[Episcopal News Service] The Washington Post on January 14 disclosed a confidential memo written by one of the American Anglican Council’s (AAC) chief strategists that reveals the organization’s ultimate goal is to replace the Episcopal Church governed by the General Convention with its own confessionally-based jurisdiction. “Our ultimate goal is a realignment of Anglicanism on North American soil committed to biblical faith and values, and driven by Gospel mission,” said the memo [see at www.ecusa.org], dated December 28, 2003, and signed by the Rev. Geoffrey Chapman, rector of St. Stephen’s Church in Sewickley, the largest parish in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. “We believe in the end this should be a ‘replacement’ jurisdiction with confessional standards [and] closely aligned with the majority of world Anglicanism... We seek to retain ownership of our property as we move into this realignment.”

AAC media director Bruce Mason told the Associated Press that Chapman is not a policy spokesman and denied that the AAC intends to “supplant the current structure” of the Episcopal Church. “We state again that the AAC continues to work within the Episcopal Church to advance the Anglican realignment in North America,” Mason said in a statement released to the media January 14.

The 2,543-word memo was sent by Chapman “on behalf of the American Anglican Council and their Bishops’ Committee on Adequate Episcopal Oversight (AEO).” “I am serving as their response person for AEO, and I want to brief you on our progress,” Chapman wrote, and directed recipients to “keep in touch with me or the AAC office.” “Please keep this document confidential, sharing it in hard copy (printed format) only with people you fully trust, and do not pass it on electronically to anyone under any circumstances,” the memo said.

Contradictions

The Washington Post report came on the eve of a planned closed-door meeting in Plano, Texas, to discuss the formation of a “Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes” within the Episcopal Church for those opposed to the consecration of a gay man as bishop coadjutor of New Hampshire. Media representatives have been advised that the meeting will only be open to registered participants. According to the Associated Press, Chapman is scheduled to brief participants at the meeting on plans for local congregations.

The memo appears to contradict recent statements by the AAC that it does not want to break away from the Episcopal Church, but to work within its canons to change decisions with which members disagree. It outlines a two-stage process, in which dissenting parishes would initially announce that their relationship with their diocesan bishop is “severely damaged” but not engage in legal confrontations over church property. “Announcements will need to be carefully phrased to avoid canonical violations,” the document said.

In the second stage, which Chapman predicted would get underway “probably in 2004,” dissenters would seek “negotiated settlements” with dioceses over property. If such settlements failed, however, “faithful disobedience of canon law on a widespread basis may be necessary,” Chapman wrote. “We will innovatively move around, beyond or within the canons” to achieve the group’s goals, he said, and time announcements of intentions to realign “in successive weeks to build impact” in the media. Among the goals of the strategy are to “generate significant public attention both within this country and among our world-wide partners.”

The memo said the AAC will offer what it calls “Adequate Episcopal Oversight” to dissenting groups “under the guidance of our Bishops and the Primates.” It called Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold’s offer of “Extended Episcopal Care” “unacceptable, fundamentally flawed and disingenuous.”

The House of Bishops has been creating and revising a policy of “supplemental episcopal pastoral care” for clergy and parishes who are disaffected with their diocesan bishop. It will be on their agenda when they meet March 19-24 at Camp Allen in Texas.

“Our AEO will maintain confidentiality in the application process, and seek transfer of Parish oversight across geographic diocesan boundaries to an orthodox bishop, the right of pastoral succession, liberty of conscience in financial stewardship (the right to ‘redirect’ funds), and negotiated property settlements affirming the retention of ownership in the local congregation,” said Chapman.

(—The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of Episcopal News Service.)

See full text of article at www.ecusa.org

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