OHIO: Breakaway churches begin to organize amid confusion

Effort would unify conservative congregations disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church USA

By Colette M. Jenkins
Beacon Journal religion writer
http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/15791202.html
February 20, 2008

FAIRLAWN: Bishop Roger Ames is no longer a cleric in the Ohio Diocese of the Episcopal Church USA.

But he is a leader in the global Anglican Communion, which includes the Episcopal Church USA.

Then there's the church that Ames pastors - St. Luke's in Fairlawn. Its incorporation papers list its name as St. Luke's Anglican Church and Ames as pastor. Diocesan records, however, show that it is St. Luke's Episcopal Church and that the pastorate is vacant.

The status of both Ames and the church is an indication of the level of confusion in the denomination and of what might very well be the beginning of a new Anglican province in North America.

Both Ames and Bishop Martyn Minns, the missionary bishop for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), say an effort is under way to unify the theologically conservative parishes that have broken away from the Episcopal Church.

"We're trying to hold onto the traditional teachings of the church and stop the fragmentation that is going on across the country by bringing people together," Minns said. "We definitely have some real divisions (in the Episcopal Church) and we are trying to develop tight connections with the international church and the churches in this country."

Appointment controversy

Minns, of Herndon, Va., was elected by the Anglican Church of Nigeria, the largest province in the global communion, to lead the CANA parishes that have left the Episcopal Church USA. His August 2006 consecration in Abuja, Nigeria, was controversial because both the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA and the Archbishop of Canterbury had requested that it not proceed.

Subsequently, the archbishop did not invite Minns to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, saying Minns' appointment had caused "exceptionally serious division or scandal within the communion."

The Lambeth Conference, in Canterbury, England, is a once-a-decade, by-invitation-only assembly of Anglican bishops. Minns said it is not too late for him to be included on the invitation list for the July conference.

Realigning themselves

Dissension has torn the communion, since the Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, in 2003. A decision in 2004 by the Canadian province of Westminster to bless same-sex unions fueled the tension.

Since then, some of the more theologically conservative churches, such as St. Luke's, have disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church and realigned themselves with Anglican provinces and organizations that share their view on issues like homosexuality.

In fact, St. Luke's is the place where the national movement to defy liberal bishops in the American church was launched. On March 14, 2004, five retired Episcopal Church USA bishops and a diocesan bishop from Brazil confirmed 110 people at a multicongregational service at St. Luke's without the permission of the local bishop.

St. Luke's subsequently voted to leave the Ohio diocese and aligned itself with CANA, which was formed in April 2005. The organization now claims 118 clergy and 161 congregations, compared with 19 clergy and 14 congregations in November 2006.

CANA consecrated Ames and three others to serve as suffragan, or assistant, bishops to Minns on Dec. 9 in Herndon, Va. Their ordinations were in response to the rapid growth in CANA's membership, Minns said.

Ames oversees the 16 parishes in CANA's Great Lakes region. The region includes the five churches that have left the Cleveland-based Ohio Diocese of the Episcopal Church: St. Luke's, Church of the Holy Spirit in Akron, St. Barnabas in Bay Village, Church of the Good Samaritan in Cleveland and St. Anne in the Fields in Madison.

Clusters created by CANA are geographical and relational, but do not follow strict lines like the diocesan structure of the Episcopal Church, Ames said.

Common Cause

"There are now domestic bishops. That's the beginning of a new Anglican province in the U.S.," Ames said. "CANA is just one of the operations that came in to rescue orthodox, evangelical parishes that could no longer stay in the Episcopal Church. All of those streams have come together in something called Common Cause."

Common Cause, chaired by Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, is a partnership of organizations with roots in the Anglican Church that have unified to create an ecclesiastical structure apart from the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada. Its initial meeting in late September in Pittsburgh was to bind its members and discuss their direction for the future.

In addition to CANA, members of Common Cause include the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Communion Network, the Anglican Mission in the Americas (which includes Hudson Anglican Fellowship on Darrow Road), the Anglican Province of America, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, Forward in Action, the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Anglican Essentials Federation and the Anglican Network in Canada.

"All together, these groups will birth a new American province that could encompass the U.S. and Canada," Ames said. "This will include the diocese of San Joaquin in California, which voted in December to leave the Episcopal Church. We anticipate that three or four more whole dioceses will leave this year and join us."

Some of the parishes across the country that have left the denomination are involved in legal disputes over church property. That is not the case in the Ohio Diocese, which covers the northern 48 counties of the state.

"We are looking for a faithful resolution to the property issues involving the congregations that have elected to leave the diocese," said Martha Wright, diocesan spokeswoman. "The priests in those congregations have asked to be released from their orders and their requests have been granted, but we have not taken any action where the property is concerned."

Ames said the diocese and parishes are in discussions to resolve the property issue and to negotiate a "just" settlement.

Bishop Mark Hollingsworth, who leads the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, declined to comment.

"We have been able to avoid litigation. We appreciate Bishop Hollingsworth's willingness to continue the dialogue and his gracefulness in releasing the clergy," Ames said. "There is a strong possibility that Ohio could set a precedent for Christian resolution to this property issue that has led to angry, nasty litigation in other places. We're trying very much to let the Lord and the Holy Spirit lead in this process."

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