Bishop Sauls: 'Nothing Secret' About List of U.S. Anglican Congregations

Steve Waring
08/29/2007

The Rt. Rev. Stacy Sauls, Bishop of Lexington, has written to all diocesan bishops asking for their assistance in compiling a comprehensive list of congregations which claim oversight from an overseas Anglican bishop and are located within the geographic territory claimed by The Episcopal Church.

“We are trying to compile as accurate and complete a list as possible,” Bishop Sauls told The Living Church. “We are attempting to distinguish between congregations that were once part of The Episcopal Church as well as those that were not. There is nothing secret about what we are attempting to do.”

Bishop Sauls is chair of the House of Bishops’ task force on property disputes. He said the property task force is not interested in so-called “continuing churches” that broke off from The Episcopal Church and do not consider themselves constituent members of the Anglican Communion.

The memo requests the name and location for each congregation, the jurisdiction claimed, the name of the “overseas or other non-Episcopal bishop involved,” whether that person has made an episcopal visitation, the status of the property, and whether the congregation was originally part of The Episcopal Church.

In his letter, Bishop Sauls said that he would like to have the report complete in time for distribution during the Sept. 20-25 meeting of the House of Bishops in New Orleans. The primary intended audience is Episcopalians, not the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is scheduled to attend the first two days of the bishops’ meeting.

“He’s welcome to a copy if he wants,” Bishop Sauls said, “but I don’t think the Archbishop of Canterbury needs a report like this to know which bishops and congregations are involved.”

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

The URL for this story is:
http://www.livingchurch.org/publishertlc/viewarticle.asp?ID=3778