Priest Claiming Conversion to Islam Given Pastoral Direction

07/05/2007

The priest who revealed in a diocesan newspaper interview last month that she had converted to Islam has received a pastoral direction from the Bishop of Rhode Island, where she is canonically resident.

The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding has not lived in Rhode Island for more than 20 years, according to the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, Bishop of Rhode Island. After ordination in 1983, Ms. Redding accepted a position as a consultant for communications at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City.

Her most recent Christian ministry assignment has been in the Diocese of Olympia, where she was director of faith formation for a number of years at St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle, until staff reductions in March. In the June issue of Episcopal Voice, the monthly newspaper for the Diocese of Olympia, Ms. Redding said she had made the Muslim profession of faith and that she saw no contradiction in remaining an Episcopal priest.

“After meeting with [Ms. Redding] I issued a pastoral direction giving her the opportunity to reflect on the doctrines of the Christian faith, her vocation as a priest, and what I see as the conflicts inherent in professing both Christianity and Islam,” Bishop Wolf wrote in an e-mail message sent to diocesan clergy as well as members of the standing committee and diocesan council. “During the next year she is not to exercise any of the responsibilities and privileges of an Episcopal priest or deacon. Other aspects of the pastoral direction will remain private.”

Bishop Wolf said she had decided to distribute news of the pastoral direction “because the continued website coverage suggests that I be as clear as possible with those exercising leadership in our diocese.”

Ms. Redding, who holds a Ph.D. in New Testament, recently accepted a position to teach graduate courses in theology at Seattle University, a Jesuit Roman Catholic university.

This article comes from The Living Church Foundation
http://www.livingchurch.org/

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