Anglicans in Crisis
England: Who are the Players?This is the second in a series of articles on the looming crisis in the Anglican Church, brought on by attempts to promote homosexual clergy into the upper reaches of the Anglican hierarchy.
The first article described both the specific and general issues at the heart of the crisis and three recent incidents around the world that are precipitating a confrontation.
The article today elaborates the first of those incidents, that of Canon Jeffrey John, who was appointed to the post of Bishop of Reading, England, and then subsequently forced to withdraw in July of this year. Comments focus on the players in this incident and some of the things they have had to say about the appointment and the subsequent announcement of the candidate�s withdrawal.
Canon Jeffrey John
Of the players involved in the various controversies swirling around the issue of homosexuality in the Anglican Communion, one of the most recent is Canon Jeffrey John who, as indicated, withdrew from his appointment to the post of Bishop of Reading.
Although Canon John has been in a relationship with another man, Rev. Grant Holmes, a Church curate for some 27 years, he claims that he is celibate, that his relationship with Revd. Holmes is no longer an active sexual one and has not been so for several years.
Although Church officials accept this claim of celibacy, recent reports call it into question. As part of the revelations from Canon John, he stated that, �My partner and I have never lived together (apart from one brief period while he was moving house) because our separate ministries have never made it possible to do so.�
Following that statement, made in late June, the Diocese of Oxford confirmed that Jeffrey John and Grant Holmes jointly own a flat near the church where Mr. Holmes is employed and apparently hold regular dinner parties at that address. Further, prior to the purchase of the flat, Mr Holmes is believed to have used Dr John's Southwark house as a correspondence address.
Two other points are worth mentioning about Canon John. First, he has never repented of his active homosexual relationship with Revd. Holmes, and second, that lack of repentance, when combined with the length of time he has been in a relationship with another man, disqualifies him from assuming leadership roles in the Church, at least in the mind of one prominent and vocal evangelical
Dr. Peter Jensen
Dr. Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney, recently put it this way: �I think in doing what he [Canon John] has done over the last 27 years, he has disqualified himself, in my view, from this ministry altogether.�
Dr. Jensen is an articulate critic of the liberal drift in the Anglican Church over the last 30 years and sees recent events as a denouement of what has taken place during that time. Part of that denouement, according to Dr. Jensen, has come about with the cooperation of Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury (see below), whom he says �is underestimating the strength of the opposition to this [appointment] and the horror about it through the world�.
Rev. Richard Harries and Dr. Rowan Williams
Two other players in this controversy are the Revd. Richard Harries (Bishop of Oxford), the man who precipitated the crisis by appointing Canon John to the post of Bishop of Reading, and Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, primus inter pares (first among equals), spiritual head of the 75-million-member Anglican Communion and traditional focal point of unity, who refused to intercede to either stop or support the appointment.
Although obviously invested with considerable power and influence, Dr. Williams seems to have been a disappointment to both camps in this feud. Instead of showing leadership in this potentially divisive issue, he has chosen instead to employ the politician�s strategy of �trying to have it both ways�.
Following the appointment of Canon John, he stated that it was one �that I have neither sought to promote nor to obstruct�. He then went on to try and shift the focus away from further open debate on the issue, claiming that public expressions of concern over homosexuality were hurting Anglican credibility and preventing the Communion from addressing the more important priorities of the Anglican mission. Admittedly, his statement, being in the past tense, did provide him some room to manoeuvre.
In spite of Dr. Williams� attempt to have it both ways, it seems clear that, by not moving to block the appointment of Canon John, his comments served as a tacit approval. Far from mollifying dissent over the issue then, his statements only aggravated the concerns of evangelicals and other critics of Dr. John�s appointment. On the day following the Archbishop�s comments, influential bishops and archbishops from around the world made that point clear.
Peter Jasper Akinola and Benjamin Nzimibi
One of the clearest and most powerful statements of objection came from the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Jasper Akinola, who is head of the largest Anglican Church in the Communion with 17.5 million members, 81 Bishops and 10 Archbishops. This represents more Anglicans than exist in the UK, Canada and the USA combined.
Archbishop Akinola wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury and warned him that if Jeffrey John were confirmed as Bishop of Reading it would have far-reaching implications. Archbishop Akinola stated: �We cannot continue to be in communion with people who have taken a step outside the biblical boundaries.�
Following close on Archbishop Akinola�s announcement, the head of the Anglican Church of Kenya, Archbishop Benjamin Nzimibi, made clear that his church also would not recognise or support the Church of England in its plan to consecrate Canon John as the new Bishop of Reading and re-asserted the historical beliefs of the Church in the marriage of a man and woman as ordained by God and against the blessing of homosexual cohabitants.
Anglican Leaders in the UK
As the crisis over Jeffrey John�s appointment deepened, Archbishops and Bishops lined up on both sides of the controversy. In June, eight Bishops sent a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury in support of Jeffrey John�s appointment and consecration, stating that �We write to assure you that Canon Jeffrey John has our full support in his preparation for the work he has been called upon to undertake, and in the context of the serious and unwarranted pressure to which he and his partner have been subject.�
In contrast, a group of 35 Anglican leaders from around the world met in Oxford in late June in response to the looming crisis of the appointment of Jeffrey John. Those present included Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, five bishops, clergy and lay people from the Oxford Diocese and the leaders of the Church of England Evangelical Council, Reform, New Wine and the American Anglican Council.
The leaders were clear in their predictions as to what would happen if the consecration of Jeffrey John went ahead: �We believe that if he is consecrated, the unity of the Church of England and Anglican Communion will be disrupted.� The group then called on Canon John to withdraw his acceptance of the position of Bishop of Reading.
Another group of 80 clergy and 20 leading laity of the Diocese of Oxford, which included leaders of most of the largest churches in the diocese, sent a private letter to the Bishop of Oxford to express their concern. In a statement to the Press, Dr. Phillip Giddings, a spokesman for that group, made the following statement:
We do not wish to rehearse again the arguments against the nomination. Suffice it to say we make an appeal, first, to faithfulness to the plain meaning of scripture; second, to 2000 years of Christian tradition; third, to the divinely created order and gift of marriage. Perhaps above all we feel that this appointment will be catastrophic in terms of the unity of the church; not only the Church of England and the Anglican communion which it threatens to split asunder, but also between the Anglican Church and other Churches world-wide.
Finally, the Queen
As a potential schism in the Church of England loomed, the Queen, the Supreme Governor of the Church expressed her concern and asked leading clerics to settle their differences. When that failed to quell the controversy, the next day reports indicated that she spoke to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to indicate that she had not been told of Canon John�s history of homosexuality before being asked to approve his consecration. Such comments seem to imply that the Queen would have made a different decision had she been told or at least delayed a decision until a consensus emerged.
Once the Queen approved the consecration, however, there was little that she could do constitutionally to overturn her own decision. In spite of her post-decision position, her expressions of concern did appear to have a profound effect. Within a few days, a six-hour meeting was held between the Archbishop of Canterbury and Canon John and, following that meeting, Dr. John disqualified himself from the position of Bishop of Reading, �in view of the damage my consecration might cause to the unity of the church�.
For many, that was the only way to settle the situation and evangelical Church leaders praised Canon John for his decision.
Still, there were concerns about why the Queen had not been informed about Dr. John�s history. At least one leader in the Church called for all those involved in his appointment, including the Bishop of Oxford, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Prime Minister to held accountable for the failure to inform the Queen. Dr. Jack L. Edwards, President
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August 5, 2003
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