Survey: Episcopal leaders reject bishop-elect

Via TitusOneNine:

BY FRANK LOCKWOOD

Posted on Saturday, June 13, 2009

Episcopal Church leaders have apparently rejected a bishop-elect who challenged historic Christian teachings and rewrote key passages of the denomination's official prayer book.

An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette survey shows that a majority of the church's 111 regional governing boards (usually known as standing committees) have voted to overturn the Feb. 21 election of the Rev. Kevin G. Thew Forrester by the Diocese of Northern Michigan.

Unless standing committee members change their minds in the next five weeks, Thew Forrester's bid to join the House of Bishops will be derailed - the first such veto in more than 70 years.

The standing committee of the Diocese of Arkansas is one of 57 that has declined to support Thew Forrester. Twentynine say they've given consent. The other 25 are either still deliberating or would not reveal how they voted.

These committees have until July 19 to cast - or change - their votes, according to the Episcopal News Service.

Thew Forrester, the Diocese of Northern Michigan and officials at Episcopal Church headquarters in New York have declined to release official results. The Democrat-Gazette contacted officials in 110 Episcopal dioceses around the world, plus the Convocation of American Churches in Europe, whose council of advice casts the 111th vote.

In order to be consecrated, Thew Forrester will also need to receive support from a majority of the roughly 100 bishops who are entitled to vote on his election. Unofficial tallies show him trailing among bishops as well.

The bishop-elect and diocesan officials declined to comment this month. But in May, Northern Michigan Standing Committee President Linda Piper said votes were arriving "in fits and starts."

"We're in the middle of the process so we're waiting to see how it plays out. It's a little nerve-racking," she said. "This is certainly not the way we thought things would go, so this is a very stressful time for us."

The diocese has been without an elected leader since June 2007, when previous Bishop James A. Kelsey died in a car wreck.

The diocese voted overwhelmingly to make Thew Forrester its next bishop, but objections were quickly raised.

Among them:

Thew Forrester helped guide the bishop-selection process in its infancy, and he was the only candidate for bishop on the ballot.

In an article in the February 2004 issue of the Northern Michigan diocesan newsletter, Thew Forrester announced that he had undergone Buddhist "lay ordination" and had taken on a new Buddhist name - Genpo - meaning Way of Universal Wisdom. In the article, Thew Forrester had declared: "I now walk the path of Christianity and Zen Buddhism."

More objections were raised after Episcopalians began reading Thew Forrester's "trial liturgies" and listening to the sermons he had posted on his parish's Web site: www.stpmqt.org.

Among other things, Thew Forrester had altered the Apostles' Creed, the church's official Easter Vigil liturgy and its baptismal covenant - a common rite that has united Episcopalians for decades.

Thew Forrester's baptismal liturgy removed references to "Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God." It added references to "Mother" God. It eliminated claims that Jesus is God's "only Son" and it no longer called on participants to accept Jesus "as your Savior."

The revisions were in line with Thew Forrester's theological views: He says Satan doesn't exist, Jesus' death on Calvary was not God's will, Christ's blood doesn't wash away sins and Jesus' sacrifice doesn't make Christians one with God.

Sin, he has written, is primarily about "being blind to our own goodness."

In an April interview with the Democrat-Gazette, Thew Forrester said the liturgical and theological changes reflect a Christianity that is "continually evolving and dynamic" and are designed "to make the faith more meaningful."

"I think what we've done is quite responsible and appropriate and indeed the church needs to do it in order to stay relevant in the 21st century," he said.

REWRITTEN LITURGY

Thew Forrester's rewriting of the Book of Common Prayer - the denomination's key theological and liturgical text - drew criticism from conservative and liberal Episcopalians.

"As a Church, we are increasingly a laughingstock," wrote Paul V. Marshall, bishop of Bethlehem, Pa. "If our embarrassment is going to end, the voices of bishops as clear, traditional and powerful evangelists need to be raised in the churches and in the marketplace."

But others decried the largely Internet-driven campaign to challenge Thew Forrester's fitness, warning that future bishop-elects will face the kind of scrutiny previously reserved for Supreme Court nominees.

Retired Bishop of Eastern Oregon Rustin Kimsey, in an April interview, said today's Episcopal Church is more alarmed by theological innovation than it was decades ago.

"At least some bishops are feeling that their primary call is to protect the faith from error. I think that's always a dangerous place to be," Kimsey said.