NEWS STORY: Griswold Defends Episcopal Church Against Traditionalist Attacks

c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold said Friday (Feb. 4) that denominational leaders are reacting with “extreme displeasure and concern” to the irregular consecrations of two American priests as bishops in a ceremony in Singapore, but he believes his church “is not a community mired down in conflict.” […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold said Friday (Feb. 4) that denominational leaders are reacting with “extreme displeasure and concern” to the irregular consecrations of two American priests as bishops in a ceremony in Singapore, but he believes his church “is not a community mired down in conflict.”

The Rev. Charles H. Murphy III of South Carolina and the Rev. John H. Rodgers Jr. of Pennsylvania, consecrated by a group of Anglican bishops on Jan. 29, are traditionalists who want to reform the Episcopal Church and fear the denomination has grown more open to the ordination of sexually active gays and the blessing of same-sex unions.


“There are a number of conversations and a lot of emotion that needs to be sort of set aside so that we can come to clarity and reasonableness,” Griswold told Religion News Service in an interview. “My overall impression continues to be that the Episcopal Church is alive and well and focused on mission. … It is not a community mired down in conflict.”

Griswold said he has been receiving e-mails and other communication from church leaders about the consecration.

“I would say the predominant view is one of extreme displeasure and concern,” he said.

He sent a Jan. 31 letter to Episcopal bishops telling them he was “appalled by this irregular action.”

Griswold said the consecration is unusual because bishops usually have charge of a particular geographical area, or diocese.

“The integrity of a diocese is such that no other bishop from another diocese or another part of the church can appropriately exercise ministry in that bishop’s diocese without the bishop’s permission,” he said.

Griswold said it is too soon to know exactly how the Episcopal Church will officially respond to the Singapore action.


“Clearly, these are not consecrations within the context of the Episcopal Church,” he said. “The formal recognition or withholding of recognition is a question that is yet to be approached. All of this is so new.”

Asked if the church might consider bringing charges against Murphy and Rodgers, Griswold said the question would have to be answered by the dioceses with which the men are affiliated. Murphy is the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pawley’s Island, S.C., and Rodgers is dean emeritus of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pa.

In a Feb. 2 pastoral letter to congregations in the Diocese of South Carolina, Bishop Edward L. Salmon Jr. said he had opposed the action when he learned it was proposed. He said he would advise the churches when his “discernment produces the proper fruit” and after consulting with Murphy and diocesan officials.

“I believe that in all of these events, it is important to minimize further divisions and to urge the whole church to seek a godly solution,” Salmon wrote.

The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, whose spiritual leader is Bishop Robert Duncan, issued a Jan. 30 statement describing the consecration of the “missionary bishops” as a “part of a spiral of events that is testing the fabric and direction of the Episcopal Church in the United States.”

The statement said Duncan, whom it described as a conservative, and Salmon have “indicated their determination to forge appropriate relationships with the two new missionary bishops.”


Griswold said one of the two principals in the consecration, Archbishop of Singapore Moses Tay, is retiring this month (February). He said he expects to have an “extended conversation” with the other consecrator, Archbishop of Rwanda Emmanuel Kolini, when Anglican bishops meet in March in Portugal.

Griswold said he hopes the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion will be able to keep focused on the greater needs of the world rather than the “extremely distracting” consecrations.

“What we’re talking about is not the compassion and love of Christ being unleashed in a needy world,” Griswold said. “We’re talking about a fight in an ecclesiastical household. How sad it is that this kind of thing … galvanizes public interest and not the capability of the church to be a community of reconciliation.”

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