Local Anglican churches await report
A report by an international committee of the Anglican Church that is studying last year’s decision by the Episcopal Church in the United States to elect an openly gay man as a bishop will be made public Oct. 18. And Fayette County’s two Anglican churches are keeping watch.
“We’re in a posture of waiting and watching,’ said the Rev. Thomas Finnie of St. Peter’s Church in Uniontown.
“We’re waiting to see what they have to say. We are anxiously waiting the commission report but, more important, is what our bishops and archbishops do,’ said the Rev. Stanley Burdock of Christ Church in Brownsville.
Both local congregations are opposed to decisions by the Episcopal Church to elect and consecrate the Rev. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as a bishop and offer services for same-sex marriages.
In fact, both Fayette County churches decided to drop the word “Episcopal’ from common use of their names last year to distance themselves from the national Episcopal Church. Instead, after their names, both add they are “a parish of the Anglican Communion,’ to identify themselves. The Anglican Communion is the name of the international church, which has 75 million members worldwide.
“I think we can say a very few have been uncomfortable with the (name) change,” Finnie said. “I also believe some have come to the church since this, respectful of where we stand. It’s actually been a net gain.’
Burdock said nobody left the church because of the name change, and people who have belonged to the church for a long time have remained.
“We have new families in church, whether because of this, I’m not sure,’ said Burdock. “They didn’t come from other Episcopal churches.’
Both local congregations also strongly back Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, who has led national opposition to the Episcopal Church’s decisions.
“We have great confidence in Bishop Duncan’s leadership, believe him to be godly and orthodox and trust he’ll lead us through all of this,’ said Finnie.
“Myself and the vestry and the church support Bishop Duncan 100 percent,’ said Burdock.
The Episcopal Church’s decisions not only caused dissension throughout the United States but led to strong protests around the world.
The protests prompted the Anglican spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, to call an emergency summit and form a commission on how the communion can remain unified.
According to the Anglican Communion Official Web site, the archbishop established the Lambeth Commission in October 2003 “to make recommendations to the Primates of the Anglican Communion on how to maintain the highest degree of communion possible following developments in North America.’
Finnie explained the commission was established “to figure out what to do when one of the national churches essentially breaks ranks with the world majority.’
He said it’s expected that the commission will give the United States church a window of time to step back from the decisions it made. From what he’s read, Burdock believes the commission is looking for the Episcopal Church to repent or that it will probably move for some formal state of excommunication.
Burdock noted the heads of the Anglican Church worldwide will meet in February in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with the archbishop to discuss the report and make decisions.
In the meantime, both Finnie and Burdock are also looking for the Southern Hemisphere bishops to take their own action. This body includes bishops from Africa, Southeast Asia, India and South America, which Finnie noted makes up more than 50 million of the 75 million Anglicans worldwide.
Finnie said it’s expected that the Southern Hemisphere bishops will want the United States to back off from its stance on homosexual marriages and to remove Robinson from ministry in a certain time period.
“If they don’t do that, the Southern Hemisphere will no longer recognize the legitimacy of the United States’ current Episcopal Church leadership,’ said Finnie, noting, for example, that they are no longer accepting missionaries or financial support from the official structure of the Episcopal Church but will accept from anyone who stayed within a historic church.
Finnie said there could come a time when these bishops will recognize Duncan as head of the on-going Anglican movement in the United States.
Duncan is head of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, which formed in opposition to national leadership over these issues.
In the United States, the church includes 1.5 million members. Finnie said approximately 175,000 are associated with the Anglican Communion Network through their bishop, parish or as individuals.
Burdock pointed out that since the Lambeth Commission meetings have been held behind closed doors, all information released is supposition.
“But my experience with the Anglican Church is we tend to be appeasers as opposed to taking more deliberate and confrontational action. To some extent, I believe that’s why we are where we are,” Burdock said. “We tend to gloss over differences. Some need to be. They’re not important historically, but not this situation.’
So both congregations wait for the commission’s report and reaction to it.
“What concerns me is the response to the reports,’ said Burdock. “The Southern bishops are more likely to take more direct and confrontational action, and that’s what we’re hoping for.’
Said Finnie, “We have declared where we stand with the historic faith, and we are hoping the national leadership comes to its senses.’