ECUSA litigation scorecard

The influential American Anglican attorney, A.S. Haley, on Sunday published his annual survey of ECUSA property litigation. He counts 83 cases since 2000 where ECUSA (and/or its dioceses) sued others.

He also lists 8 where ECUSA was the defendant, but in 7 of the 8, ECUSA or the diocese “ triggered the filing of a lawsuit by moving to take control of the individual church's assets”. The exception was the Pawley’s Island (S.C.) parish (successfully) suing to keep its property as part of its plan to join AMiA.

Of the 83 suits, 33.7% (28) involve California parishes. The next largest batch of litigation is the 23 lawsuits in Virginia, including the historic The Falls Church and Truro Church in suburban DC.

Nineteen of the California suits (#11-29) involve the Diocese of San Joaquin (#11) or 9 of its parishes, sued twice (#12-29). All are tied to the lawsuit against the diocese, currently (for a second time) at the state court of appeals.

The other nine lawsuits:

• St. John's (Fallbrook) #2,#5
• St. Luke's (La Crescenta) #9
• All Saints (Long Beach) #7
• St. James (Newport Beach) #6
• St. David's (North Hollywood) #8
• St. Anne's (Oceanside) #3
• St. John's (Petaluma) #10
• Holy Trinity (San Diego) #4

According to Haley, three LA-area cases (Newport Beach, North Hollywood, Long Beach) are currently on appeal, while in a fourth (La Crescenta) the Anglican parish decided not to appeal a loss. The Anglican parishes also lost (or stopped appealing) the remaining five lawsuits.

I've attended services at six of the California parishes (in their original, pre-litigation locations), and two post-litigation.

Compared to parishes where (thus far) the dioceses have left with their structure and parishes intact, the ECUSA legal tactics have succeeded in increasing the cost of leaving — deterring other parishes from doing what they know would be theologically preferable. As Haley notes, in several cases ECUSA (or its diocese) has abandoned the parish because there were not enough remaining congregants to support a parish.

Christian penitence: Ash Wednesday

Next to Advent, Lent is my favorite season of the year. We are anticipating the most important event of the church calendar, and so Lent provides an opportunity to contemplate and prepare for that event over the next 46 days (including six Sundays).

Ash Wednesday itself is also very special. Since I returned to the faith as an adult, it’s the only time that I religiously (!) attend church midweek during the year. To me, Ash Wednesday sets the tone

Every year I also have the scramble of juggling work, commuting and spending an hour in church on Ash Wednesday. Last year, I had meetings both at breakfast and lunch, so I had to go after work.

And then there's the question of the ashes. At a previous job, I was a coward about wearing ashes to work — how people would react, having to explain, possible stigmatizing as a crazy Christian. Non-Christians (and most Protestants) did (and do) ask “what’s the smudge” as I walk through the day. (At my current job, there are two Catholics who regularly do Ash Wednesday so I don’t feel so alone.)

Ash Wednesday and Lent have historically been associated with fasting. This morning I've already failed on the fasting — in part due to forgetfulness, in part because I don’t want to fight the freeways when there’s a possibility of fainting (unlikely in the morning, a serious issue at the end of an all-day fast).

Searching for Ashes

Given my work and travel schedule, many years I’m searching for a parish to attend with a compatible schedule. In downtown London, these would be CoE, but here in California, Continuing Anglicans are few and far between.

Who might have such service?

1. Any 28 BCP parish
2. Many ACNA parishes
3. TEC parishes
4. LCMS Lutherans
5. Other Lutherans
6. Presbyterian?
7. University Chaplaincy
8. Catholic

I normally do #1, #2 or #4, but have also done #7 or #8 when that was all that worked. Since the RCC practices closed communion, I try to respect their policies and avoid that option whenever possible.

Today I went to an Anglican Catholic Church, one of the four founding provinces from the Affirmation of St. Louis that kicked off the Continuing Anglican movement. It reminded me of an English village church, with a small sanctuary (<100 seats in the pews) and a young rector and his wife.

It was a wonderfully moving procedure. After many months of ACNA worship in a strip mall, it was great to hear the classic liturgy again. Most of all, it was great to be kneeling again: it’s hard to imagine the Lord’s Prayer (let alone the General Confession or the Prayer of Humble Access) without kneeling, particularly during Lent.

In general, any parish that bothers to hold Ash Wednesday services tends to convey the theology correctly. For me, the culmination is to hear the phrase “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (which is not in the 1928 BCP but is in the 1979 prayer book). Still, the Lutherans — with Luther’s fixation on us as “poor miserable sinners” — tend to be particularly evocative this time of year.

Ash Wednesday Music

One thing I’ve always had mixed feelings on is music at Ash Wednesday (and Good Friday). During my LCMS days, the choir showed up for Ash Wednesday and we all sang a hymn or two. I don’t doubt that there are pieces that could be programmed, such as excerpts from masses during the golden era of sacred music (roughly from Palestrina to Brahms)

However, to me Ash Wednesday is a penitent, somber event and so a simpler, less ornate (and less celebratory tone) seem most appropriate. In fact, if the normal Sunday service is a nicely done high mass, the contrast of the spoken service (IMHO) emphasizes the somber and penitential nature.

For a contrary perspective, I listened to this year’s Ash Wednesday service from St. John’s College, Cambridge, as part of the BBC’s semiweekly Choral Evensong broadcast. It was great to hear the service begun with the full General Confession (not the Confession Lite begun with the 79 prayer book). And the plainchant for the service music does link the service to the weekly liturgy.

California's newest Bishop

On Sunday night, Archbishop Foley Beach and others from the Anglican Church in North America consecrated its newest bishop in Newport Beach, California. The Rt. Rev. M. Keith Andrews (M. Div, D. Min) was consecrated the second bishop for the Diocese of Western Anglicans.

The Service

Rt. Rev. Keith Andrews

The service was held at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, one of 175 parishes of the ECO Presbyterian movement that broke away from the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA). (Unlike the ACNA parishes, they got to keep their buildings). It was the same place where the diocese’s first bishop, Rt. Rev. Bill Thompson, was consecrated on October 31, 2009.

As recorded by Anglican TV, the service was clocked at 194 minutes from start to finish (excluding music before and after the service).

By my estimate there were about 600-700 people in the pews — of those 60+ deacons and priests — with another 60 attending in the altar party, including a 6-piece praise band and a 17-member choir that looked lost in the spacious choir benches. As with the most recent diocesan convention, the service emphasized praise music over hymns or other traditional liturgy.

The service combined the Ordinal — published in 2011 and approved by the ACNA bishops in 2013 — with the ACNA “trial use” Communion service that was launched in time for Advent 2013. The event was organized by Rev. Richard Crocker and Rev. Cathie Young — respectively the rector and associate rector of nearby St. James’ Anglican.

The Election

The diocese’ first bishop, Rt. Rev. Thompson was elected in June 2009 and resigned effective June 30, 2014. Bp. Thompson announced his resignation in August 2013 after two falls and a concussion. (In Feb. 2014, he revealed that he had since been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and the diocese’s Executive Committee would assist in the governance.)

In late 2013, the Executive Committee appointed a 12-member nominating committee to find qualified candidates. The March 2014 diocesan newsletter explained the process:

According to our Canons, the Bishop must be drawn from male Rectors in the Diocese who have at least five years’ experience, are at least 35 year old, and are not divorced and remarried. This gave us a potential pool of twenty candidates. They were each contacted, and seven agreed to put their name forward.
…
On February 8th, the four candidates still in the discernment process were announced to the full diocesan House of Delegates at its annual meeting. The candidates still in the process are:

Fr. Keith Andrews, Living Faith, Tempe, AZ
Fr. Russell Martin, Christ the King, San Diego, CA
Fr. Larry Bausch, Holy Trinity, San Diego, CA
Fr. Jose Poch, St. David’s, Burbank, CA

On March 22, the committee nominated Andrews and Martin, dropping Bausch (the most Anglo-Catholic candidate) and Poche (who was also a candidate in 2009).

In May 2014, the diocesan House of Delegates voted to nominate Andrews in hopes that the ACNA College of Bishops would elect the 2nd bishop at their June meeting. Instead, Rev. Andrews was elected bishop at their October meeting.

Bp. Thompson was directly elected by the diocese, and the 2014 requirement for ACNA approval was somewhat controversial. This shift in policy caused confusion during the ceremony, in which the text of the program was not what was spoken during the presentation of the bishop-elect (emphasis added):

The Diocesan President says
I certify that the Reverend Doctor M. Keith Andrews was duly elected nominated Bishop of the Diocese of the Western Anglicans by the clergy and lay members of the House of Delegates of the Diocese on May 10, 2014, as attested to by the minutes of the House of Delegates.

The Dean of Provincial Affairs says
I certify that the Reverend Doctor M. Keith Andrews was duly confirmed elected as Bishop of the Diocese of the Western Anglicans by the College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America on October 10,2014, as attested to by the minutes of the College.

The Consecration
I counted 12 bishops in the altar party (not including the archbishop and the bishop-elect). Note all the bishops listed in the program were present — and I didn’t recognize a couple — but here they are:

Back row: unidentified, Bp. Eric Menees, unidentified, Bp. Clark Lowenfield, Bp. Gregory Bowers. Front row: Bp. William Murdoch, Bp. John Guernsey, Bp. Bill Thompson, Bp. Todd Hunter, Bp. Frank Lyons, unidentified

The new Bishop was examined by Abp. Foley and 11 other bishops. (The bishop not participating in the examination was Bp. Gregory Bowers, representing the Los Angeles-area Jubilee Convocation that is discussing fellowship with ACNA).

At the end of the consecration, the archbishop and the other bishops engaged in the traditional laying on of hands (which the unitiated
resembled a rugby scrum without the pushing and shoving).

The consecration was followed by the presentation of four episcopal symbols from four deaneries of the diocese: Rocky Mountain (a crozier), Arizona (a ring), San Diego (a pectoral cross) and Los Angeles (his cope and mitre).

After this — and before the offertory — the congregation heard greetings from Andrews’ ecumenical partners in Arizona and the local assemblyman (with a state proclamation). A longer talk came from a priest of the North American Lutheran Church (the ELCA-splinter group) and a representative from the Diocese of Singapore.

The New Bishop

Bp. Andrews gave a brief five minute talk, thanking those responsible. While the event did only indirectly touched on his qualifications and experience, I did have a chance to hear him speak in April 2014 as one of the two final candidates.

Here some excerpts of his resume from that presentation (which I have scanned and posted to Google). His work experience:

• Senior Pastor, Living Faith Anglican Church, Tempe, AZ (2005-Present)
• Anglican Mission in the Americas Canon Missioner and Network Leader (2005-2012)
• Vicar (1985-1998) and Rector (2005), St. James Episcopal Church, Tempe, AZ
• Associate Rector, Christ Church of the Ascension, Paradise Valley, AZ (1983-1985)
• Assistant Rector, All Saints, Carmel, CA (1981-1983)

His education:

• D. Min, Fuller Theological Seminary, 2003
• M. Div., Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 1981
• M.A., Arizona State University, 1976
• B.A., Arizona State University, 1975

His dissertation, entitled “A local church paradigm that fosters renewal in mission through church multiplication,” is listed in the Fuller library as a case study of his St. James experience.

What stood out from his presentation (and what I know of the other three semi-finalists) was his successful track record in planting churches. Obviously this is a crucial imperative for the diocese and ACNA more broadly.

The Diocese

What is less clear is the bishop’s plans for the diocese (and also the constraints of the existing clergy and laity). I was told that any candidate from outside Southern California (i.e., Andrews) would be expected to relocate to Southern California (which has the greatest concentration of parishes).

When first consecrated, Bp. Thompson remained rector of All Saints (Long Beach, Calif.) but then relinquished that role in July 2012 (at the age of 66) to become a full-time bishop.

The office of bishop and the diocese have remained at All Saints since Bp. Thompson stepped down. The diocese HQ seems to have been in a holding pattern (under its interim bishop), with few updates to the website; the bimonthly newsletter hasn’t been published in 10 months.

So will the diocese remain in Long Beach? Will Bp. Andrews have another home parish? What other changes are coming? When the ECUSA formed a new diocese in San Diego in the 1970s, the first bishop used his home parish as the cathedral; the second and subsequent bishops used the largest parish in the city center as their cathedral.

The diocese of 35 parishes is hoping to convert its four deaneries to new dioceses. To do that will require significant growth in membership, parishes and pledging — something that all California Anglicans hope that the new bishop can pull off.

Update: The official ACNA press release (reprinted at Virtue Online) lists 10 of the 11 bishops (beyond Abp. Beach) involved in the consecration:

• Rt. Rev. John A.M. Guernsey, Bishop of Diocese of Mid-Atlantic
• Rt. Rev. Todd Hunter, Bishop of Diocese of Churches for Sake of Others
• Rt. Rev. Clark Lowenfield, Bishop of Diocese of Western Gulf Coast
• Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons, Assisting Bishop of Anglican Diocese of South
• Rt. Rev. Eric Menees, Bishop of Diocese of San Joaquin
• Rt. Rev. John Miller, III, Assistant Bishop of Diocese of Atlantic
• Rt. Rev. William Murdock, Bishop of Anglican Diocese of New England
• Rt. Rev. William Thompson, Retired Bishop of Diocese of Western Anglicans
• Rt. Rev. Mark Zimmerman, Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Southwest
• Rt. Rev. Derek Jones, Bishop of Armed Forces and Chaplaincy

Charismatic Episcopal Worship

The ACNA bishops just have finished their annual confab. The website, Twitter stream, Facebook page and email blasts have been telling us that this invitation-only(?) meeting is a big deal.

One thing that's clear is how the bishops (as a group) feel about traditional Anglican worship and hymnody. The official communiqué (on the website and emailed to every ACNA email list) proudly stated:

Throughout the week, we were blessed by having David Clifton, Minister of Worship Arts at the Church of the Apostles, Knoxville, Tennessee, leading our music. He wove historic and contemporary music in a gentle and powerful way that enriched our time together.

Indeed, Clifton’s left hand on his Gibson guitar is the only sign from the ACNA’s Facebook page that there was music at the gathering, and Clifton is posed with a different guitar in his church profile. (To his credit, Clifton was trained as a chorister before joining a few bands and signing a recording contract).

Thus, for most of the bishops — like many ACNA parishes — it appears that the place of “historic” music is to be subordinated to the trendy, contemporary, flavor-of-the-month. Apparently this was also true when Archbishop Beach was first consecrated as a bishop.

I complained to an Anglo-Catholic friend that the Anglican Church of North America seems to be more of the Evangelical Church of North America. His view is that the (liturgical) tension is not between Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical, but with the Charismatic influence.

In his view, the Charismatic is what emphasizes the emotive over the reverent. It certainly seems to explain why so many people want to wave their hands in the sky when we are praying to our Father in the manner proscribed by his son. As an Anglo-Catholic, this seems like it should be the most reverent moment of the service — not the most exuberant.

What H40 can learn from H82

Today was lessons & carols, an excuse to sing Christmas carols a few days early during the season of Advent.

I'm currently attending (for better or worse) a Hymnal 1982 parish — which presumably describes 99+% of ECUSA/TEC and the ACNA. I’ve previously complained about the political correctness of the H82 hymns, which is why it’s not my favorite hymnal. However, the Hymnal does correct one deficiency of Hymnal 1940: missing Christmas carols.

1. Joy to the World

The original Hymnal 1940 had an unfamiliar tune for “Joy to the World,” but was missing the familiar Handel tune that we all sing. In 1981, this was finally corrected in Supplement II (i.e. the 3rd edition of H40) when the familiar carol was added as #775. Supplement II also adds replaces the older Sanctus with a Sanctus+Benedictus for all eight variants of the service music.

2. Gabriel’s Message

All editions of Hymnal 1940 are missing “The angel Gabriel” aka “Gabriel’s Message” (H82: 265). A 13th or 14th century Basque text was published in 1895, translated into Victorian English by Sabine Baring-Gould (author of “Onward Christian Soldiers”). Sting (the 80s pop star) made a jazzy CD recording and music video of this carol.

It's not in H40, in Songs of Praise (1925) or the SOP Enlarged Edition (1931). Two carols (#37, #102) with similar names are published by the authors of the latter (i.e. Vaughan Williams and Dearmer) in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928), but the Basque version is nowhere to be found. The New Oxford Book of Carols (1992) has it (#196) with the original Basque text and a more literal translation.

3. Of the Father’s Love Begotten

There was another hymn from this week’s H82 service that I couldn’t find in my copy of Hymnal 1940: “Of the father’s love begotten.” However, in researching this blog post, this omission seemed implausible given the familiar associations with my childhood (which is why I blogged about it back in 2008. )

The carol uses a 4th century text translated into English by John Mason Neale, and paired by Neale with an 11th (13th?) century tune in Hymns Ancient and Modern in the 1860s. As it turns out, this hymn (H82: 82; H40: 20) is in Hymnal 1940, just not in the index where I thought it would be. And the older hymnal has an extra verse (albeit one marked as optional in 1940).