Acting on a request from the Primate of the Anglican Province of Uganda, the Rt. Rev. William J. Cox, retired assisting Bishop of Oklahoma, performed sacramental episcopal acts on two occasions within the past month at Christ Church, Overland Park, Kan. When contacted by The Living Church Bishop Cox reluctantly confirmed that he ordained two priests and a deacon on June 29 and on July 24 he returned to lead a service of confirmation.

“I’m not a fighter,” Bishop Cox said. “I don’t like to see the Church tearing itself apart in conflict, but I felt this was the right thing to do. I did it for the sake of conscience.”

In April Christ Church agreed to pay the Diocese of Kansas $1 million over the next 10 years as part of a separation agreement which allowed the congregation to retain its property, and for the clergy and parish to be relieved of canonical obligations to the Episcopal Church. Left unresolved in the separation agreement was whether the parish would later affiliate with another province of the Anglican Communion. The Diocese of Kansas expressed opposition to attempts by the parish, but the two sides could not come to agreement.

“We in the Church of Uganda have pledged ourselves to continue to respond to such cries for help until a branch of the Anglican Communion with whom we are in communion is established in North America,” wrote the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, Primate of Uganda, in a June 22 letter asking Bishop Cox to perform the ordinations and confirmations on behalf of the Church of Uganda. “This is completely consonant with the 2005 primates’ communiqué in which we pledged to neither ‘encourage nor initiate’ such relationships.”

Bishop Cox, who previously served as Bishop Suffragan of Maryland from 1972 to 1980, said he did not believe he had violated any canons of the Episcopal Church in performing sacramental ministries for the two services. He said he has participated in ecumenical services throughout his ordained ministry, citing his participation in a service in celebration of the centennial anniversary of the Diocese of Calgary in Anglican Church of Canada a number of years ago as an example.

“The Bishop of Calgary invited me,” he said. “I did not ask anyone’s permission before going to Canada. This is not a question of geography, but of jurisdiction. I am not violating diocesan boundaries, because the congregation has left the Episcopal Church. The Archbishop of Uganda asked me to do this on his behalf. I did not know the Episcopal Church had become so narrow.”

To find more news, feature articles, and commentary not available online, we invite you to subscribe to The Living Church magazine. To learn more, click here.