Six rectors in the Diocese of Connecticut, under threat of an April 15 deadline to submit to the Bishop of Connecticut’s plan for Delegated Pastoral Oversight (DEPO) or be dismissed from the ministry of the Episcopal Church, have appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Rev. Mark H. Hansen, of St. John’s, Bristol; the Rev. Donald L. Helmandollar, Trinity, Bristol; the Rev. Christopher P. Leighton of St. Paul’s, Darien; the Rev. Gilbert V. Wilkes of Christ and the Epiphany, East Haven; the Rev. Ronald S. Gauss of Bishop Seabury Church, Groton, and the Rev. Allyn B. Benedict of Christ Church, Watertown, received letters dated March 29 from the Rt. Rev. Andrew S. Smith, Bishop of Connecticut, informing them that the standing committee, “having received and considered reports that I have submitted to them, has determined in accordance with Title IV, Canon 10 of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, that you have abandoned the communion of this Church.”

The six are at odds with Bishop Smith over his support for the normalization of homosexuality within the Episcopal Church and had requested DEPO. Bishop Smith, however, will not grant alternative oversight until the six congregations pay their voluntary parochial assessments at a level he deems suitable [TLC, Feb 13].

In a letter to his Darien congregation dated March 31, Fr. Leighton said he was not surprised by the decision to impose canonical sanctions. The six have disputed the notion that refusal to accept DEPO on Bishop Smith’s terms is an “abandonment of communion,” a punishment that until recent years had been meted out to clergy who were received by Rome.

Fr. Leighton also said that the six had written to the Archbishop of Canterbury seeking protection from Bishop Smith through the primates’ “Panel of Reference.” In their Feb. 24 communiqué the primates asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to set up a “Panel of Reference” to oversee disputes between conservative clergy and their bishops in the United States and Canada, who were divided over issues of doctrine and human sexuality.

At a rally held April 2 in Woodbridge, Va., the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh, told supporters of the Anglican Communion Network the plight of the six Connecticut clergy was prima facie evidence of the persecution of orthodox minorities by progressive bishops.

A spokesman for the diocese told THE LIVING CHURCH that Bishop Smith had acted on the recommendation of the standing committee to initiate proceedings against the clergy. The standing committee met in early March, shortly after the primates asked for forbearance on these matters. In a letter to the six, dated March 31, Bishop Smith offered little hope to the recusants that he would entertain the “Panel of Reference,” writing, “the matters before us can be addressed only within the polity of the Episcopal Church.”

A spokesman for the Archbishop of Canterbury told TLC on April 4 that the archbishop was unaware of the Connecticut situation. Speaking through the Anglican Communion Press Office, the deputy secretary general of the Anglican Consultative Council, Canon Gregory Cameron, said the Archbishop of Canterbury was “taking advice” on creating the panel and would act “shortly.”