During the six-month period, Section Two of Canon 10 allows for a clergy person who is inhibited to provide a written and signed statement representing "a good faith denial" of specific declarations or actions upon which the inhibition is based. Church law is clear that if the bishop is "reasonably satisfied" that such a statement "constitutes a good faith denial" the bishop "shall withdraw the notice and the Inhibition shall expire." Given the fact that the bishop has failed to provide evidence to corroborate his charges, and in light of Father Hansen's statement of denial, it is hoped that Bishop Smith will immediately lift the inhibition.

Bishop Smith has been the center of a strong theological dispute with St. John's as well as five other churches in his diocese, and each congregation has appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury for alternative oversight as called for by the Primates of the Anglican Communion. Bishop Smith has for two months threatened inhibition of the so-called "Connecticut Six" clergy for "abandonment of Communion". Orthodox leaders in the Episcopal Church have strongly condemned Bishop Smith's recent actions against Father Hansen as an unfounded and unsubstantiated abuse of canon law.

END

HANSEN'S LETTER TO BISHOP SMITH

EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF CONNECTICUT
IN THE MATTER OF CANON IV.10. 2.
STATEMENT

THE REV. DR. MARK H. HANSEN UNDER INHIBITION

JULY 27, 2005

GOOD FAITH DENIAL OF THE COMMISSION OF ANY ACT OR THE MAKING OF ANY DECLARATION CONSTITUTING THE ABANDONMENT OF THE COMMUNION OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

1. On July 12 and 13, 2005 Bishop Andrew A. Smith (the "Bishop"), issued a Notice of Inhibition against the undersigned, pursuant to Title IV, Canon 10, Section 1 of the Constitutions and Canons ("Canons") of The Episcopal Church in the United States of America (variously, the "Episcopal Church" or "ECUSA").

2. I have never by any act or declaration of mine, cited and relied upon by the Standing Committee in its determinations of March 17, 2005 and April 29, 2005; and, or in the alternative, relied on by the Bishop in his affirmations of July 12 and 13, 2005 made "an open renunciation of the Doctrine, Discipline, or Worship of this Church, or [sought] ... formal admission into any religious body not in Communion with this Church" or abandoned the Communion of this Church "in any other way".

3. Specifically, I deny the Standing Committee's mixed conclusions of fact and ecclesiastical law respecting abandonment of the Communion of the Church, as set forth in its report to Bishop Smith, including headings III through VI, as follows,

a. My good faith efforts to seek adequate Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight for my Parish under no circumstances are intended by me to constitute an abandonment of the Communion of the Church, but are, instead, a continuing effort on my part to preserve the Communion of the Church, in accordance with my understanding of the directives of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the determinations of the Primates, the Windsor Report and the resolutions of the House of Bishops and the statements of the Presiding Bishop and Bishop's Smith's provisional views with respect thereto.

b.I have never rejected, and do not reject, Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight (DEPO), as a concept; and by my actions and words in respect thereof, I never intended to abandon the Communion of the Church, but to preserve it.

c. I have never rejected and do not reject oversight "as required by the Constitution and Canons for the Government of the Episcopal Church of America, and under the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese of Connecticut." By my actions and words in respect of oversight, I never intended to abandon the Communion of the Church, but to preserve it.

d. Neither I nor St. John's has ever denied the Bishop an opportunity to visit, and there are no findings of the Standing Committee which support such a conclusion.

4 I deny, in good faith, each and all of the imputations of abandonment of the Communion of the Church whether recited in, or to be inferred from, the Notice of Inhibition of July 12, 2005 and Bishop Smith's letter to me of July 13, 2005, as well as any imputations of abandonment of the Communion of the Church contained in document annexed to the July 13 letter and entitled "AFFIRMATION OF THE BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT CONCERNING THE ABANDONMENT OF COMMUNION BY THE REVEREND MARK H. HANSEN". I specifically deny, without limiting the generality of the foregoing. that any statement made to my parishioners about my service as their pastor refer to anything other than the commencement of my sabbatical leave and I specifically state that:

a. I have never resigned or abandoned my responsibilities as Rector of St. John's, but, in good faith, arranged a sabbatical leave upon terms and conditions of my contract with St. John's, as understood by me and the Wardens and Vestry of St. John's.

b. I have, in good faith, sought to comply with all applicable canons and my actions have been predicated on my good faith understanding of, and compliance with, those canons.

c. Moreover, I have never intended to abandon the Communion of the Church by taking a sabbatical leave; accepting employment; caring for my family and making provision for a home for them; or by any act or statement of mine concerning the discharge of my duties as Pastor and Rector of St. John's. Moreover, the findings in the Bishop's affirmation do not purport to support the determination of the Standing Committee that I have abandoned the Communion of the Church.
Father Mark H. Hansen