Developments in the Continuum

By Robin G. Jordan

David Virtue’s article about the Anglican Church in America’s announcement that the ACA would not be converting to Roman Catholicism and becoming a part of a U.S. Personal Ordinariate prompted a friend and I to search the Internet for more leads on this story. In David’s article he drew attention to a planned meeting of Continuers in Boston later in the year, in November. Our search produced some interesting results that I would like to share with readers who are following developments related to the formation of a U.S. Personal Ordinariate and other developments with the potential to affect the North American Anglican community.

The first lead was a number of statements in the Anglican Province of America’s Presiding Bishop Walter Grundorf’s newsletter for January-February 2011, which is posted on the APA website. In the newsletter Presiding Bishop Grundorf reports on a recommendation of the Diocese of the Eastern United States’ Board of Examining Chaplain’s recommendation to merge the APA Diocesan House of Studies into the Logos House of the ACA in the ACA Diocese of the Northeast and to close the Diocesan House of Studies. Presiding Bishop Grundorf further reports on the APA Provincial Council’s approval of a proposed Agreement of Communion between the ACA and the APA. Such an agreement points to closer relations between the ACA and the APA and even the possibility of a merger of the two Continuing jurisdictions. It may be premature to suggest that such a merger is in the works, and even if it is, merger talks have been known to collapse at the last minute so any speculation of a merger is just that—speculation.

Presiding Bishop Grundorf’s newsletter also reports that the Diocese of the Eastern United States’ Standing Committee received St. George’s Anglican Church in Ocala, Florida and its rector, the Rt. Rev. Arthur C. Rushlow into the APA and the Diocese. For those unfamiliar with Bishop Rushlow, he is one of a handful of clergy who were consecrated a bishop by the late Suffragan Bishop of New York Charles Francis Boynton. The consecrations are considered to be irregular as the requisite three bishops was absent and Bishop Boynton consecrated Bishop Rushlow and his fellow bishops alone. For those who set store in that sort of thing, Bishop Rushlow stands in the Protestant Episcopal line of episcopal succession despite the irregularity of his consecration. His consecration, while irregular, is not invalid.

Our search also turned up an earlier article on The Anglo-Catholic website in which Anglican Use Roman Catholic Christian Campbell castigates three of the ACA bishops for their defiance of Traditional Anglican Communion Archbishop John Hepworth and their overtures toward the “Protestant” APA. Continuers familiar with the APA do not regard it as “Protestant.” However, Campbell lets slip the widely-held Roman Catholic view that only Roman Catholics are Catholic. Anglo-Catholics, whatever they may think that they are, are not Catholic. They may become Catholic if they convert to Roman Catholicism. Otherwise, they are “Protestant” like the rest of us. At best, they are, in Roman Catholic eyes, Catholic wannabes. Or “Protestants” playing at being Catholic. We should not be surprised at this view. Roman Catholics have held it for a very long time. See John Jewel’s Apologia Ecclesia Anglicana, or Apology for the Church of England. Converts to Roman Catholicism, as converts to any new faith tend to be, are more virulent in expressing such views.

This was one of a number of hostile posts on the Internet in reaction to the decision of the three ACA bishops not to further pursue entry into a US Personal Ordinariate.

ACA Bishop Daren Williams in a pastoral letter to his Diocese this past summer explains his position:

Diocese of The West

Anglican Church in America
Office of the Bishop
The Right Reverend
Daren K. Williams

Brothers in Christ,

The past three years have been challenging for us, especially regarding communion with the Roman Catholic Church. After a long waiting period following the TAC Petition to Rome (October 2007), we received their response in the form of the Apostolic Constitution (Anglicanorum Coetibus) in November 2009. Living in this long waiting and discerning period has been anything but comfortable for any of us, especially those of us called to ordained ministry. Our July 1st Extraordinary Synod was helpful, I believe, as we shared our thoughts and prayers with one another. The Synod revealed that a few have expressed an eager desire to move toward an Ordinariate. A few others have declared they are not interested in the option. It appears to me that the Diocese of the West as a whole is a long way from accepting this offer from the Roman Church.

At this time I declare to you, the clergy of the diocese, my position and perspective. I am not led to request application to enter the Ordinariate. My priorities in ministry must include the care of the people of this jurisdiction, whether or not they desire to enter an Ordinariate. We have spent so much time and energy dealing with this issue, that we are losing our focus. This has caused serious distractions to our work to build up the Kingdom of God in this place. We have lost three parishes in this “waiting period” and the issue has caused stress for all of us — clergy and laity alike. Anglicans in the ACA are comparatively small in number and we often struggle to make ends meet. To move forward from this situation will require new focus as the entire diocese accepts greater responsibility for our common life. This will include greater commitment to Our Lord in all the aspects of stewardship through ministry and mission. And we need to begin now!

It is apparent to at least four members of the ACA House of Bishops that we are a divided house. Some are eager to enter an Ordinariate and others are not, for a variety of reasons. The results of the Synods in the Diocese of the West and the Diocese of the Missouri Valley, tell us the majority of our people will choose not to enter an Ordinariate; at least not at this time. It appears that the Synod of the Diocese of the Northeast will follow the same pattern when it meets later in September. Reports from the Diocese of the Eastern United States tell us that the attitude toward an Ordinariate is mixed. It is my conclusion that before we can enter into significant communal relationships with larger bodies of Catholic Christendom,we need to make another effort to unite with those near to us who share the same goals in Anglicanism.

Before I attend the House of Bishops meeting September 28-29, I am sharing with you now some action which will be taken. The bishops (this bishop included) intend to propose a document regarding intercommunion with the Anglican Province of America (APA) with the hope that the House of Bishops will support it. The APA includes people who were once part of us and were separated some twenty years ago. I believe that this separation should never have occurred, for it contradicts the Christian mission and hope. Dialogue is going on at the moment to do what we can to bring this intercommunion to reality by the First Sunday in Advent of this year, with the hope of reunification in the future. This action is not an attempt to undermine the work of unity as proposed by the College of Bishops of the TAC. It is to support those who intend to enter an Ordinariate and to support those who wish to remain in the Continuum, broken as it, is, with appropriate episcopal oversight.

All this may seem surprising, or even unsettling to some or many of you. It is not my intention to upset you or criticize decisions each of you have made or may make. This is intended to provide opportunities in ministry for all of us, that we may continue to love one another as brothers, whether or not we agree. My office and my heart are open to you at this time, with my promise to be faithful to God and His Church. I covet your prayers and please know that you are each in mine.

Your grateful Bishop,

+Daren K. Williams

This letter helps to explain the choice of Kansas City for “Becoming One,” the next regional conference to determine the level of interest in a Personal Ordinariate in the United States later this month. Kansas City is not only the site of a Anglican Use Roman Catholic parish but also lies in what Continuers at one time called the “Beretta Belt” in which there is a concentration of Anglo-Catholic Continuing parishes. A number of ACA parishes in the Diocese of the Missouri Valley are in that region.

While the Diocese of the Eastern United States is listed on the new ACA website, there is no link to a diocesan website as there is for the three other ACA dioceses. The Diocese of the Eastern United States is the diocese of former ACA Bishop Louis Campese who has resigned in order to convert to Roman Catholicism.