Episcopal Split

Ever since the Episcopal Church's General Convention voted in favor of women priests and a modernized Prayer Book in 1976, angry U.S. traditionalists have been laying plans for a breakaway. All efforts at Episcopal peacemaking proved unavailing, and now the schism is a fact.

The break became final when four new bishops were consecrated in Denver's Augustana Lutheran Church on Jan. 28 to lead the self-styled "Anglican Church of North America." Staying in the Episcopal Church, said one of the four later, "is like giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a corpse." The fiery consecration sermon by the Rev. George Rutler of Rosemont, Pa., compared the new bishops to Moses for leading their people out of the Episcopal Egypt. After a service of nearly three hours, the solemn congregation burst into applause as the resplendently robed and mitered clergymen were declared to be bishops.

But are they? Since the Council of Aries in 314, tradition has called for three existing bishops to perform new consecrations. Only two appeared in Denver: Albert A. Chambers, retired Episcopal bishop of Springfield, Ill., and Bishop Francisco J. Pagtakhan of the Philippine Independent Church, which is furious with its U.S. cousins for ordaining women priests. Without the customary three, the consecrations are under a cloud. There have been exceptions, but only in emergencies. Augustine, who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597, was told by the Pope to consecrate bishops by himself because there were no others to assist him in England.

No group takes such ancient tradition more seriously than the Episcopal schismatics, and they tried desperately to enlist a third consecrator. One retired bishop agreed to participate, then backed out last year for health reasons. The schismatics were counting on Bishop Clarence Haden of Sacramento, a crusty conservative who celebrated Communion at their first national rally in St. Louis last September, but he decided to do nothing. At the St. Louis rally Charles Boynton, retired assistant bishop of New York City, privately pledged to do the honors but withdrew under doctor's orders just two weeks before the Denver ceremony.

That left Anglican Bishop Mark Pae of Taejon, South Korea, a foe of women priests, who says that he agreed to consecrate the new bishops last November without realizing that a full-fledged schism was involved. On Jan. 16 he got an urgent telegram from F. Donald Coggan, the Archbishop of Canterbury. When he phoned Coggan, says Pae, the Archbishop "did not put any pressure on me" but "explained the gravity of the matter." The next day one of the bishops-to-be, C. Dale Doren of Pittsburgh, arrived in Taejon and spent a fruitless week trying to get Pae to take part. "I went through a lot of agonizing soul searching, but I just could not betray my church," Pae says. In Denver, Doren released a letter from Pae giving his "consent" to Doren's consecration and expressing his opinion that the new church should be in communion with Canterbury. But last week Pae denied writing such a document.

If the four bishops arrive uninvited when the world's Anglican bishops gather in England this July for their decennial Lambeth Conference, there may be a row. In the U.S., Bishop Chambers could face a trial by a court of Episcopal bishops for abetting the schism.

The prospects of the Anglican Church of North America are difficult to gauge. A faction in one of the new dioceses has muddied things by opposing the Denver consecration service and calling for reunion with Rome. The church has only about 100 parishes and 10,000 members, v. 2.9 million for the Episcopal Church. But the rebels predict quick growth now that bishops are in place and have set a goal of 100,000 members by midyear. Says Robert S. Morse of Oakland, Calif, one of the new bishops: "We will, in 50 years, be the only Episcopal Church in the United States."

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