9/07/2007

Who are the Sixty bishops, and why are they hanging around together?

Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth has recently written his clergy. In his letter he said this: “One of the most encouraging signs of the realignment that is under way is the first-ever Council of Bishops of the Common Cause Partners which is to meet in Pittsburgh during the last week of September. This is a gathering of all bishops exercising active ministry within the member bodies of Common Cause.* The purpose of the meeting is to explore ways in which we can work together for a biblical, missionary and united Anglicanism in North America. I will be among some 60 bishops in attendance, as will be the newly consecrated bishops serving those congregations here in the States that are under the Provinces of Uganda and Kenya.”

So who are the sixty bishops? Here is an effort to count them:

I am using the Anglican Communion Network list of the Common Cause Partnership and am assuming that Provinces active in the US through bishops appointed for work here are part of the CCP and their Archbishops are invited as well as bishops directly involved in mission in the US. In addition I have assumed that several priests nominated but not yet consecrated will also be invited.

Kenya
1.Archbishop Nzimbi
2.Bishop Bill Atwood
3.Bishop Bill Murdoch

Southern Cone:

4.Presiding Bishop Greg Venables
5.Bishop Bill Cox
6.Bishop Frank Lyons
7.Bishop
Cavalcanti of Recife (PSC).

Uganda:

8.Archbishop Henry Orombi
9.Bishop Andy Fairfield
10.Bishop John Guernsey

Anglican Coalition in Canada
(no bishops)

Anglican Communion Network

11 Albany, Bishop William Love
12 Central Florida Bishop John Howe
13 Dallas, Bishop James Stanton
14 Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker
15 Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan
16 Pittsburgh, Bishop Harry Scriven
17 Quin8cy Bishop Keith L. Ackerman
18 Rio Grande Bishop Jeffrey N. Steenson
19 San Joaquin Bishop
John-David Schofield
20 South Carolina Bishop elect Mark Lawrence
21 Springfield Bishop
Peter Beckwith

Anglican Essentials Canada
22 Bishop Donald Harvey, St. John 's NL (acting) ?

Anglican Mission in America

23 The Most Rev. Emmanuel Mbona Kolini
24 Bishop Charles Hurt (Chuck) Murphy, III
25 Bishop Alexander Maury (Sandy) Greene
26 Bishop Thomas William (TJ) Johnston, Jr.
27 Bishop John Hewitt Rodgers, Jr.(Retired)
28 Bishop Thad Burnham
29 Bishop Elect Terrell Glenn,
30 Bishop Elect Philip Jones
31 Bishop Elect John Miller.

Anglican Network in Canada
(no bishops)

Anglican Province of America

32 The Most Reverend Walter Grundorf
33 Bishop C. Peter Brewer
34 Bishop Clark H. Dorman
35 Bishop Robert Loiselle
36 Bishop Richard Boyce
37 Bishop John Hamers
38 Bishop Winfield S. Mott
39 The Most Rev'd Dr. Lawrence Shaver


Convocation of Anglicans in North America

40Archbishop Peter J. Akinola
41Bishop Martyn Minns:
42 Bishop Dr. David J. Bena
43 Bishop Ben Kwashi

Forward in Faith North America

44 Bishop elect in search for consecrators, Bill Illgenfritz

Reformed Episcopal Church
45 Bishop Leonard W. Riches
46 Bishop David Hicks - Bishop
47 Bishop Royal U. Grote, Jr
48 Bishop Daniel R. Morse
49 Bishop Ray R. Sutton
50 Bishop George B. Fincke
51 Bishop Michael Fedechko
52 Bishop Charles Dorrington

In addition there may be several retired US bishops in attendance, but without jurisdiction here or elsewhere.

That’s the list as I understand it. Fifty-two, not sixty. But close enough. And of course I am hoping that readers of this will offer corrections. I am sure they will come.

Of this list of 52, 17 are bishops who are, I assume, invited to Lambeth. Ten are members of the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church. Three are retired bishops of TEC who in retirement resigned from the House of Bishops and took canonical residence in other Provinces. Nineteen are from churches not in communion with the See of Canterbury.

The number of TEC bishops in the Network and therefore part of the CCP (Common Cause Partnership) has not grown and it is unclear just how committed these bishops are to the emerging Council of Bishops whose primary task seems to be to work for a unified orthodox Anglican Province in North America. Only Bishops Duncan and Iker have crossed the line and taken part in the ordinations of new bishops from the Provinces of Kenya and Uganda. Rumors persist that Bishop Schofield is ready to bolt. Nothing much is heard from Bishops Stanton and Steeson and Bishop Howe seems to have emerged as a moderate.

In the final run up to the CCP meeting then, it would appear that about 80% of the bishops who will be part of this meeting are not part of TEC, and about 35% are bishops in churches not in communion with the See of Canterbury. There are thirteen bishops or bishops elect whose standing with Canterbury is such that their inclusion in Lambeth is questionable.

So what we have here is a hodge-podge of bishops who will gather and try to show that they are indeed the orthodox remnant, the true presence of Anglicanism in North America. They don’t agree on many things. They seem only to agree on the level of their unhappiness with TEC. Some of this unhappiness has been around for a long time, long before any questions had arisen about the inclusion of gay and lesbian persons. Unhappiness with the Prayer Book of 1892, the Prayer Book of 1979, the ordination of women, living in an Anglican Communion that reeked of colonialism, the changes and chances of this mortal life in which not everyone who wants to be bishop can be, modernity in its various aspects, and various matters of inclusion.

This will be a meeting of unhappy people, and while they might begin by being delighted by just how many of them there are – 60 by Bishop Iker’s count, not more than a generous 52 by my count – it will be quite surprising if the unhappiness with TEC will be enough to hold them together for long.

15 comments:

  1. Mark - Do we know how many congregations these Bishops represent. In TEC, there are 7,600 plus congregations and some 110 diocese bishops. Are there 3,800 congregations in Common Cause? 1,900? 900, maybe? Really, isn't it a bit transparent what is going on here? Who are they trying to impress besides themselves?

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  2. Speculation for sure but one might add retired TEC Bishops Fitz Alison, Alex Dixon. Bill Wantland and perhaps even Ed Salmon

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  3. DDW+ Forgot his own Asst. Bishop, +Scriven

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  4. You have Leonard Riches as both #43 and #49.

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  5. I believe Thad Barnum is an AMiA bishop.....

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  6. Two questions and a reflection, Mark.

    I assume this means that the TEC bishops on this list will be here in Pittsburgh instead of being in New Orleans with the rest of the HOB plus the ABC?

    Also, does the Network seriously expect that jurisdictions not previously recognized as being in the Communion will suddenly become acceptable members of the Communion?

    It would seem to me that any active TEC bishop who go to this gathering but avoid or cut short New Orleans will have all but lost any credibility to work with Canterbury on any kind of solution. They will have given up any ability to make their case to the whole Communion in favor of hanging around with people who are like them.

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  7. Andrew...I believe the US bishops are going to the HoB meeting, perhaps only for the time with the ABC. They may have to leave early in order to gather themselves. If they are not there to vote for or against the Mind of the House statement, well...they have had their day.

    Thanks for he other corrections... I have made entries. The list is now 52.

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  8. Nr 7 Cavalcanti, surely.

    Nr 8 Or-O-mbi.

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  9. Two corrections on the AMiA list: it's Thad Barnum not Tad Burnham and you forgot Bishop Douglas Weiss which makes this list 53

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  10. david wilson... thanks for the spelling of Thad. On Douglas Weiss... I know his name as AMiA, but he is not listed on their web page. So for the moment I am leaving him off.

    Do you know what gives?

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  11. That's interesting. He has retired like John Rodgers but why John is listed and not Doug is a good question

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  12. ..."Also, does the Network seriously expect that jurisdictions not previously recognized as being in the Communion will suddenly become acceptable members of the Communion? "...

    I think these bishops certainly want their parishoners to believe this. A great effort has been made to isolate the Diocese of Fort Worth at least. All efforts made by groups such as the via media and even the national leadership of the Episcopal Church are unwelcomed by the Bishop and his staff in Fort Worth. Just note the statement Bishop Iker just made about Bonnie Anderson's visit to Fort Worth today. The diocese would really like people to believe that very few people attended and that the National Episcopal Church is a schismatic group (note Bishop Iker now refers to the Episcopal Church as the "General Convention Church.") http://www.fwepiscopal.org/news/andersonvisit.pdf

    FYI 250 people attended the event, which was the FULL CAPACITY of the venue. Not a bad turnout for an organization with NO ACCESS TO the Fort Worth Diocesan mailing list. An ENS story about the event is forthcoming.

    The event was a great success and I hope it will empower previously silent parishoners to finally speak up about the Fort Worth diocesan leadership's complete lack of support for the Episcopal Church.

    Bishop Iker was not present at the meeting, although he was invited by Fort Worth Via Media. He was fully notified in advance of the meeting, contrary to his published statement. His assertion that an event not held in a Episcopal Church and not sponsored by the diocese must still have his approval to happen is completely ridiculous. I thought this was a free country! Although there were prayers, there was no eucharist, so technically by diocesan rules, no notification was required. The courteous thing was done, and the Bishop was invited. He did not attend, but his communicatinos rep, Suzanne Gill was present.

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  13. It isn't as though Bonnie Anderson was there to consecrate an alternative Bishop of Fort Worth to minister to the marginalized "liberals."

    Although that might be a good idea.

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  14. Mark,
    Some insights from Canada.

    Don Harvey (ret., E.Nfld&Lab.) will almost certainly be there. He was present at the consecrations in Kenya and Uganda.

    Len Whitten (ret., W.Nfld. and brother-in-law of Don Harvey) is likely.

    Abp. Terry Buckle (Yukon), and Bishops Bill Anderson (Caledonia), Tony Burton (Saskatchewan), Ron Ferris (Algoma) and Andrew Agotagaluk (Arctic) might. But all of them would need financing from a sugar daddy, because their diocesan budgets barely allow travel around the diocese. But given that the Canadian House of Bishops is continuing to function harmoniously, the sitting bishops may very well prefer not to rock the boat and thus stay home.

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  15. Mark,
    one further note on Canada.

    Don Harvey is the episcopal face of the Anglican Network in Canada
    (Essentials comprises both the Network -- parishes still in ACC -- and the Coalition -- congregations outside the ACC)

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