Dissident Episcopalians Approve "Affirmation"
Episcopal News Service. September 16, 1977 [77297]
The Rev. Canon Erwin M. Soukup, Editor, ADVANCE, Diocese of Chicago
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Nearly 1,400 lay and 348 clerical Episcopalians met here for a two-day meeting to share their disaffection with the course of the Church during the past few years.
Result of the Church Congress, called by the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen, September 14-16, was an "Affirmation of St. Louis," calling for a "Constitutional Assembly of lay and clerical representatives of dioceses and parishes to convene at the earliest appropriate time to draft a Constitution and Canons by which we may be unified and governed" in a church for "continuing Anglicans and Episcopalians. "
In a separate action, the non-geographic Diocese of the Holy Trinity, a coalition of parishes and individuals who have repudiated the actions of the 1976 General Convention to authorize the ordination of women and a revision of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, elected a bishop, the Rev. James O. Mote, rector of St. Mary's Church, Denver, Colo.
The "Affirmation," which was withheld from the attending conferees until the last hour of the Congress, declared that the Anglican Church of Canada and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America had, "by their unlawful attempts to alter Faith, Order and Morality (especially in their General Synod of 1975 and General Convention of 1976), have departed from Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church." Further, the document affirmed that "...the claim of any such schismatic person or body to act against any Church member, clerical or lay, for his witness to the whole Faith is with no authority of Christ's true Church, and any such inhibition, deposition or discipline is without effect and is absolutely null and void."
The Congress was held in response to a call by the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen, an umbrella organization claiming the support of more than 15 conservative groups of the Anglican Communion, including Canada.
An introductory welcome was given by Perry Laukhuff, editor of The Certain Trumpet, and keynote speeches were delivered by the Rev. George W. Rutler, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pa.; the Rev. Carroll E. Simcox, retired editor of The Living Church; and Dr. Thomas Barnes, Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley, Calif.
Father Rutler recalled the Biblical account of Joseph of Arimathea who claimed Christ's body after the crucifixion as an example for Christians to follow in searching for Jesus. Dr. Simcox called for parishes and individuals to make the leap of faith, as did those who entered the Red Sea centuries ago, "to prepare a place" for those willing to follow into a separated church. As for the question of losing the status of communion with the See of Canterbury should there be a matter of schism, he invited the Archbishop of Canterbury "to belong with us, on the same terms we do...." And he added, "Communion with Canterbury is like communion with anybody else in Christ, a good and joyful, beautiful and blessed thing to have.. but it is not of the essence and quidity of Anglicanism."
Ten Bishops of the Episcopal Church were in attendance at the Congress, including the Rt. Rev. John M. Allin, Presiding Bishop, who was an "uninvited guest." He sat stoically through the three hours of addresses on Wednesday night. After'the session, in response to question, he replied, "I am saddened and perplexed.... I have come to show I have a concern for the good people in this Church who are distressed. I want to continue to build relations with these people. "
Also in evidence were the red shirts of a number, estimated to be ten, of dissident and departed "bishops" of Episcopal origins. Among them were the prelates of the Independent Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church of North America (Evangelical), and the Anglican Orthodox Church.
Under severe criticism during the two-day Congress, in set speeches and threeminute comments by some fifty conferees during a Thursday afternoon open session, were the Church's "liberal" seminaries, the House of Bishops, dilution of the Faith, the ordination of women, the revision of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, and "secular humanism."
During an impromptu interview with the press between the appointed sessions of the Congress, the Rt. Rev. David B. Reed, Bishop of Kentucky and the Rt. Rev. Addison Hosea, Bishop of Lexington, responded to questions ranging from violence on TV to abortion on demand.
Bishop Reed was asked why did he think this Congress was called at this particular time. He answered by saying that if it had not been called now over these particular issues it would have been called for other reasons -- perhaps next year, perhaps several years from now. One reporter asked why" secular humanism" had been singled out as one of the great causes for the demoralization of the Episcopal Church.
Bishop Hosea replied that "secular humanism" is really the catch-all for a great number of issues that trouble people in the pew. "The phrase covers all sorts of problems: drugs, violence, abortion on demand, corruption in government. I see this as a real cry of anguish, and legitimately so, both for those who remain in the Episcopal Church and those who contemplate another course."
Both Bishop Reed, who had voted in favor of the ordaining of women at the 1976 General Convention, and Bishop Hosea, who had voted against, affirmed their intention to remain in the Episcopal Church no matter what occurred at the Congress.
Bishop Reed revealed the fact that although he had requested an opportunity to address the Congress, he had been refused.
Asked how many people might be expected to join a continuing Episcopal Church, Bishop Reed said somewhere between 5,000 and 20,000, "closer to five." Bishop Hosea's response was: somewhere between 5,000 and 50,000, "closer to five."
"Should a new church be formed," said Bishop Reed, "I would see an immediate surge to join by a number of people, but that could caper off over a period of five years and become rather dormant."
Three workshops, attended only by those admitted by armed Pinkerton guards, were held during the Congress. One investigated the "Problems and Possibilities for Separating Parishes." One speaker warned about the articles of incorporation of those parishes intending to leave the Episcopal Church. During this session, Craig Casey of the Church Pension Fund staff, another "uninvited guest" who had come to the Congress at the expense of the Fund, explained the position of priests who leave the Episcopal Church in favor of a new church.
Other workshops covered the topics of theological education and the practical problems involved in forming separated parishes and maintaining a ministry.
Not all who were present evidenced an ardent desire to leave the Episcopal Church. During the remarks made by Congress participants at Thursday afternoon's session were those of Jeanette Minot, a Canadian, who urged the Congress to "go slow. " Another said, "Let us not join together on the basis of what we don't like -- but on the basis of what we do like." Yet another added, "We have missed a great opportunity with the Presiding Bishop, who was present, to continue dialogue between him and all of our groups. "
Although the Rev. George H. Clendenin, rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles, Glendale, Calif., and recently inhibited and deposed by the Bishop of Los Angeles, said in a closing address, "We must sacrifice now and worry about bishops later," there was considerable speculation among the members of the Congress on how Father Mote, now elected bishop, would be consecrated.
Laukhuff, in presenting the "Affirmation of St. Louis," said that the document was "provisional and only for consideration." The document not only speaks of convening an assembly to create a new church, but also to create a new theological seminary, of affirming the "ministry of Deaconesses as a proper lay vocation for women," and the protection of "the right of congregations to control their temporalities."
Prayer and worship were integral portions of the Congress. Services of Evening Prayer, Morning Prayer and the Holy Eucharist, at which the Presiding Bishop received, held prominent places on the agenda. And when Father Mote was announced as an elected bishop, the assembly broke into song, singing the Doxology.
Press
Significance of the importance of the Congress was brought into focus by the number of secular press reporters who covered the meeting. Reporters of religion from Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and Daily News, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer seemed to testify to the interest the secular world had in the meeting.
In words he hoped to be prophetic, Laukhuff said to the Congress, "We are not a church, but we speak for a lacerated Church.... Let the people see Jesus."