The Episcopal Church in Crisis - Canon Carey

Posted for Canon Carey


The Episcopal Church has been receiving a lot of publicity lately, and most of it is depressing!

Parts (not all) of The Anglican Communion are fussing over the American Church’s decision to consecrate Gene Robinson Bishop of New Hampshire- - a man living in a committed relationship with another man!

Others are angry that we have a Presiding Bishop who is a woman.

In all this, I hear that old Episcopal theme: “But we have never done it that way before.”

It appears that if The Episcopal Church, USA, wants to continue as part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, it had better shape up, accept a narrower interpretation of Scripture, and follow dictates of conservative Anglican Churches outside the United States.

As I see it, this problem is more than the confirmation of a “gay” bishop (who, by the way doing very well in his diocese) - - nor is it that a woman was elected Presiding Bishop. The problem has its center in the question of authority.

To better understand the problem, we have to consider how the Episcopal Church in the United States broke from the rigidity of the Church of England in the 19th Century, rejecting an authoritarian model of governance which is still basic to many Anglican Churches in the parts of the world that came into being through missionary activity and the goals of the British Empire.

What we know as The Anglican Communion is a recent development in terms of Church history - - having come into being during the latter years of the 19th Century through an agreement between The Church of England and The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Except for the Episcopal Church of Scotland, other Anglican churches were tied to the colonial British Empire and were considered part of the state Church of England whose monarch is the Church’s protector. Today, many of these churches conti ue to maintain an authoritarian structure; the Episcopal Church in the USA, however, is patterned after the model of the United States Government since many framers of the constitution were also involved in determining the structure of the American Episcopal Church apart that of the Church of England in the Colonies.

It is my contention that many of today’s problems result from questions of authority. The American Episcopal Church has an elected “president” (Presiding Bishop) rather than an appointed archbishop, and is represented by two elected bodies corresponding to the Senate and the House of Representatives. Episcopal bishops, including the Presiding Bishop, do not rule. Their role is limited. Authority lies in the canons of the Church and decisions made by a General Convention representing each separate diocese. Therefore, matters affecting the life of the Church, including the election of bishops, must be debated and approved by both houses. The Presiding Bishop is not empowered to make arbitrary decisions; rather, he or she is directed to see to it that the will of the Convention is carried out.

Most Episcopalians in the United States want to maintain their freedom to decide issues through debate and vote. This has been essential to our way of life since 1789 - - long before the Anglican Communion was envisioned.

Should the Episcopal Church, USA, forsake its system of government and become less democratic and more authoritarian, or should it maintain its freedom to decide prayerfully what God intends for its future?

Sadly, there are those who are willing forego a democratic model of discernment for one that is more authoritarian. Though we may draw apart, may we continue to pray for one another in the light of Christ’ prayer “that all may be one” for such was the intent of what the Anglican Communion was created to bring into being.

The Rev’d Canon Grant S. Carey
Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento CA
February 22, 2007