What A Difference Three Years Doth Make

Well, Toads and Toadettes,

As I have been following the recent events in “continuing” Anglican world, an astute reader (or at least a reader with a good memory), forwarded me this piece from The Christian Challenge magazine. We’ll follow this piece in the comment section with some contemporaneous on-line commentary from Dr. Toad’s E-Mail Archive.

Your correspondent was there and sober for all of the events, so let’s see how things fare as we swelter our way through the summer heat, with a little cool breeze from back in Wisconsin.

Yr. Obed. Serv.

R. Toad, DD. LSMFT


A "HISTORIC MOMENT" FOR THE U.S. CONTINUING CHURCH

Key Continuing Bishops, FIF Leaders, GatherFor Events In Wisconsin, Pennsylvania

By Auburn Faber Traycik The Christian Challenge (Washington, DC)September 28, 2004

Veteran Continuing Church members might well have said it could never happen.

But it did.

So it was that bishops of the three core Continuing Church bodies--the Anglican Province of Christ the King (APCK), the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC), and the Anglican Church in America/Traditional Anglican Communion (ACA/TAC)--came together in Wisconsin September 24-26 for prayer, worship, and free and frank discussions.

[So far, so good. And they didn’d even have their tasters with them.-ed.]

Not only that, the prelates were joined by the Rev. David Moyer, head of the Episcopal Church traditionalist organization, Forward in Faith, North America; and the Rev. David Chislett, Vice President of Forward in Faith-Australia.

The "extramural" Anglican bishops and Frs. Moyer and Chislett gathered in Fond du Lac primarily for the APCK's pilgrimage to the grave of Anglo-Catholic luminary, Blessed Bishop Charles Grafton (Second Episcopal Bishop of Fond du Lac 1889-1912), a biennial APCK event geared to provide participants an opportunity for prayer, and spiritual instruction and refreshment. Some 100 persons from across the U.S. took part in the pilgrimage.

It was all at the invitation of APCK Archbishop Robert S. Morse, though the Archbishop himself says it was really the Holy Spirit--and quite possibly Bishop Grafton--who "arranged a confluence of events" leading to the ecumenical gathering. "I think Bishop Grafton might have interceded for us," the tall, white-haired prelate said, smiling.

[Well, not exactly. At least two APCK priests urged the invitation as a sign of visible unity, and a chance to move the unity discussions along. One of those priests, Fr. Victor Novak, the Province’s Ecumenical Officer, is no longer with APCK. Following the meetings and urging the bishops to press forward on the unity front, something one might reasonably expect of an Ecumenical Officer, the good father was frozen out and given the now famous “silent treatment”. He departed the APCK in June 2007 after the Provincial Development Fund forced the sale of his parish’s building on its 10th anniversary.-ed.]

Whoever was most responsible for it, Morse's invitation to the bishops, clergy and laity of the two other leading Continuing bodies and two FIF leaders reached across the divides created by the Continuing Church's difficult early history with new signs of hope for the future. It came, interestingly, at a time when "official" Anglicanism faces a potentially large chasm of its own.

"It was a beginning," Archbishop Morse told TCC, and TAC's Primate, Archbishop John Hepworth of Australia, termed it a "historic moment for the Continuing Church in the United States."

While the APCK and ACC, led by Archbishop Brother John-Charles of Australia (who was unable to be present), had engaged in dialogue over the past year, it was the first real opportunity for bishops of the APCK (which may now be the largest U.S. Continuing Church body) to meet and talk (either for the first time, or for the first time in many years) with bishops of the ACA and TAC, the largest international Continuing Church fellowship. The ACA is the TAC's U.S. branch. Together, the APCK, ACC and TAC include an estimated 265,000 orthodox Anglicans.

[The APCK currently consists, charitably, of about 1,800 souls, following the departure of an entire diocese, while estimates of the ACC vary from 3,000 to 5,000 although exact numbers are elusive.-ed.]

Hepworth also saw Morse's outreach as significant because the TAC and FIF have already forged a communion relationship.

Bishops attending the pilgrimage in Fond du Lac, in addition to Morse and Hepworth, included, from the APCK: Bishop James Provence (Diocese of the West), Frederick Morrison (Southwest), and Rocco Florenza ( Eastern States); from the TAC: Archbishop Louis Falk (ACA Primate); Bishops Louis Campese (ACA-Eastern U.S.) and James Stewart (West); from the ACC: Bishops William McClean (Mid-Atlantic States), Rommie Starks (Midwest), and Bishop -elect Presley Hutchens (New Orleans).

The Pilgrimage was marked by frank and collegial discussions among bishops and clergy as well as opportunities to join in the Mass and at prayer and in study. Friday's Holy Eucharist was celebrated by the APCK's Bishop Florenza and sung Evensong by Archbishop Hepworth. Bishops and clergy of the TAC/ACA received Holy Communion at the crowded Mass.

[Looks like de facto communion between the ACA/TAC and APCK in a remarkable moment, marred only by the refusal of the ACC to make nice. See below.-ed.]

Later, the Rev. Dr. Paul Russell, professor of theology at Mount St. Mary College and an internationally recognized patristic scholar, presented a well-received program to the pilgrims on the teachings of the Desert Fathers.

The day was capped by a banquet at which Archbishop Hepworth offered a toast to Archbishop Morse, saluting his example of steadfastness in the faith.

On Saturday, pilgrims, clergy and laity, joined in a religious procession through the streets of Fond du Lac to the cathedral (of the still-conservative Episcopal diocese), which houses the shrine of Bishop Grafton. Traditional Anglicans, arrayed in a line stretching over several city blocks, sang hymns as they marched to the cathedral with banners and pennants fluttering against a grey Wisconsin morning.

At the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Morse, Bishop Morrison preached on the unity of the Church in the Blessed Sacrament. The theme was most appropriate to a gathering of brethren who often appear to be separated, and emblematic of the spirit of this historical Grafton Pilgrimage.

[There would be that visible communion thing again. The ACC bishops had found reasons to leave early.-ed.]

NOR DID THIS NOTEWORTHY ECUMENICAL EVENT conclude in Fond du Lac. "Part II" took place as Archbishops Morse, Hepworth and Falk, Bishop Provence, and Frs. Moyer and Chislett joined in Evensong and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at Moyer's parish, Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pennsylvania, on the evening of Sunday, September 27. Good Shepherd's magnificent choir made the service, attended by over 100 persons, especially memorable. The visiting leaders greeted congregants at a reception following the service, and then were warmly hosted by Fr. Moyer and his wonderful wife, Rita, at a private dinner at the rectory.

Further discussions between the bishops and clergy at Rosemont, focusing on TAC's eight-year discussions with the Roman Catholic Church, were expected to follow before the leaders parted ways early in the week.

[Well, now, here are the once and the future APCK archbishops in a tete a tete with their TAC/ACA counterparts once again. It leads to say, “What happened?”-ed.]

Morse, now 80 and the leader of the APCK since its inception some 25 years ago, told TCC he believes "rapport" was established among the leaders at Fond du Lac, and he seemed open to the possibility of further similar encounters. He indicated his concern that Continuers fulfill Christ's basic call to Christians to be "people who love one another."

[Well, I think there might be some Angricans out there who don't exactly follow this part of the playbook. They put the "rap" in rapport. Has anyone mentioned Deerfield beach yet?-ed.]

Moyer told TCC that, in the APCK, Archbishop Morse "has something that works, something that he has sacrificed for that is bearing fruit." But he believes that the prelate is so committed to the "depth of Anglican Catholicism" that he knows that more is needed for the APCK's future.

Hepworth revealed that, when he was a young priest, Morse was his "hero" for his fight for the faith. Therefore, Hepworth said, it was "deeply moving" for him when he "knelt at the communion rail and received Holy Communion from Archbishop Morse personally."


The "emerging relationship" between the APCK and TAC/ACA which grew out of the Fond du Lac meeting was "deepened" by participation in the Evensong at Good Shepherd, he said.

[Gosh, that Communion thing just keeps coming up.-ed.]

The ACC bishops at Fond du Lac opted to refrain from receiving Holy Communion at any of the pilgrimage Masses, apparently due to the presence of bishops from the ACA, a body formed from a merger of part of the ACC and of the entire American Episcopal Church (dating from the 1960s) in 1991. But '"at least they appeared," Morse said.

[The ghost of Deerfield Beach dwells on in a snit grounded in human judgment and old wounds. What about that "people who love one another" bit? Perhaps one can love some of the people some of the time...wel, you get the idea. Perhaps Rodney King had a point.-ed.]

Moreover, Hepworth said he had received from ACC Archbishop Brother John-Charles a document setting forth a "pathway" for closer ties between the TAC and ACC--an indication that the ACC's top leader, at least, sees greater unity among Continuers as a priority.—

Permission to circulate the foregoing electronically is granted, provided that there are no changes in the headings or text, and this notice is included. For reprint permission, or to learn more about or to subscribe to THE CHRISTIAN CHALLENGE, the only independent hardcopy publication providing such a broad scope of news for orthodox Anglicans, contact TCC at: 202/547-5409, e-mail: atraycik@aol.com; fax 202/543-8704; 1215 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC 20003.