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1a) Anglican Mission In America The Rt. Rev. Thomas W. Johnston 6711 West Markham, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205 501-614-6061 FAX 501-614-6062 tj@saintandrews-lr.org www.anglicanmissioninamerica.org/
The Most Reverend Dirokpa Fidele Archbishop of the Province of Congo
The Most Reverend Bernard Malango Archbishop of the Province of Central Africa
The Most Reverend Emmanuel Kolini Archbishop of the Province of Rwanda
The Most Reverend Datuk Yong Ping Chung Archbishop of the Province of South East Asia
The Most Reverend Benjamin Nzimbi Archbishop of the Province of Kenya
April 26th, 2004 (over 7 months ago)
The Rev. Ed Hird St. Simon's Anglican Church 1712 Cascade Court North Vancouver, BC V7G 2H6
Re: Formal Acceptance as Presbyter
Dear Ed,
The purpose of this letter is to acknowledge the earlier receipt of your formal request for "Temporary Adequate Episcopal Oversight". Under the authority of the above named Primates of the Anglican Communion, I am authorized to offer you "temporary adequate episcopal oversight" during this time of crisis of faith and leadership within the Anglican Church of Canada.
Pursuant to the authority given to me by the Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda, I do hereby gladly accept you as a Presbyter in good standing in that Province, fully authorized to exercise your gifts and spiritual authority as a minister of God's Word and sacraments within the Anglican Communion effective February 10th, 2004.
It will be a joy to work with you in the ministry of the Gospel of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ, in the days and years ahead.
In His Name,
+Thomas Johnston The Rt. Rev. Thomas W. Johnston, Jr. Missionary Bishop The Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda
cc. The Most Rev. Emmanuel Kolini, The Most Rev. Dirokpa Fidele, The Most Rev. Bernard Malango, The Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi, The Most Rev. Datuk Yong Ping Chung, The Rev. Canon Dr. Tim Smith, The Rev. Dan Claire
1b) http://www.acicanada.ca/documents/Offer%20from%20the%20Primates.pdf An Offer of Temporary Adequate Episcopal Oversight (January 2004: over 10 months ago)
WHEREAS, a crisis of faith and leadership has been created in the Diocese of New Westminster by the passing of a motion to bless same-sex unions, and the actual performance of the same in a church with the authorization of Bishop Michael Ingham; and
WHEREAS, a special October 2003 meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion called upon the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada to provide "temporary adequate episcopal oversight" to those churches and clergy who, because of their refusal to accept the revisionist direction of the diocese, are now in a state of broken communion; and
WHEREAS, said episcopal oversight was to have been offered in consultation with the global Primates through the Archbishop of Canterbury; and
WHEREAS, to date no such episcopal oversight has been offered, but instead church members have been lost, leadership has been threatened, and churches have been closed and their standing threatened; and
WHEREAS, the clergy and congregations of New Westminster cannot be left to fend for themselves while the task force of the Canadian House of Bishops and the Commission appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury are doing their work.
BE IT RESOLVED, that the undersigned Primates of the Provinces of Congo, Central Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, and South East Asia hereby jointly offer temporary adequate episcopal oversight to the clergy and congregations of New Westminster, and to other Canadian clergy and congregations who seek such covering, on the following basis:
1 The temporary adequate episcopal oversight, as contemplated by the Primates Meeting of October 2003, will be offered in consultation with the Primates and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
2. The Most Rev. Datuk Yong Ping Chung has been requested and will serve as Chairman of the sponsoring group of Primates.
3 The Rt. Rev. Thomas Johnston, with the support of the administrative resources of the Anglican Mission in America, will coordinate the provision of this oversight on behalf of the undersigned.
4 Representatives of the Canadian clergy and congregations seeking oversight will meet with Archbishop Yong and/or Bishop Johnston to work out the administrative details of this offer.
TRUSTING IN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD, the undersigned present this offer of temporary adequate episcopal oversight to the faithful Canadian Anglican clergy and congregations.
Signed by the Five Primates
The Most Rev. Emmanuel Kolini, The Most Rev. Dirokpa Fidele, The Most Rev. Bernard Malango, The Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi, The Most Rev. Datuk Yong Ping Chung
1c) http://www.samesexblessing.info/Default.aspx?tabid=159 (News from the Diocese of New Westminster 'Topic' website) December 01, 2004 Priests considered to have abandoned ministry
After receiving no word from four priests who last spring said they had left the Anglican Church of Canada, Bishop Michael Ingham has now informed them that he considers they have abandoned their ministry within the Canadian church.
Formal notices to this effect were sent out November 30 to the Revs. Paul Carter, Ed Hird, Barclay Mayo, and Silas Ng. Bishop Ingham noted his regret in having to take this step. The four priests sent letters in late March or early April each informing the bishop that they "have left the Anglican Church of Canada."
The normal procedure when priests want to leave the church is for them to follow canon 19 of the national church and submit a "relinquishment of ministry" in a form set out in the national canons (church bylaws). However a lawyer representing the priests in September wrote the diocesan Chancellor George Cadman that he was "not to presume" they wished to sign the relinquishment form.
Cadman then said he hoped the priests were reconsidering their actions and hoped they would meet with Bishop Ingham. However, nothing has been heard from the priests or their lawyer since September, Cadman said, so the Bishop was left with no alternative but to take this action.
In his notice, Bishop Ingham also provided each priest with a copy of the Canon that sets out the priests' rights of reapplication and appeal, should they wish to return to the Anglican Church of Canada. Hird has been the rector of St. Simon's, North Vancouver, Mayo of St. Andrew's, Pender Harbour, and Ng of Emmanuel Church, Richmond. Carter has been a priest on leave.
Cadman said that while the bishop has affirmed that the priests have left the Church, the parishes which they served remain part of the Diocese of New Westminster, along with any properties associated with the parishes.
1d) http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/news166.asp Bishop Attempts to Evict Orthodox Congregations 26th June 2004 ( over 5 months ago)
The Anglican parish congregations of Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church, Pender Harbour (formerly St. Andrew's) and St. Simon's, Deep Cove received notices threatening eviction from the Rt. Rev. Michael Ingham, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster. Bishop Ingham told the leadership of these churches that, unless they "reconsider the actions" taken, they are "to seek alternate worship space for those whom you lead." A third congregation, Richmond Emmanuel Church, (formerly Emmanuel Church, Richmond) received a "Notice of Closure" threat. Earlier in the Spring, the leadership of all three churches, in response to the actions of the Bishop and Diocese contrary to Holy Scripture, and with the unanimous support of their congregations, ended their relationships with the Diocese and Bishop. In letters dated March 29, 2004, the Priests and Wardens of these parishes said, "Therefore, and regrettably, as of this date, your services as our Bishop are no longer required and our relationship with you and with the Diocese of New Westminster is hereby severed. We are in a state of broken communion." Two congregations (St. Simon's and Pender Harbour) who bought and paid for their church land and buildings have claimed ownership of their respective properties and resources. The Pender Harbour congregation told Bishop Ingham that..."Given that the trust relationship between the people of the Parish of St. Andrew's, Pender Harbour, (now Christ The Redeemer Anglican Church, Pender Harbour) and the Bishop and the Diocese of New Westminster has been broken by the actions of the Diocese and Bishop, and given that the land, church building and resources have been acquired, built and maintained wholly by the Anglican constituency of this community, it is our congregation's intention to retain the beneficial ownership of the said properties, buildings and resources for present and future orthodox Anglican ministry in this locale." The congregation at St. Simon's made a similar decision. In the June 23rd letter Bishop Ingham claims that, "Parishioners may choose to leave the Anglican Church of Canada and worship elsewhere, but a Parish may not "leave" a Diocese nor declare that it is no longer part of the Anglican Church of Canada." He has made this claim before in demanding compliance with unorthodox positions he has taken. However, never before have three entire congregations chosen to break communion with their Diocese and Bishop, and be threatened with eviction for doing so. It is without precedent in Canadian Anglican history.
While the Diocese holds the property deed for Pender Harbour in trust for the parish, it is the people of that congregation and the community who have resourced, built and maintained the church and properties. St. Simon's, a separate legal entity, owns its church property and building, and the Diocese has no legal interest in it. It is the intention of both these congregations to retain the places of worship and ministry that they have worked so hard to build. Given that there are no remaining parishioners in either locale, the threatened eviction action of the Diocese and Bishop can only be seen as vindictive, punitive and financially manipulative, revealing a priority of possessions over people. Having been rejected by the Anglican constituency in these communities, the Diocesan leadership is now attempting to financially inhibit any continuing ministry by taking the congregations' buildings and resources.
All three churches remain Anglican congregations as members of the newly constituted Anglican Communion in Canada (ACiC), a missionary body formed under the gracious sponsorship and legitimate Anglican authority of the Archbishops of Rwanda, SE Asia, Congo, Kenya and Central Africa in response to the present crisis of faith in the Anglican Church of Canada. These congregations, along with three other British Columbia congregations, presently continue their worship and community work under the temporary adequate episcopal oversight of the Rt. Rev. Thomas Johnston, an Anglican Mission in America Bishop. The ACiC is providing a place of spiritual integrity and safety from which congregations persecuted and threatened by their Diocesan government can continue authentic Anglican ministry, and a platform from which new churches, faithful to the true Anglican tradition, can be planted.
For further information please contact: the Rev Ed Hird+, ACiC Acting Media Contact Person, ed_hird@telus.net 604-929-5350 http://www.acicanada.ca/ the Rev, Barclay Mayo, ACiC Acting Coordinator, Mission Strategy at 604-883-1371.
2a) http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_04121row.shtml Archbishop of Canterbury leads gay summit -1/12/04
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will lead a summit of more than 50 Church of England bishops today to discuss the way forward over the homosexuality crisis in the Anglican Church, reports the Times.
It folows a 3˝-page letter from the Archbishop, sent on Friday to Primates, warning of serious consequences if Anglicans do not heal their rift.
The meeting, to be chaired jointly with the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, will take place behind closed doors at Lambeth Palace, in London.
All 44 diocesan bishops and 10 suffragans have been invited to debate how to give a lead to their flock over October's Windsor Report, the document produced by the commission set up to examine the crisis.
The report called for a moratorium on the authorisation of same-sex blessing ceremonies and on the consecration of gay bishops and for statements of regret from provinces that had breached the "bonds of communion". It also proposed a covenant to be agreed by all 38 provinces to inhibit further schismatic developments.
But as The Times revealed last month, same-sex blessings are still being performed by Anglican clergy across the UK, and the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement expects that there will be 1,000 a year once the Government's new civil partnerships law comes into effect next autumm.
The conservative evangelical Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, will address today's meeting.
The Bishop of Willesden, the Right Rev Pete Broadbent, said: "It is important that the bishops give a lead on this matter. We are all committed to trying to stay together if we can."
Another source, an evangelical, said: "The meeting has been called at short notice. It has come out of discussions in October. It is being held so that the bishops are not all at loggerheads over this, so any fights and arguments are got out of the way before the meeting scheduled for January."
The January meeting precedes the General Synod in February, when the Windsor Report and the crisis over homosexuality will be debated by bishops, clergy and laity in public for the first time.
The bishops are meeting on the day that Anglican evangelicals publish their own report warning that the Church's Bible-based stance against active same-sex relationships, agreed at the 1998 Lambeth Conference, should not be "gradually eroded".
Following the publication of the Windsor report, whilst many who support the appointment of gay bishops and services of blessing for same sex couples did express regret for their actions. Many on the conservative side however did not.
The Church Society called for the report to be rejected, saying it would "allow immorality to fester" and "destroy the churches of the Anglican Communion".
Anglican bishops in Africa called the report "offensive". They suggested that expressions of regret made by the Episcopal church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada did not go far enough, and dismissed their own need to express any regret.
In their assessment, Anglican Mainstream, the lobbying group set up to campaign against the appointment of Dr Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading, and the Church of England Evangelical Council say that the Windsor Report has "fallen short" in recognising "the reality of human sin within the Church".
Bishops meet to discuss response to Windsor Report Number: 5746 Date: Dec 3, 2004
Bishops met this week for an "extraordinary" summit to air their reactions to the Windsor Report, which the Church's leading evangelical body criticised for failing to address the underlying problems of the homosexuality crisis.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Dr Rowan Williams and Dr David Hope, chaired the meeting, which invited all diocesan bishops and 10 suffragans. They planned the additional summit to allow liberal and evangelical bishops to share their reflections of the report.
One bishop told this newspaper: "It is a chance for us to air things ahead of the House of Bishops' meeting in January. We want to approach that meeting in a spirit of togetherness so that we are able to have fruitful discussions."
He added that some bishops are keen for Archbishop Williams to establish whether or not the Americans are willing to adhere to the findings of the report. It called for a moratorium of consecrating gay bishops and authorising rites for same-sex blessings, but days after the report was published ECUSA's Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold, indicated that it would not be respected.
The meeting in January will be the last time the bishops convene together before Archbishop Williams flies to the Primates' Meeting in February. A paper that was published this week by the Church of England Evangelical Council and Anglican Mainstream called for the Primates to consider whether the American Church and diocese of New Westminster should be allowed to remain within the Communion.
Drawn up by leading evangelicals and commended by the West Indian Primate, Archbishop Drexel Gomez, who was a member of the Lambeth Commission, the paper criticises the report for "attempting to treat symptoms without understanding the underlying disease".
It accuses the Commission of giving "excessive generosity concerning culpability" to ECUSA and New Westminster. "There is a failure to draw fully on some available aspects of the Gospel, which might then have helped us to know how to deal with sickness and sin within the Church."
The paper urges the Primates to secure a commitment from the Americans and Canadians that they will not repeat their actions, which have "torn the fabric of the Communion"(...)
South America vows to continue interventions Number: 5746 Date: Dec 3, 2004
The Anglican Churches of South America have backed their Primate's intervention into the American Episcopal Church civil war over homosexuality saying such interventions will continue so long as there is a need.
The recent General Synod of the Province of the Southern Cone gave "thanks" for the Windsor Report and endorsed its recommendations concerning the United States and Canada, but questioned the committee's choice of language.
"It worries us that the report has not made a clearer call to repentance on the part of the provinces of the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada."
It is the Episcopal Church "that have clearly taken decisions and practices against the Holy Scriptures, the apostolic tradition of two thousand years of ethical education of the Church, and against the clear voice of the Communion" the 35 members of Synod, representing the Anglican Churches of Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay stated.
The "regret" urged by the Windsor Report for the actions taken by the Episcopal Church and the diocese of New Westminster was insufficient to restore the impaired communion between South and North America. Relations "could only be restored through repentance, and through pardon and love".
The Primate of the Southern Cone, Archbishop Gregory Venables, who through Bishop Frank Lyon of Bolivia, has taken on the pastoral oversight of American Episcopal parishes in the diocese of Atlanta -- contrary to the wishes of the Bishop of Atlanta -- was re-elected Primate by the Synod and given a vote of confidence for his actions.
The American Episcopal Church will be asked to withdraw from the Anglican Communion should it not heed the recommendations of the Windsor Report, Archbishop Drexel Gomez told his Provincial Synod.
While the week-long General Synod meeting addressed issues of local concern: the spate of hurricanes, funding for the Province, crime and social upheaval and the election of a new bishop for Belize, responses to the Windsor Report occupied centre stage. "We hope to resolve the serious situation created by sister churches in the US and Canada," Archbishop Gomez, a member of the Lambeth Commission on Communion (LCC) said on Nov 12.
But if the two Churches "refuse to comply with the recommendations, more decisive action" including "ultimate withdrawal will have to be enforced".
Blessings of same-sex unions and the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals to the ministry are "unbiblical and we are not prepared to support them" he said. The Church in the Caribbean must, however, "take our position within the Anglican world and decide how we are going to go forward together as a communion or whether we are going to be placed in a position where we have to part our ways."
U.S. National - AP Methodist Church Defrocks Lesbian Minister Thu Dec 2,10:40 PM ET By RICHARD N. OSTLING, AP Religion Writer
PUGHTOWN, Pa. - The United Methodist Church defrocked a lesbian minister who lives with her partner Thursday for violating the denomination's ban on actively gay clergy - the first such decision by the church in 17 years.
A 13-member jury made up of Methodist clergy convicted the Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud on the second day of her church trial. Methodist law bars "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from ministry. Nine votes were necessary for a conviction and the jury voted 12-1 to find Stroud guilty.
It then voted 7-6 to defrock Stroud, the bare majority necessary in the penalty phase of the trial, though her supportive congregation in Philadelphia has said Stroud can continue performing most of her duties.
"I did not go into this trial expecting to win," Stroud said. "I went into it knowing it would be a painful moment in the life of the United Methodist Church."
Stroud hasn't decide whether to appeal the verdict, which she can do at any point in the next 30 days.
The last time the 8.3 million-member denomination convicted an openly gay cleric was in 1987, when a New Hampshire church court defrocked the Rev. Rose Mary Denman.
Last March, a Methodist court in Washington state acquitted the Rev. Karen Dammann, who lives with a same-sex partner, citing an ambiguity in church law that the Methodist supreme court has since eliminated.
The Methodists are just one of several mainline Protestant denominations in the United States - including the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches - which are undergoing turmoil over the role of gays and lesbians in the church, particularly gay clergy. The Stroud case will likely make the debate over the issue among Methodists that much more intense.
Stroud said she was saddened by the verdict, but also saw it as a teaching moment that showed how divided her denomination is over homosexuality.
Stroud, 34, an associate pastor at Philadelphia's First United Methodist Church of Germantown, set the case in motion last year when she announced to her bishop and congregation that she was living in a committed relationship with her partner, Chris Paige.
At her trial, Stroud's defense was dealt a blow when the presiding judge Joseph Yeakel, the retired bishop of Washington, D.C., excluded expert testimony from six defense witnesses who believe the church's gay clergy ban violates its own legal principles.
The senior pastor of Stroud's church, the Rev. Alfred Day III, attempted to raise a similar issue when he took the stand, saying "I believe that even the testimony of Scripture is far from clear on this subject."
"We have more muddle than clarity," he said. But the Rev. Thomas Hall of Exton, Pa., the prosecutor, asked Yeakel to strike Day's statement and the judge instructed the jury that "constitutional issues are not before this court."
Stroud's defense counsel, the Rev. J. Dennis Williams, said in closing arguments that "the heart of the issue is whether all United Methodists, regardless of status, are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities."
"I only wish you could hear the full testimony we wished to present," Williams said.
But Hall told jurors they had a duty to "hold a good pastor accountable to the standard with which we all live" under the Methodist Book of Discipline.
The basic facts in the case were never in dispute, since Stroud had declared she was gay.
The only two defense witnesses to be called were Day and the senior pastor who supervised her in West Chester, Pa. Both lavishly praised her performance in preaching, teaching and pastoral work. Hall agreed with that assessment.
Stroud's Philadelphia congregation has already agreed that she can continue doing her work as a lay employee without clergy status. However, she will be unable to celebrate baptism or Communion.
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