You are here
DIOCESE OF TENNESSEE: Episcopal Church in full battle
By Craig Boerner
Nashville City Newspaper
July, 1, 2005
A battle is raging in Middle Tennessee Episcopal churches that most probably will reshape the denomination.
On the one side are moderate and liberal Episcopalians who want to keep the church as they view it - an all inclusive tent under which anyone may worship.
On the other side are more conservative Episcopalians who believe the church has strayed from its core beliefs and cite as the most recent example the ordination of an openly gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire.
While the battle rages elsewhere across the country, the weapon of choice in Middle Tennessee is the election of the next bishop early next year - to be voted on by delegates elected to January's 174th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Tennessee.
A group of moderate/liberals called the Continuing Episcopalians of Tennessee (CET) is recruiting likeminded individuals to be elected as voting delegates before the convention.
Those who are more aligned with a conservative group called the Anglican Communion Network are also lining up potential delegates.
"They've got the delegate votes but they are not really representing the people," said Continuing Episcopalians spokesperson Susan Allen Huggins "The Network folks have been very strategic about getting into these smaller parishes.
"Part of our goal is to elect a bishop coadjutor who only wants to stay in the Episcopal Church and has no desire to go with this Anglican Network. And it all goes back to getting delegates elected who will do that."
George Langstaff, a 16-year member of St. George's Episcopal Church vestry, said his church surveyed its members and 72 percent indicated a strong opposition to the direction in which the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) leadership is moving.
"I think the rift in the Episcopal Church today stems from the efforts of some of ECUSA's leaders to take the church in a secular direction and away from the long-term traditional faith of the Anglican Communion," Langstaff said.
"And many who have been long-term members of the church strongly disagree with this direction. We feel strongly that it is in the best interests of the Episcopal Church to return to its traditional roots and we hope that the leadership of the Diocese of Tennessee will continue to be in the hands of a strong, traditional bishop."
Conservative Episcopalians have already shown their muscle by drastically cutting money sent by local dioceses to ECUSA.
Traditionally, churches give to the dioceses and the dioceses forward a share on to the national church.
At last year's convention, delegates voted to allow individual churches to withhold funding from the national church.
The Diocese of Tennessee, located in Middle Tennessee, includes 47 congregations with a total of 12,000 members. Giving to the national body from the diocese was slashed from $96,000 in 2004 to $46,000 in 2005.
"A lot of these churches might give a fourth of what they are supposed to be giving to the dioceses and they are saying don't give any to the national church," Huggins said.
Another issue is whether the ECUSA will get invited to the Lambuth Conference, a worldwide gathering of the Anglican Communion of which the ECUSA is part. To be "disinvited" would signal a profound split.
"I would say the current status is that ECUSA representatives, including the presiding bishop and anybody else that he would choose, are currently disinvited to any consultative group," said St. George's member Dr. Paul Teschan. "Given everything staying on the present track, without a major change, the ECUSA is unlikely to be invited to the Lambuth Conference."
END
