THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH WILL BE SHOWN THE DOOR, SAYS ORTHODOX BISHOP

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
10/28/2006

NASHOTAH, WI: The Episcopal Church has crossed the line and will be shown the door by the Global South Primates if she does not comply fully with the demands of the Windsor Report, says canon lawyer and Episcopal Bishop, the Rt. Rev. William Wantland.

Speaking recently to more than 150 members of the Southeastern Wisconsin chapter of the American Anglican Council, at Nashotah House, the former Bishop of Eau Claire said that the eight dioceses are not asking for Alternative Pastoral Oversight, they told PB Frank Griswold and PB-elect Katharine Schori, 'do you want to be part of this process of separation or do you not. If you are not part of the process of disengagement, the Global South primates have said they will separate from you, so you'd better get on board and the Archbishop of Canterbury will be totally behind them.'

Wantland, who was lecturing on canon law to students at Nashotah House, later spoke with VOL by phone, and said that GC2006 was the last decisive moment for The Episcopal Church, with subsequent meetings making it clear how the rest of the communion feels. "Simply put, orthodox Episcopalians no longer have a place at the table of the ECUSA, their day is done and separation is the only way forward and the whole communion knows it."

As a result of GC2006 there are now eight dioceses asking for APO and that is going to happen. Make no mistake about it. It's a done deal, he told VOL.

Wantland said that in talking with people close to Dr. Rowan Williams, he learned that he apparently wants to see this happen but he is not sure he has the authority to actually do it," he told VOL.

"If you look at history the only the time the Archbishop of Canterbury changed something, it was the Primate in the Sudan when the Archbishop of the Sudan refused to retire and a new primate had been elected and the old archbishop would not recognize him. A second episcopate was created; the Archbishop of Canterbury said 'you are out.'"

"After the genocide in Rwanda the Archbishop of Canterbury declared certain sees vacant after the bishops fled the country and then would not resign. He declared them vacant, there were new diocesan bishops elected and a new archbishop (Emmanuel Kolini) was elected the primate," he said.

Asked by VOL if the Panel of Reference ruling in the Diocese of New Westminster had anything to do with, or could be construed as having an effect on Alternative Primatial Oversight being sought by eight orthodox ECUSA dioceses, Wantland said no. "They are separate issues. The POR has nothing to do with APO. The eight dioceses have asked for APO directly from Dr. Williams."

Reflecting on the Panel of Reference situation in New Westminster, Wantland said, "this is the kind of thing that you say to someone who has a question about, 'I'll get back to you in the next decade.'"

Asked about the Diocese of Recife situation which now has two bishops in place, Wantland said that situation "is in the process of being resolved."

Wantland said that the Archbishop of Canterbury is very aware that General Convention resolved nothing and what he is repeatedly saying is 'get the matter resolved or else.'

Asked how Frank Griswold now perceived the situation, Wantland said Griswold was getting more desperate and intransigent. "He has been in denial for a long time, but he can't be in denial any longer and he realizes it is all crumbling around him and people will look at him and say you are responsible. He's afraid of how history will treat him. The truth is, it all came apart under his watch and he knows it."

Wantland said that when the group of orthodox and heterodox bishops met in New York recently, Griswold tried to fudge it, but he saw clearly that the conservatives meant business and they would not back down. On the Tuesday they met he had said "yes" to a deal, but on Wednesday when he returned to the table he said, "no", that he needed to consult with the president of the House of Deputies and his Council of Advice. In truth he was stalling, hoping to talk it to death by continued requests for listening. It was made clear to him that there would be a deal whether he liked it or not. Deal or no deal, it was over for the orthodox in The Episcopal Church.

Griswold keeps saying that the ABC doesn't have any right to interfere in any part of the Anglican Communion and in individual dioceses, but it will happen. The African archbishops at Kigali set the wheels in motion by setting up a steering committee. The ship has set sail. The Primates Committee meet in February 2007 in Tanzania and unless matters are resolved between now and then, there will be a primate appointed for the eight American dioceses, at that time it will all come unraveled for The Episcopal Church.

Wantland said PB-elect Katharine Schori intends to keep talking to the eight dioceses even as they look for APO. She would like to find some way to work it out, he said.

END