"Being part of the communion of the church means being in communion with all sorts of people who we don't always agree with. Relationship is always better than hostility," Morgan told VOL in an e-mail.

A layman in the parish told VOL that the invitation was an "appalling act of institutional ignorance."

A priest critical of Morgan's answer that "fellowship is always better than hostility" asked, really? Does fellowship always equal "full communion in the life of the church" because the only other option is abject hatred?

Another priest asked, "What kind of ecclesiology is that? As if "disagreement" benignly ranges from the color of the carpets to whether or not Jesus was raised from the dead? Are there limits to disagreement, as far as Morgan is concerned? I wonder how the Apostle Paul would evaluate Morgan's pious platitudinous position with regard to the Galatian Judaizers, or St. John to the Gnostics at Ephesus? It would seem fellowship was not "always better" than hostility in those cases."

Also invited was the Rt. Rev. Johannes Angela, Bishop of the Diocese of Bondo, in southwest Kenya. The Kenyan Province is led by evangelical Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, a leading voice in the Anglican realignment and chairman of GAFCON and a supporter of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). The Bishop of Bondo was present at GAFCON II.

GAFCON has declared itself to be out of communion with TEC, to be in communion with the ACNA, to have commissioned the birth of the ACNA, and is a proponent of the Jerusalem Declaration specifically upholding Scripture to be final in all matters of faith and practice. They have steadfastly refused to recognize the ministries of those churches who have denied the Gospel.

Bishop Angela was invited by Fr. Morgan who had taught a couple of clergy conferences in Bishop Johannes' diocese. Angela made an appeal for funds for his diocese during the service.

On hearing the news, another clergyman told VOL that he was not surprised that Good Sam was so careless in inviting Griswold. "They are still in TEC, and this is the inevitable outcome of that unholy alliance. Bad as the apparent ignorance of the clergy on Griswold's credentials is, I am far more concerned about the presence of a GAFCON province bishop at the whole affair, who not only received Communion from Griswold's hand but also co-confirmed all six (not four) candidates with him."

Bishop Angela is also associated with an organization in Kenya which advocates the full inclusion of women in all orders of ministry and civic life (the Ekklesia Foundation for Gender Education). He is also a member of the Consultation of Anglican Bishops in Dialogue (a dialogue which proceeds by ignoring all demands for repentance from TEC in all the official Communion documents on the issues at question to date, with no response from TEC.)

One is forced to ask who is honoring the Anglican Communion now?

GAFCON has been resolute in its demand that TEC repent as the only standard for restored communion with TEC. TEC has done nothing of the sort and Griswold has done nothing of the sort. The Kenyan bishop's flippant presence at the Church of the Good Samaritan alongside Griswold undermines GAFCON and undermines the very basis of global Christian fellowship.

VOL believes it is a point of grave concern that he was present at all, let alone participating in the service.

Over the years VOL has reported allegations of Griswold's ambiguous sexual past in Paris, and more recently, with allegations about the former Presiding Bishop's activities in New York City.

The invitation by the evangelical parish indicates a degree of ecclesiastical blindness only matched by Anglo Catholic parishes that deliberately hire known homosexuals to occupy their pulpits, the most recent case being St. Paul's K Street in Washington DC.

END