“I pray for those newly confirmed and for the congregations from which they were presented. I also pray for the retiring Bishop of Ohio and for the Bishop-elect that they might respond with grace to the canonical irregularities with which they now find themselves confronted,” said Bishop Duncan.

“The joint confirmation service, organized by Episcopalians from five congregations and the members of one Anglican fellowship, was brought about by the failure of the Episcopal Church to provide Adequate Episcopal Oversight for orthodox minorities in revisionist dioceses,” added Duncan.

According to Duncan, the Anglican Communion Network has rejected as unworkable the Presiding Bishop’s plan for Supplemental Pastoral Care as incompatible with the intent of the Primate’s October 16, 2003 statement. The statement called on the Episcopal Church “to make adequate provision for episcopal oversight of dissenting minorities within their own area of pastoral care in consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury on behalf of the Primates.”

“The current plan just doesn’t do that,” said Duncan.

Duncan hopes that he and the other bishops who will be representing the Anglican Communion Network at the March 19-24, 2004 House of Bishops meeting will be able to help the national Episcopal Church defuse the current crisis. “We’ll be working to find a realistic way forward,” he said, “one that gives orthodox Episcopalians a way to stay within our church.”

The Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, commonly known as the Anglican Communion Network, represents Episcopalians of 12 dioceses and six regional convocations as well as thousands of individual Episcopalians from all over the United States committed to being a biblically-driven mission movement within the Episcopal Church. Primates, representing more than two-thirds of the world’s 60 million active Anglicans, have voiced public support for the Network.