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Wednesday, February 02, 2000
By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Correction/Clarification: (Published Feb. 3, 2000) A story yesterday about Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry said its faculty approved a statement distancing the school from the consecration of its former dean as a missionary bishop from Southeast Asia to the United States. The faculty did not vote on the statement, but members read it beforehand and made editorial suggestions.
The Episcopal seminary where Bishop John H. Rodgers served as dean for a dozen years is distancing itself from his controversial consecration as a missionary bishop from Southeast Asia to the United States.
Rodgers, dean emeritus of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, was consecrated Saturday in Singapore along with Charles Murphy of South Carolina by the Anglican archbishop of Southeast Asia, two Rwandan bishops and three retired bishops.
They will be sent back to the United States to organize conservative Anglican mission parishes for the Church of Southeast Asia within the boundaries of liberal Episcopal dioceses. They believe that the Episcopal Church has strayed from the Anglican Communion - the association of churches descended from the Church of England - because of many bishops' acceptance of openly gay priests and declining respect for the authority of the Bible.
Bishop John Rucyahana of Shyira, Rwanda, who joined in the consecration, is a 1990 Trinity graduate.
But Trinity seminary does not believe the Episcopal Church is in such bad shape that overseas Anglicans must treat it as pagan mission territory, said the Rev. Peter C. Moore, dean and president of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry.
"While we hold both John Rodgers and Chuck Murphy in high esteem and love them as brothers, there is a note of desperation in their action at this time," Moore wrote in a two-page statement approved by the faculty.
"It is a desperation that we do not share, given the whole trajectory of biblical and spiritual renewal within our church that we have witnessed and participated in for the last 30 years. We fear that this will lead to the splintering and erosion of evangelical and orthodox solidarity within the church as well as to a false caricature of biblical renewal as inherently schismatic."
The statement urged Episcopalians to refrain from accusations and name-calling.
"What is not needed at this time is a knee-jerk response by fervent partisans on either side, or an anathematizing of friends who see this action differently," it said.
Trinity was founded in 1976 as an evangelical Episcopal seminary for those who believed that other Episcopal seminaries were insufficiently committed to the authority of the Bible and to the task of evangelism. It has become a national center of theologically conservative activism within the Episcopal Church. But, unlike more extreme Episcopal conservatives, the seminary accepts women's ordination and the latest edition of the denomination's Book of Common Prayer.
Moore's statement described the new bishops and those who consecrated them as "godly, humble, deeply caring and sensible men" who acted "out of a profound love for the church."
It acknowledged their intention to keep conservative parishes within the Anglican Communion when they otherwise might have become independent.
But Moore said in an interview that Rodgers' professional relationship with the seminary was terminated last summer because of concerns that he might do this. Rodgers retired as dean a decade ago but remained on the faculty for another five years and continued to teach an occasional course until last spring.
"He is no longer on the faculty and is probably not likely to be," Moore said.
Trinity's 200 students will receive Moore's statement. There will be a forum to discuss the situation in a few weeks, when more is known about the situation, Moore said.
Many liberal bishops do not allow their seminarians to attend Trinity, which is one reason that conservative parishes in liberal dioceses are unhappy. Moore is concerned that moderate bishops may stop sending students because they suspect the school encouraged the consecrations.
"There is some evidence that some bishops may use this to further isolate Trinity," he said. "Others may react the other way and say, 'We have been trying to squash this movement for years, and this is what happens. Maybe it is time to work with them instead of fighting them.' "