Members of the new Church of Christ the King held their first service June 6 in rented chapel space at the Levere Memorial Temple, 1856 Sheridan Road, spokesman Wes Schneider said last week. They hold both high and low rite services at 9 a.m. each Sunday and plan to expand the service schedule when the fledgling congregation's two rectors are able to do so, he said.

Schneider, a Kenilworth resident who once attended the Church of the Holy Comforter, is one of the founders of Christ the King. He said Friday that he and a small number of Kenilworth congregation members began last fall, after Robinson's consecration, to discuss the possibility of forming "an orthodox classic Anglican parish" in the Chicago area.

"I believe a number of our parishioners believed that the Episcopal Church and its teachers have become much more liberalized than what we were taught," Schneider said. The new church is keeping to faith "as found in the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer and the 39 Articles of Faith, and that which is espoused in the Nicene Creed," he said. Robinson's consecration was inconsistent with those, he said.

Prospective congregation members heard about the new church through word of mouth and now hail from as far south as Chicago, as far west as Arlington Heights and as far north as Lake Zurich. Members include non-Episcopalians, such as Lutherans concerned about their own church's increasingly liberal policies, and Roman Catholics who are concerned about issues in that church, Schneider said.

The chapel is at Sheridan Road and Chicago Avenue in the building commonly known as Sigma Alpha Epsilon men's fraternity headquarters. Congregation organizers heard last fall that it might be available and negotiated with the fraternity to rent it.

The congregation's acting rector is Rev. Joseph Murphy, an ordained Anglican and Episcopal priest from Virginia. It was also have another minister when the Rev. Robert Barasa returns from a trip to Kenya. Barasa will provide Saturday night services, Schneider said.

The group is now establishing a Sunday school curriculum and intends to have a fall fellowship dinner in October, inviting prospective members. It also plans to reach out to young people through the Saturday services.

It has organized itself as a not-for-profit group and those who wish to support Christ the King can write checks to the attention of the treasurer of the church, at 1856 Sheridan Road in Evanston, Schneider said. Founders of Christ the King not only oppose the consecration of Robinson, but believe the American church is moving "further away from scripture and further and further towards reason, and interpretation and change and revisionism," Schneider said.

Schneider said the decision to leave his Kenilworth congregation was personally difficult "because I'm a cradle Episcopalian" confirmed by the 9th bishop of Chicago, James Winchester Montgomery and involved in his former parish for seven years. A spokesman for the Chicago Episcopal Diocese said the formation of the church was disappointing to Bishop William Persell, head of the diocese.

"It's distressing that people feel they have to leave their parish. The bishop is firmly behind the idea that we can grow in mutual fellowship," said David Skidmore, communications director for the diocese. "He would prefer people to work together even though they disagree, and to have mutual respect, to work through disagreements."

Schneider said he and others who shared his belief in the Kenilworth congregation tried to bridge the differences between them and the rest of the congregation but were unable to do so.

Schneider said Christ the King has been approached by representatives of the Anglican Communion Network to become an affiliate. That group comprises a conservative group of American Episcopal dioceses and parishes. Schneider said Christ the King members have not yet decided whether to affiliate with the ACN.

"Our desire is not to be divisive," Schneider said. "It's to be positive, to say that the message we bring forward is that the faith in its historic teachings is being maintained at the Church of Christ the King."

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