Anglican Communion Network

Network Moderator’s Statement on the Seizure of a Connecticut Parish

In April, a number of Bishops, myself among them, wrote to Bishop Smith expressing our “deepest grief and concern for those within Connecticut who are now under threat of deposition as clergy, removal as lay leaders, or reduction to mission status as congregations.”

The Bishop’s actions this week in seizing the church property of St. John’s, Bristol, inhibiting the Rev. Mark Hansen and attempting to replace the parish’s elected lay leadership sadly make it clear that our concerns were justified. It would appear now that Bishop Smith has no intention of showing restraint or acting pastorally toward those parishes in his diocese who believe they have no other option but to stand against his move away from mainstream Christian orthodoxy as well as his patent unwillingness to fulfill the clear mandates of the Windsor Report.

I say again what we all said in our April letter: At the March meeting of the House of Bishops we agreed as Bishops not to cross diocesan boundaries for Episcopal acts. But our agreement to this moratorium was based on other moratoria being observed as well as on the maintenance of status quo as regards actions against the conservative minority. Bishop Smith has again broken that status quo, jeopardized the future of a faithful Episcopal parish and taken steps that, if unchallenged, would end the ministry of a loyal Episcopal priest. I have no choice but to work with other communion leaders directly to challenge this action.

Further Bishop Smith has acted in an unlawful and punitive manner against a parish and priest that have appealed to the Panel of Reference for the provision of adequate pastoral care “to protect the integrity and legitimate needs of groups in serious theological dispute with their diocesan bishop.” I call on the Panel of Reference immediately to intervene and fulfill its charge from the Primates.

Finally, in Bishop Smith’s action against Fr. Hansen under Title IV, Canon 10 for an alleged “Abandonment of Communion” is wholly and patently a misuse of that canon. It is clearly inapplicable where, as here, the priest being charged has resolutely maintained his commitment to the theology and structure of the Communion. It is Bishop Smith, not Fr. Hansen, who has stepped outside the normative teachings of the Anglican Communion by participating in the consecration of the Bishop of New Hampshire, his ordination of active same-sex partnered clergy and his teachings consistent with these actions. It is Bishop Smith, not Fr. Hansen, who has aided and abetted these theological innovations that threaten our Episcopal Church’s very claim to be Anglican.

My prayers and support, as well as those of the entire Anglican Communion Network, are with the people of St. John’s and Fr. Hansen.