Associated Press
April 18, 2005
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Six Episcopal priests failed to reach an agreement Monday night with a bishop they opposed for his support of gay clergy, leaving themselves open to possible discipline.
After a four-hour meeting at the diocese's offices, Connecticut Bishop Andrew Smith said the six priests now may face restrictions of their powers to celebrate Mass, perform weddings and hear confessions in the Connecticut diocese.
"By leaving the meeting tonight without acknowledging my authority as their bishop, they have placed themselves under the threat of inhibition by refusing to live within their vows," Smith said late Monday. Inhibition is the diocese's restriction of priestly functions.
The priests declined to comment while leaving the gathering.
The meeting was an attempt to resolve a conflict that started last May, when the six asked to be supervised by a different bishop.
They disagreed with Smith's support for the elevation of V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who in 2003 became the church's first openly gay bishop.
Similar scenes have played out across the country as a rift over Robinson's elevation and other issues related to gay clergy have divided the U.S. Episcopal Church.
In Overland Park, Kan., members of the Christ Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly Sunday to separate from the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas and the Episcopal denomination.
In Connecticut, the six priests from conservative parishes faced removal from their pulpits Friday. But Smith sent them a letter saying he had decided to hold off and meet with them Monday evening.
Gordon Paul Scruton, bishop of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, acted as a mediator for Monday's meeting.
A spokeswoman for the diocese said the priests faced removal not because of their views on Robinson, but because they had not been willing to meet with Smith to work out a solution.
The Rev. Christopher Leighton of St. Paul's Church in Darien, one of the affected priests, said before Monday's meeting that the six would consider what Smith had to say.
"To listen to him, it sounds like we've been refusing to meet, which is just not the case," Leighton said. "We've been waiting for this meeting. We've wanted this meeting. We're glad to meet with him."
Diocese officials contend the six parishes have failed to meet their financial obligation to the diocese and are asking for control over who is ordained, which Smith is not willing to cede.
The diocese took the issue to the Standing Committee, a group of elected clergy members and lay people that acts as an advisory panel for the bishop. The committee concluded March 29 that the six priests were acting out of communion with church canons.
Clergy from conservative parishes all over the country have sent letters of support for the priests. Six priests from other states came to Connecticut Sunday morning to preach in the affected churches.
The five other priests facing removal are The Rev. Allyn Benedict of Christ Episcopal Church in Watertown, the Rev. Mark Hansen of St. John's Church in Bristol, the Rev. Ronald Gauss of Bishop Seabury Church in Groton, the Rev. Gilbert Wilkes of Christ and the Epiphany Church in East Haven and the Rev. Don Helmandollar of Trinity Church in Bristol.
Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press
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