An Open Letter to Bishop Peter Lee, Diocese of Virginia from Bishop Orombi, Archbishop of Uganda - January 5, 2006

 

The Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee
Diocese of Virginia
Richmond, VA
USA

Dear Bishop Lee,

The Rt. Rev. Benezeri Kisembo, Bishop of Rwenzori Diocese, has my full blessing and support in receiving the Rev. Phil Ashey from Fairfax, Virginia, as a priest of his diocese. Rev. Ashey is now canonically resident in Rwenzori Diocese and he is a priest in good standing of the Church of Uganda. We have asked him to continue the good work of church planting he has been doing in the South Riding community in Virginia.

I must object, in the most strenuous terms, to your characterization of Rev. Ashey's decision to resign as a Missioner of the Diocese of Virginia as a renunciation of his holy orders. I have seen his letter to Bishop Jones. Even those of us for whom English is a second language understand his plain English to mean that he has resigned from the staff of the Diocese of Virginia, but not from his priestly orders.

This kind of re-inventing of the plain meaning of a text is the same problem we are facing today throughout the Anglican Communion with regard to bishops and leaders in ECUSA reinventing the plain meaning of Scripture. Rev. Ashey resigned from his position in your diocese, but in no way can his letter be construed to mean that he has renounced his holy orders. Like all of our clergy ordained in the Church of Uganda, Rev. Ashey was ordained into Christ's one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. He requested our ecclesiastical oversight as a priest, which we gladly extended to him, and we recognize his continuing holy orders.

Your refusal to recognize Rev. Ashey's holy orders in the Church of Uganda has huge implications for your understanding of the interchangeability of holy orders and the nature of the Anglican Communion. Accordingly, we accept your written press release of 20th December 2005 as your notice that the Bishop and Diocese of Virginia have broken communion with the Church of Uganda.

We are grieved by the continued unbiblical actions of the leadership of ECUSA that has led it to walk apart from the majority of the Anglican Communion. We pray for your repentance and the repentance of all the ECUSA leadership, and for your return to the historic faith and communion of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.

Yours in Christ,

The Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi
ARCHBISHOP OF CHURCH OF UGANDA.
 

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Response to press release: "Bishop Accepts Missioner's Departure as Renunciation" - December 2005

The Right Reverend Peter James Lee
The Diocese of Virginia
110 W. Franklin Street
Richmond, VA 23320

Dear Bishop Lee,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

I am writing to you in response to the Diocesan Press Release that I received shortly after our phone conversation yesterday. Since the intent of your action and the Standing Committee contradicts the plain language of Canon III.13, let me restate and reiterate the facts:

1. On the first Saturday after the Epiphany 1989 the Right Reverend Frederick H. Borsch, Bishop of Los Angeles, conferred Holy Orders upon me and ordained me a Priest in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church (emphasis added)

2. By faxed letter November 13, 2005, my request for transfer of canonical residence (and hence, Holy Orders) was received and approved by the Right Reverend Benezeri Kisembo, Bishop of Ruwenzori, Anglican Church of Uganda.

3. On Monday November 14, 2005 I submitted my letter of resignation as missioner of South Riding Church and an employee of the Diocese of Virginia.

4. On Monday November 28, 2005 I met with you (my wife Julie, also being present), and declined to sign the Canon III.13 Declaration you had prepared for me, renouncing ordained ministry.

5. On Tuesday November 28, 2005, I met with the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Virginia as a courtesy to you and Bishop Jones for the years of ministry we have shared in Virginia. I reiterated to the Standing Committee my refusal to sign the Canon III.13 declaration of renunciation, the transfer of my canonical residence to Uganda, and my renewed sense of calling to ordained ministry. Written transcripts of my remarks, as well as an audio recording, are available.

These facts are a matter of record, and they do not support a judgment under Canon III.13

Canon III.13 requires a Priest to "declare, in writing a renunciation of the ordained Ministry of this Church, and a desire to be removed there from..." Moreover, the effect of such a written declaration is to deprive said Priest "of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority as a minister of God's Word and Sacraments conferred in Ordination." (Canon III.13, Sec. 1, emphasis added) Clearly, the intent of Canon III.13 is to provide clergy who, for reasons other than those affecting moral character, wish to voluntarily renounce the gifts and spiritual authority conferred in ordination in Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

There is only one Holy Order to which a Priest is ordained, and it is neither American nor Ugandan. I have not renounced the Holy Orders conferred upon me at ordination. I have not renounced the spiritual gifts and authority that were conferred upon me in ordination as a minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I have not renounced the Ordained Ministry--in fact, I have reaffirmed my Orders and calling to Ordained Ministry in all of my communications. I have not signed the written declaration mandated by Canon III.13.

If your intent is to remove me as a Minister of the Episcopal Church, the use of Canon III.13 is overbroad. I have only changed my "address" from ECUSA to the Church of Uganda. As I mentioned to you and the Standing Committee, an appropriate exercise of Canon Law would be to refuse to license me to function in any ECUSA church, as you might refuse any priest from another province of the Communion.

On the other hand, if your intent under Canon III.13 is to render a judgment that I have renounced Holy Orders and the Priesthood in Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church; my answer is simple. A resignation is not a renunciation. And by no stretch of the imagination can it be made so without my voluntary renunciation of ordained ministry according to the language of Canon III.13.

I know that we are both interested in finding a gracious way through the heartbreaking divisions that have come upon us in the Anglican Communion as a result of the decisions of GC2003. But the wrongful exercise of Canon III.13, in my case, no more serves those interests than the wrongful exercise of Canon IV.10 in other Dioceses.

My fervent prayer is that, someday, we may again find common ground in Christ and the authority of his Word.

Respectfully yours,

Rev. J. Philip Ashey, Vicar
South Riding Church (Anglican)
Diocese of Ruwenzori, Anglican Church of Uganda

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South Riding Church Disaffiliates from the Episcopal Church - November 2005

As of November 14, 2005, South Riding Church (SRC) has ended its affiliation with the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) and the Diocese of Virginia. The church is now under the jurisdictional authority of Bishop Kisembo in the Diocese of Ruwenzori, Anglican Province of Uganda.

SRC is a biblically faithful church committed to the authority of Scripture, traditional Christian teaching and the historic faith and practice of Anglicanism. The decision to disaffiliate with the Episcopal Church was motivated by a commitment to biblical faithfulness and a desire to remain connected with the Anglican Communion. In a congregational meeting held yesterday, members voted overwhelmingly to join the Diocese of Ruwenzori.   See the original Press Release.