ECUSA Bishops Widening Rift, Anglican Theologian Says
by Jim Brown
April 2, 2004
(AgapePress) - A conservative Anglican theologian says the Episcopal Church USA's House of Bishops could have helped heal the rift in the denomination, but instead has chosen to make things considerably worse.
The Episcopal leaders recently approved an oversight plan designed to minister to conservative congregations that reject the leadership of their bishops for supporting the consecration of openly homosexual bishop Vicki Gene Robinson. However, critics of the plan such as Dr. Kendall Harmon of the American Anglican Council believe the bishops have missed an opportunity to unite the denomination.
Harmon considers the oversight plan a radically bishop-centered strategy. "The whole preoccupation of the document is with the rights and authority of the bishops and not the concerns and the needs of the people in the parishes, who completely disagree with the decision and believe it is a decision that has betrayed the gospel," he says.
Moreover, Harmon feels the plan will never work because it is too cumbersome and only takes the presiding bishop's point of view into consideration. He believes the oversight plan is inadequate because conservatives who opposed the denomination's consecration of Robinson were not even consulted. And Harmon says the House of Bishops appear not only to have an elitist mindset that does not value the authority of scripture, but they also show no regard for other church leaders and their constituencies.
"This is a group of leaders who have shown disregard for the people being hurt and have not enabled their voices to be part of the process. It's amazing to me that you could set up a plan like this without talking to the leadership in a number of parishes where people are really struggling," he says.
According to Harmon, what the Episcopal leaders have done is a lot like putting together a business plan during a labor struggle without ever contacting or taking seriously the concerns of the workers.