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ATLANTA: ACIC Sees Opportunities in Light of Robinson Ordination
By Bill Osinski
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
9/23/04
A conservative Anglican splinter group sees opportunities for growth in the current turmoil besetting the mainline Episcopal denomination.
Six bishops of the Anglican Church International Communion, a confederation of slightly less than 100 churches on four continents, began their third annual synod Thursday in Norcross.
"Maybe this synod will be the catalyst for something new that comes out of the ruins of the Episcopal Church," said Bishop Chopin Cusachs of the Louisiana-based American Anglican Convocation.
The ACIC has existed for more than three decades. Its members follow the 1928 version of the Book of Common Prayer.
Generally, the members are former Episcopalians, who have opposed the liberalization of mainline church teachings in areas such as abortion rights, ordination of women and same-sex marriages.
However, the final break for many of these clerics was the controversy last year over the Episcopalians' ordination of an openly gay man, Bishop Gene Robinson.
"I'm from the wonderful land down under — and I married a woman," said ACIC Bishop Ernest Kelly of Australia, during introductions at the meeting Thursday.
Traditionalist clergy who have broken with the mother church have had to deal with temporary setbacks, like the loss of income and housing previously supplied by the church.
"The continuing church [Kelly's term for traditional churches like the ACIC] is not for the faint-hearted," Kelly said. "You will get called frauds, traitors and renegades."
However, Bishop Vincent Thakore, the presiding bishop of the synod and the pastor of St. James Anglican Church in Sandy Springs, said the conservative churches are becoming more attractive to some Episcopalians in the wake of the recent controversies.
"Now that this big thing [the Robinson controversy] has happened, there will be huge repercussions," said Thakore, who lives in Lilburn. Membership in ACIC churches has grown slowly but steadily in recent years, he added.
However, the Rev. Louis Schueddig, president of the Episcopal Media Center in Atlanta, said the recent controversies have not resulted in any form of mass exodus from the Episcopal Church.
In a recent national survey of Episcopal clerics and lay leaders conducted by the Episcopal Church Foundation, nearly two-thirds of the respondents reported the controversies had "little or no impact" on their parishes, he said.
"For good or ill, we're very localized," Schueddig said, adding many churches have reported attendance increases in recent months.
Nevertheless, by the time their synod ends Saturday, the ACIC bishops said they expect to pass resolutions of incorporation and resolutions opposing ordination of women and same-sex marriages.
