Episcopal Press and News
CONNECTICUT: Smith permits Pittsburgh assistant bishop to conduct ordination
Episcopal News Service. April 23, 2007 [042307-01]
Matthew Davies
Connecticut Bishop Andrew Smith has granted permission for Pittsburgh Assistant Bishop Henry Scriven to visit his diocese May 12 to ordain the Rev. Bill Hesse at Bishop Seabury Church in Groton, one of six parishes that has been in disagreement with Smith and refuses to accept his leadership.
In an April 20 letter to the clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, Smith confirmed that the ordination will be celebrated with his permission and that he intends to participate and share in the ordaining, "as I have in two other recent Connecticut ordinations by a visiting bishop."
Bishop Seabury Church is one of the six parishes whose rectors and vestry members filed charges against Smith alleging violations of canons as outlined in portions of Title IV. The charges stemmed from the rectors' disagreement with Smith's decision to support the 2003 consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, and their refusal to accept Smith's attempts at reconciliation including delegation of another bishop to them, according to a diocesan news release.
The Episcopal Church's Title IV Review Committee decided April 13 to drop all charges brought against Smith.
In his April 20 letter, Smith acknowledged that on June 3 he will make a canonical Episcopal visitation to Bishop Seabury Church, whose rector is the Rev. Ron Gauss, and will preside and preach at the regular services of the parish that morning.
To prepare for this event and the May 12 ordination, Smith noted that he will hold a meeting April 24 with members of the parish vestry and that all members of Bishop Seabury Church have been invited to an open meeting with him on May 2. "Our time together will include worship and discussion," he said, modeled on the two conversations I have had with the members of the Church of Christ and the Epiphany, East Haven," another of the six parishes that have been in dispute with Smith.
Plans for the ordination, Smith said, "had come together in an atmosphere of hope and respect."
Most, but not all, of the 174 congregations in the diocese, which comprises the entire state, agree with Smith's decision regarding Robinson and the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life and ministry of the church, according to a diocesan news release.
"My desire has always been to bring reconciliation with the clergy and laity who sought to dissociate themselves from the oversight of their bishop and the mission and life of the Diocese of Connecticut," Smith said. "I will never abandon that desire and hope."