RHODE ISLAND: Coventry parish quits Episcopal diocese

by Tracy Scudder
Kent County Daily Times

COVENTRY, RI: (5/23/2006)--The Rev. Mark Galloway was called to be the rector of St. Andrew and St. Philip in the fall of 2003. He became the rector in January 2004. He said discussions began almost immediately about what was going on in the church and what was the church's future. Galloway described the U.S. Episcopal Church as having two types of religion that exist within a single institution.

"They have two views of reality and they aren't compatible anymore. While they are within a single institution, there's not enough common ground left about what the essentials of faith are anymore to keep those two sides within the same house," he said.

The Church of St. Andrew and St. Philip sponsored two different statewide conferences and monthly meetings. The monthly meetings were Anglican studies that would be informational meetings about what's going on in the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican world, according to Galloway.

"More and more people started to come to the parish. What is amazing is, in two years as rector, the demographics of the parish have changed drastically," he said.

The idea to leave the Episcopal Church started at the vestry level, the governing body of the church, according to Galloway. The vote initially was to join the Anglican Communion Network. The vestry did that in September 2004 and then monitored what was going to go on in the life of the church, according to Galloway.

During the diocesan convention last year in October, members of the parish sponsored three resolutions. The resolutions were to endorse the Windsor Report. That document came down on the side of traditional Christianity, according to Galloway.

"It gave the American church certain things it needs to do if it is going to choose to stay within the Anglican family. They included returning to what the premise is believed to be, the basics of Anglican understanding of theology and scriptural authority. And ordaining openly gay people would not be acceptable," said Galloway.

"Not only did they not vote on (the resolutions), they wouldn't even let a vote come to the floor. They tabled each single resolution before they could even be discussed," he said. "We really believe very different things. That is what moved our vestry in December to take the vote that we were going to leave the Episcopal Church.

The vestry consists of 12 church members and the rector. They speak only for themselves and not for the entire parish, Galloway said.

"We voted that, effective June 30, the 13 of us were leaving the Episcopal Church with or without our property," said Galloway.

That resolution was endorsed by the full parish at the annual meeting in January. Those who came to the annual meeting voted 69 to 1 that they concurred with the decision of parish leadership, Galloway said.

"From that point on, we were leaving as a parish with or without our property. We had made alternate plans in case we had to rent space," said Galloway.

Galloway and two lay leaders from the parish began negotiating with the Episcopal Diocese for the church and the property.

"In getting the property, we are the first parish to get it this way," said Galloway. On Sunday, the parish took a vote to accept the memorandum of understanding that the parish would buy back the property from the diocese.

In a vote of 121 to 5, the parish voted in favor to buy back the property. The parish agreed to pay $500,000 for the property and the building. The parish also agreed to pay $100,000 in an endowment to maintain the St. Philip cemetery, which the diocese will continue to own.

The church's name will change to The Church of the Apostles when the parish takes over the property and the church.

The parish is in the International Anglican Conference which currently consists of 65 parishes like St. Andrew and St. Philip which are completely outside of the Episcopal Church of the United States but are still members of the Anglican Communion recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

"We've tried really hard not to make this issue about grouping people and labeling people but about living our own convictions as we understand biblical authority," said Galloway.

Harry Sacchetti, Chairman of Canterbury Missions Society Group, which is going to be buying the church, said he was very pleased with Sunday's vote.

"The vote showed that we have explained to our parish what is going on in the Episcopal Church and this is the best way and only way to be true Anglicans and true Christians," he said. "It was a vote of affirmation."

He described Father Galloway as very conservative. He said Galloway does everything by the Bible.

"He doesn't try to interpret it in his own way or make it more modern," said Sacchetti. "Anybody who has been coming to the parish for the last two years will see no change."

END

FOOTNOTE: The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, Bishop of Rhode Island has been one of the most gracious though liberal bishops in the Episcopal Church. She has allowed Quincy Bishop the Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman to minister to Anglo-Catholic parishes in her diocese. In that she allowed this parish to buy back its property, it demonstrates a model of how property issues could be resolved in the ECUSA without litigation. I spoke with her recently and she is deeply concerned at the polarization in the ECUSA.

David W. Virtue DD