a rejection of clear Biblical teaching, though their opponents say it's a matter of differing interpretations of the Bible's few passages dealing with the subject.
Security was tight for the conference. No one
was allowed inside the meeting without a conference badge. In order to get one, non-media participants paid a fee of $125 and were required to sign the AAC statement of faith, also entitled "A Place to Stand," drafted by John Rodgers, former dean of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry and now a bishop of the dissident Anglican Mission in America. That meant that many interested observers were turned away, including a delegation of two bishops and two priests asked to attend by Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and House of Deputies president George Werner.
Executive Council member Dr. Louie Crew,
denied media credentials by conference organizers, came anyway as part of an alternative "hospitality suite" run by dioceses and groups that favored the actions of General Convention. Crew said he was confronted in the hotel by an AAC "security officer," a reserve policeman in a Dallas suburb, and ordered not to engage conference attendees in conversation. The officer said his orders came from "officials of the AAC." The incident is reportedly under administrative review by the officer's supervisors.
"This is not an official meeting," declared the
Rev. David Roseberry, rector of Christ Church, who resigned as a deputy and walked out of General Convention after the Robinson vote in August. "We've had those who have tried to make it an official meeting by sending representatives or observers and we have said, no thanks. You are not delegates, you are not deputies--you are bearers, bearers because you bear the burden of this hour."
"We've been clear with those who cannot sign
the statement for whatever reason that they are welcome to join us for dinner, for tonight's service, but our proceedings are ours," Roseberry added. "We must be free to have a family meeting without having to defend or explain our beliefs to the person sitting next to us."
In his opening address, Anderson strove to por
tray the gathering as a diverse one. To a crowd that seemed largely white and middle-aged, he said, "We have not been as effective as we wish in getting our message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of the Anglican tradition to several different communities.
"We welcome people of many orientations,"
he added. "Our members in the AAC and those of us here do include gay and straight and ex-gay people who are committed to a biblically moral life."
Anderson's introduction was followed by a
series of speakers presenting their take on the events of the 74th General Convention. Diane Knippers, president of the Institute for Religion and Democracy, began by laying responsibility for the church's direction at the feet of its leadership, composed of the "upper middle class American elites" of the Baby Boom generation whom she said owed their moral worldview to a "depressingly dated" 1960s "free-love mentality."
The Rev. Kevin Martin, director of Vital Church
Ministries at the Plano parish, said that "the language
of mission was replaced by political correctness" at General Convention.
Speaking of his experience in the House of
Bishops, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, AAC first vice president and chairman of the AAC bishops network, characterized it as "absurdity." "Our leadership were deaf to one another, deaf to the Word, deaf to the tradition, deaf to the Communion. And we were deaf to each other," he said. "In our debates we talked past each other all the time."
On the second day of the meeting, speakers
addressed the two issues most pressing for the gathering: the proposed intervention by the primates, and what to do about redirecting energies for mission and funds for programs. Bishop Robert Duncan told the gathering he expects the primates to come down hard on ECUSA, demanding repentance and reversal of General Convention decisions on sexuality--but if they don't, he predicted, the Anglican Communion will split in two, with the "Western" provinces of North America, Britain and Australia in one, and the "global South" African, Latin American and Asian Anglicans in the other. The latter would eventually recognize the AAC's network of "confessing" American churches as their own.
After lunch, another panel advised participants
on alternative ways to do mission, ministry and stewardship."Brothers and sisters, we are not leaving Anglicanism. We are Anglicanism," said the Rev. James B. Simons, rector of St. Michael's of the Valley in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, to applause. "We need to rethink and move in a new direction and find a new way, a way which values repentance as well as liberation,
conversion as well as tolerance, and which understands that a therapeutic model of ministry is worthless without the life-changing power of Jesus Christ." The Rev. John Guernsey, rector of All Saints in Dale City, Virginia, presented what he called a theological justification for redirecting funds and mission energies away from the national Episcopal church. "Is there an unconditional demand in Scripture that Episcopalians give to those who have overturned biblical authority and faith and order?" Guernsey asked. "I suggest that there is no such mandate." The Rev. Ruth Urban of St. Peter's by the Lake in Brandon, Mississippi, directed the group to five areas of need to which their offerings might be redirected, including the AAC, a list of AAC-affiliated ministries, various overseas needs, church planting in "revisionist" dioceses, and evangelism.
In the final session, conference participants
heard letters of greeting from various groups and churches, including the Vatican's Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, writing on behalf of Pope John Paul II and assuring them of "heartfelt prayers" for the meeting. The National Association of Evangelicals and the Fourth National Evangelical Anglican Congress also weighed in with supportive letters.
According to organizers, the conference drew
a total of 2,672 participants, including 46 bishops--24 from the Episcopal Church--799 priests, 46 deacons, and 103 seminarians. People from 600 parishes in every state and diocese attended. Some 200 congregations out of the 7,347 in the Episcopal Church actually belong to the AAC, with another 300 "supporters."
My initial response to the meeting of the American Anglican Council just ending is that, regardless of what has been said or concluded, those gathered in Dallas are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Baptism establishes an indissoluble bond between those who are baptized and the Risen Christ. So too baptism binds us together in such a way that we cannot say to one another "I have no need of you."
It therefore concerns me deeply when
Christians use inflammatory rhetoric when speaking of one another or issue ultimatums. In such a climate, mutual pursuit of ways to build up rather than tear down is made more difficult, and the vast deposit of faith upon which we all agree is obscured. At the same time, we must acknowledge and respect our brothers and sisters who feel alienated by certain actions of the recent General Convention. We must take seriously their grief and anger and seek as best we can to stand with them.
I would like to add one further thought. I
have just returned from giving a retreat to a group of Episcopalians engaged in social service ministries within the United States and Latin America. They are working to transform the world, sometimes person by person. This is the ministry of reconciliation to which all persons of faith are called, and it is the mission of the Episcopal Church today and the primary focus of most of its members. Division and splintering, while much in the news, are not the spirit which gives life to our church.
In a letter I sent last week to bishops of the
Episcopal Church I expressed my hope that the reconciling energy of the divine compassion may flow through our church and our Anglican Communion and witness to a way of being that gives hope to a world so in need of love. This continues to be my hope.
The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold