ECUSA: SENIOR BISHOPS CONDEMN SECRET MEETINGS

August 13, 2004

In an open letter to Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, five senior bishops expressed deep regret that a pattern of secrecy continues in Episcopal leadership as the doctrinal crisis in the denomination grows daily. A meeting planned for August 13, 2004 between the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice and the five bishops was cancelled after the Presiding Bishop refused to allow non-participating observers to attend.

"We feel strongly that a meeting of this importance should not be held in secret," the letter reads. "There is a history of closed door meetings in the House of Bishops. Our distrust of closed meetings on vital issues, as well as our assessment of the gravity of the current crisis in this Church, compelled us to insist that our meeting with your Council of Advice include non-participating observers."

Bishops Fitz-Simons Allison, Maurice Benitez, William Cox, Alex Dickson and William Wantland were asked to meet with the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice as a result of their confirming over 100 individuals in the Diocese of Ohio March 14, 2004. The House of Bishops at their meeting one week later chastised the five bishops, but stopped just short of formal censure.

"We had hoped for an opportunity at this meeting to discuss the radical departures of the Episcopal Church from the Faith and Practice of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church," the letter continues. "We have tried fervently for many years to have an open and honest discussion in the House of Bishops about these departures from our historic Faith and Practice, but to no avail."

"The ECUSA leadership apparently prizes secrecy over the needs of the Church," said Diane Knippers, one the lay women scheduled to serve as an observer for the meeting. "The fact that the Presiding Bishop insisted upon a meeting alone with the Council of Advice (composed solely of bishops) is typical. A small group of bishops also met behind closed doors to produce DEPO (Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight), a fundamentally flawed plan developed with no input from laity or clergy for whom the pastoral care is intended."

The senior bishops' letter asserted that the most serious "departure from the faith" occurred at the 2003 General Convention when bishops defeated Resolution B001, a measure affirming the historic faith. "It is difficult to understand how bishops could vote against the faith they swore to uphold at their consecration," they said in their letter. "It has been reported that bishops did this for political reasons. If this is true, then this is in pitiful contrast to our predecessors who stood for the Faith, even in the face of death."

"This defeat of B001 was in many ways worse than the two highly publicized decisions on V. Gene Robinson and same sex blessings because it tore away the foundation on which those decisions should have been based," said Bishop Maurice Benitez. "We have abandoned 2000 years of Christian teaching on sexuality, but more importantly we have ignored the authority of Scripture. The result has been chaos in the Episcopal Church — ECUSA has lost large numbers of individuals and congregations, ecumenical relationships have been damaged and the denomination is now in a state of impaired communion with 22 of the 38 Anglican Provinces. The survival of the entire Anglican Communion is at stake."

The five bishops are committed to public clarity on the issues rather than "private dialogue" which has so failed the church. "We need to acknowledge the reality of what has been wrought by ECUSA's faithlessness," said Bishop Alex Dickson. "Our concern is for those faithful Episcopalians who feel they cannot accept pastoral care from revisionist bishops and priests and feel 'like sheep without a shepherd.' We pray the Primates of the Anglican Communion will discipline ECUSA as well as provide pastoral relief to our Church," he concluded.

The Lambeth Commission is expected to release its report publicly in mid-October, and the Primates of the Anglican Communion are scheduled to meet February 2005.

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