THE diocese of Virginia, in the United States, is about to have two bishops. It has had one for some time: the Rt Revd Peter Lee, the longest-serving diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church (ECUSA). His diocese is the oldest and the largest in the United States, encompassing 90,000 baptised Episcopalians and 194 congregations.
The other bishop will be the Revd Martyn Minns, elected by the Church of Nigeria at the end of June. It's not yet clear how many people he will be bishop to.
Bishop Lee, in London last month, told the story of how Canon Minns, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church, in Fairfax, Virginia, arrived to see him on 27 June to talk about his impending retirement. (Canon Minns is 63.)
"The sequence of events was fairly dramatic. I asked him what he intended to do. He told me that he wanted to spend more time with his family, do more with the Five Talents organisation [which gives loans to individuals in developing countries], and increase his links with the Churches of the Global South. I asked him if he was going to be elected a bishop in the Church of Nigeria. He looked very surprised, and answered something to the effect that anything might happen.
"Later that morning, he called my office from his car. He told me that Peter Akinola [Archbishop of Nigeria] had just phoned his car to tell him that he had been elected a bishop in Nigeria."
Later that day, Archbishop Akinola had phoned Bishop Lee to ask whether Canon Minns could remain Rector of Truro while serving as a Nigerian bishop. "I used the word 'impossible'. It seems to me that to want to have authority over congregations that haven't had any say in an appointment is alien to our system of having bishops who are accountable to the people."
Bishop Lee also suspected that electing Canon Minns was contrary to the canons of the Church of Nigeria, which state that bishops must belong either to the Nigerian Church, or to a province that is in communion with it. "Archbishop Akinola has made it perfectly clear that he considers his Church to be out of communion with ECUSA."
Canon Minns has been appointed to have pastoral care over Nigerian congregations in the US. There are none in the diocese of Virginia, says Bishop Lee; nor has he met any Africans who express discomfort with the Episcopal Church. He sees the move as an inappropriate intrusion by the Archbishop of Nigeria, which violates the letter and the spirit of the Windsor report.
"Having said that, I don't want to slam the door on a way that might provide pastoral care to certain congregations, and promote greater understanding in the Anglican Communion."
This last remark is typical of a bishop who has old friends on both sides of divide in the Episcopal Church. He is an unlikely villain. He has stated publicly that he won't ordain anyone who is in a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex; nor will he countenance the blessing of same-sex unions. Both statements have lost him support from liberals.
Nevertheless, of the 194 congregations in Virginia, 12 have made it clear that he is no longer welcome to preach or preside at the eucharist. "Having been around for so long, I have friends in all these congregations. It's very painful not to be able to share the sacrament with them." He has respected their choice, however, and has arranged for Lord Carey, another friend, to preside at three confirmations.
Another friend, and a former curate, is the Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt Revd Bob Duncan, who is a rallying point for conservative congregations in the US, and who has asked for alternative oversight after the election of the Rt Revd Katharine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop. Bishop Lee can see "no signal of willingness to reach an accommodation. I believe that Bob has already withdrawn emotionally from the Episcopal Church."
Bishop Lee maintains that the recent US General Convention "followed very seriously" the Windsor report, especially its prescription about reconsidering consecration of priests in gay relationships. It has been suggested that ECUSA be demoted to "associate" status in the Anglican Communion, but Bishop Lee felt this would be an extreme reaction.
"The Episcopal Church took a significant step at General Convention," even though conservative groups had since denigrated it. "I would be astonished if Archbishop Williams recognises any of these groups as a successor to the Episcopal Church, though I suppose he might recognise them as supplemental."
But Bishop Lee still hopes that it won't come to that. "We're a small Church, and that means that friendship - 'bonds of affection', to use Windsor's phrase - might be our salvation. I think this is where our hope for the future lies, as people realise that we have more things in common than divide us."
Nevertheless, he is not going to be a pushover. He has deposed one cleric who started a new congregation affiliated to a diocese in Uganda, and a second awaits his verdict. He now has to decide about Canon Minns. "They might be in the majority in their church; but I get letters from laity, saying to me: 'Don't let them take my church away.' He dreads a legal wrangle over church property. "Lawsuits would be unbiblical, demoralising, and very expensive."
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