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FOND DU LAC: A "Historic Moment" for the U.S. Continuing Church

A "HISTORIC MOMENT" FOR THE
U.S. CONTINUING CHURCH

Key Continuing Bishops, FIF Leaders, Gather For Events In Wisconsin, Pennsylvania

By Auburn Faber Traycik
The Christian Challenge (Washington, DC)
September 28, 2004

Veteran Continuing Church members might well have said it could never happen.

But it did.

So it was that bishops of the three core Continuing Church bodies--the Anglican Province of Christ the King (APCK), the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC), and the Anglican Church in America/Traditional Anglican Communion (ACA/TAC)--came together in Wisconsin September 24-26 for prayer, worship, and free and frank discussions.

Not only that, the prelates were joined by the Rev. David Moyer, head of the Episcopal Church traditionalist organization, Forward in Faith, North America; and the Rev. David Chislett, Vice President of Forward in Faith-Australia.

The "extramural" Anglican bishops and Frs. Moyer and Chislett gathered in Fond du Lac primarily for the APCK's pilgrimage to the grave of Anglo-Catholic luminary, Blessed Bishop Charles Grafton (Second Episcopal Bishop of Fond du Lac 1889-1912), a biennial APCK event geared to provide participants an opportunity for prayer, and spiritual instruction and refreshment. Some 100 persons from across the U.S. took part in the pilgrimage.

It was all at the invitation of APCK Archbishop Robert S. Morse, though the Archbishop himself says it was really the Holy Spirit--and quite possibly Bishop Grafton--who "arranged a confluence of events" leading to the ecumenical gathering. "I think Bishop Grafton might have interceded for us," the tall, white-haired prelate said, smiling.

Whoever was most responsible for it, Morse's invitation to the bishops, clergy and laity of the two other leading Continuing bodies and two FIF leaders reached across the divides created by the Continuing Church's difficult early history with new signs of hope for the future. It came, interestingly, at a time when "official" Anglicanism faces a potentially large chasm of its own.

"It was a beginning," Archbishop Morse told TCC, and TAC's Primate, Archbishop John Hepworth of Australia, termed it a "historic moment for the Continuing Church in the United States."

While the APCK and ACC, led by Archbishop Brother John-Charles of Australia (who was unable to be present), had engaged in dialogue over the past year, it was the first real opportunity for bishops of the APCK (which may now be the largest U.S. Continuing Church body) to meet and talk (either for the first time, or for the first time in many years) with bishops of the ACA and TAC, the largest international Continuing Church fellowship. The ACA is the TAC's U.S. branch. Together, the APCK, ACC and TAC include an estimated 265,000 orthodox Anglicans.

Hepworth also saw Morse's outreach as significant because the TAC and FIF have already forged a communion relationship.

Bishops attending the pilgrimage in Fond du Lac, in addition to Morse and Hepworth, included, from the APCK: Bishop James Provence (Diocese of the West), Frederick Morrison (Southwest), and Rocco Florenza ( Eastern States); from the TAC: Archbishop Louis Falk (ACA Primate); Bishops Louis Campese (ACA-Eastern U.S.) and James Stewart (West); from the ACC: Bishops William McClean (Mid-Atlantic States), Rommie Starks (Midwest), and Bishop -elect Presley Hutchens (New Orleans).

The Pilgrimage was marked by frank and collegial discussions among bishops and clergy as well as opportunities to join in the Mass and at prayer and in study. Friday's Holy Eucharist was celebrated by the APCK's Bishop Florenza and sung Evensong by Archbishop Hepworth. Bishops and clergy of the TAC/ACA received Holy Communion at the crowded Mass.

Later, the Rev. Dr. Paul Russell, professor of theology at Mount St. Mary College and an internationally recognized patristic scholar, presented a well-received program to the pilgrims on the teachings of the Desert Fathers.

The day was capped by a banquet at which Archbishop Hepworth offered a toast to Archbishop Morse, saluting his example of steadfastness in the faith.

On Saturday, pilgrims, clergy and laity, joined in a religious procession through the streets of Fond du Lac to the cathedral (of the still-conservative Episcopal diocese), which houses the shrine of Bishop Grafton. Traditional Anglicans, arrayed in a line stretching over several city blocks, sang hymns as they marched to the cathedral with banners and pennants fluttering against a grey Wisconsin morning.

At the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Morse, Bishop Morrison preached on the unity of the Church in the Blessed Sacrament. The theme was most appropriate to a gathering of brethren who often appear to be separated, and emblematic of the spirit of this historical Grafton Pilgrimage.

NOR DID THIS NOTEWORTHY ECUMENICAL EVENT conclude in Fond du Lac. "Part II" took place as Archbishops Morse, Hepworth and Falk, Bishop Provence, and Frs. Moyer and Chislett joined in Evensong and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at Moyer's parish, Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pennsylvania, on the evening of Sunday, September 27. Good Shepherd's magnificent choir made the service, attended by over 100 persons, especially memorable. The visiting leaders greeted congregants at a reception following the service, and then were warmly hosted by Fr. Moyer and his wonderful wife, Rita, at a private dinner at the rectory.

Further discussions between the bishops and clergy at Rosemont, focusing on TAC's eight-year discussions with the Roman Catholic Church, were expected to follow before the leaders parted ways early in the week.

Morse, now 80 and the leader of the APCK since its inception some 25 years ago, told TCC he believes "rapport" was established among the leaders at Fond du Lac, and he seemed open to the possibility of further similar encounters. He indicated his concern that Continuers fulfill Christ's basic call to Christians to be "people who love one another."

Moyer told TCC that, in the APCK, Archbishop Morse "has something that works, something that he has sacrificed for that is bearing fruit." But he believes that the prelate is so committed to the "depth of Anglican Catholicism" that he knows that more is needed for the APCK's future.

Hepworth revealed that, when he was a young priest, Morse was his "hero" for his fight for the faith. Therefore, Hepworth said, it was "deeply moving" for him when he "knelt at the communion rail and received Holy Communion from Archbishop Morse personally."
The "emerging relationship" between the APCK and TAC/ACA which grew out of the Fond du Lac meeting was "deepened" by participation in the Evensong at Good Shepherd, he said.

The ACC bishops at Fond du Lac opted to refrain from receiving Holy Communion at any of the pilgrimage Masses, apparently due to the presence of bishops from the ACA, a body formed from a merger of part of the ACC and of the entire American Episcopal Church (dating from the 1960s) in 1991. But '"at least they appeared," Morse said.

Moreover, Hepworth said he had received from ACC Archbishop Brother John-Charles a document setting forth a "pathway" for closer ties between the TAC and ACC--an indication that the ACC's top leader, at least, sees greater unity among Continuers as a priority.

END

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