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VIRGINIA: South Riding priest removed by Bishop Lee
Loudon Independent
December 28, 2005
A priest who pulled his South Riding church out of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in November has been removed from the priesthood, according to Episcopal Bishop Peter Lee.
In November Reverend Phil Ashey announced that his South Riding congregation was leaving the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and affiliating itself with an Anglican diocese in Uganda. The change was made in protest of the 2003 consecration in New Hampshire of V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal church. The South Riding Church joined approximately one dozen Episcopalian congregations in the U.S. which have switched to the Anglican Province of Uganda.
In a news release issued Dec. 20 , Lee stated that Ashey had renounced his priesthood. Ashey has denied the renunciation, writing in a letter to Lee the that while he had resigned from his position with the Diocese of Virginia, he had not renounced the priesthood.
According to Lee, Ashey removed himself from the priesthood last month when he wrote to church leaders that he was resigning his position as missioner, quitting the Episcopal Church and placing himself under the authority of a Ugandan Bishop. In the same letter Ashey wrote that all the assets of the South Riding Church are the property of the Dioceses of Virginia, Lee said. Clerical members of a Diocese of Virginia committee later voted to officially remove Ashey from the priesthood based on Lee's recommendation.
"I take no pleasure in this action," Lee stated. "By his letter and statements, however, Phil has stated his clear desire no longer to be part of the Episcopal Church, and the path, then, is clear. Phil is no longer a priest of the Episcopal Church."
According to Ashey, he refused to sign a letter of renunciation during during a meeting with Church officials.
"My resignation is not a renunciation," Ashey said Tuesday. "Bishop Lee is misusing the plain language of Canon III.13. There is only one Holy Order to which a Priest is ordained, and it is neither American nor Ugandan. I have not renounced the Holy Orders conferred upon me at ordination. I have not renounced the spiritual gifts and authority that were conferred upon me in ordination as a minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I have not renounced the Ordained Ministry. In fact, I have reaffirmed my Orders and calling to Ordained Ministry in all of my communications. I have not signed the written declaration mandated by Canon III.13."
Diocese of Virginia officials have not yet decided how to restart the South Riding Church, Lee stated. The South Riding Church has approximatley 150 members. Ashey and many members of the congregation still gather, calling their church the South Riding Anglican Church.
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