Ellen Mitchell
Potomac News
Saturday, June 23, 2007
The Rev. John A. M. Guernsey, rector of All Saints' Church in Woodbridge, has been elected as a bishop in the Church of Uganda for its churches in the United States.
He will be consecrated in ceremonies Sept. 2 in Mbarara, Uganda.
Bishop-elect Guernsey will continue as All Saints' rector while providing oversight on behalf of the 10 Ugandan bishops working with the 26 orthodox American congregations that are part of the Church of Uganda, according to a news release from the Church of Uganda.
Five of those churches are in Virginia: All Saints' and Christ Our Lord in Woodbridge, Church of the Holy Spirit in Ashburn, South Riding Anglican Church in Fairfax and Eternity Anglican Church in Richmond.
"I am humbled and greatly overwhelmed by this," Guernsey said Friday. "I am mindful of the great responsibility the Church of Uganda has entrusted to me. I am so very thankful of the prayers and support I am receiving from so many."
The announcement was made Friday by the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, archbishop of Uganda.
Orombi said in a prepared release that Guernsey is highly respected by clergy and bishops in the church and has been a pastoral and strategic leader in the Anglican Communion Network as dean of the Mid-Atlantic Convocation. "He is the ideal candidate to pioneer this new ministry," Orombi said.
The U.S. churches under the 9 million-member Church of Uganda broke with the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church in the United States in 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
In August of 2006, the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, the former rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, was consecrated as a bishop in Nigeria for churches in the U.S. He was installed at a ceremony at Hylton Chapel in Woodbridge in May.
Minns oversees the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. Three Episcopal churches in Prince William County are aligned with CANA: Church of the Word in Gainesville, St. Paul's in Haymarket, and St. Margaret's in Woodbridge.
Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of the Anglican Church of Kenya recently announced the consecration of another American priest as a bishop in the Church of Kenya.
"It is a new day for the pastoral and episcopal care of the orthodox congregations in America," Nzimbi is quoted in the news release.
"John Guernsey's consecration is an answer to our prayers that we would be able to provide a domestic bishop for the Ugandan churches," said the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, moderator of the Anglican Communion Network.
It's unusual for a bishop to stay on as a rector of a church, but the 54-year-old Guernsey has strong roots in Prince William County and All Saints', where he has served since 1981.
"I have a deep commitment to both All Saints' and all of Prince William County," Guernsey said. "God has given us a huge vision and I know He has called me to stay at All Saints', even as I take on new responsibilities in the wider church."
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