The Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, Bishop of Central Florida, has rescinded his personal support for the Anglican Communion Network led by Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh.
Saying that he was to remain in The Episcopal Church and in full communion with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Bishop Howe announced in his July issue in the diocesan newspaper that he has switched his allegiance to the Anglican Communion Institute.
“In my opinion, the Anglican Communion Institute has inherited the original vision of the Network: to work to promote orthodoxy within The Episcopal Church, and to maintain our relationships with the broader Anglican Communion,” Bishop Howe said.
Bishop Howe was critical of Bishop Duncan’s leadership as Network moderator, saying that Bishop Duncan is clearly committed to forming “a new ecclesiastical structure” in North America, hoping to draw together the so-called Anglican diaspora. This group includes, among others, the Anglican Mission in the Americas (Rwanda), the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (Nigeria), the Reformed Episcopal Church, which broke away from The Episcopal Church over ecumenism and ritual in the 1870s, as well as various other groups associated with African or South American jurisdictions.
Bishop Howe said he has grown increasingly disenchanted with the direction of the Network in recent years, noting that the organization is now made up of far more people who have left The Episcopal Church than those who remain inside it.
“Scores of parishes have experienced the same kinds of splits and ‘disaffiliation’ of some of their clergy and parishioners that we have experienced here,” Bishop Howe said. Last spring about a dozen parishes from the Diocese of Central Florida sought to leave The Episcopal Church, including Trinity, Vero Beach, one of the largest in the Diocese of Central Florida. Bishop Howe worked out a protocol which avoided protracted court litigation.
Peter Frank, director of communication for the Diocese of Pittsburgh and an authorized spokesman for the Network, confirmed that Bishop Howe had resigned from the Network, but said that the situation with the Diocese of Central Florida was less clear.
Delegates to the annual convention of the diocese joined the Network despite a negative recommendation from Bishop Howe, Mr. Frank said. “Last week when we first learned of Bishop Howe’s decision we sent a letter to every parish asking whether they also wished to disaffiliate from the Network. While it is still early we have only received three letters from parishes which no longer wish to be part of the network.”
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2 Comments
I thought Bp Howe's reference to the Anglican Communion Institute's work "as a resource for the furtherance of the Anglican Communion, through consultation, theological education, and international collaboration" was very helpful (see his full letter). When I look at newsletters from a conservative organization to which I belong from just a few years ago, there was a wealth of talent preaching and teaching the conservative viewpoint, without rancor and antagonism, but with enthusiasm, confidence, and careful scholarship--and organizations like that were growing. Now that the Network has becoming increasingly despairing of convincing TEC leadership of that point of view, TEC has lost many of those voices. And for those who remain but are poised to leave, distrust and fear are what they inspire rather than interest and respectful listening.
Ah, me! The chattering classes will use the terms 'conservative' and 'liberal', because they know no better but must people of faith follow suit? Now, Conservative is a fine political term with a long history (v. Russell Kirk, __The Conservative Mind__,) but isn't 'orthodox and 'heterodox' ( to be kind, and avoid setting off the smoke alarms) what we are talking about in this nightmare?