After a backlash from Catholic laity, the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia has withdrawn its plan to consecrate its next bishop, Susan Bunton Haynes, at St Bede’s Catholic Church in Williamsburg.
The flap is surely the most interesting religious affairs story in years for the sleepy little town best known for its “Republican Disneyland” colonial historical park. Now the consecration will take place at Williamsburg Community Chapel, one of the larger Evangelical churches in town. The primary consecrator is still expected to be Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, who famously preached at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The two most distinguished religious spaces in Williamsburg, where Haynes will be based once she is installed, are Anglican. One is Bruton Parish Church, in the historic area of Colonial Williamsburg, and the chapel of the Wren Building of the College of William and Mary. The previous Episcopal Bishop of Southern Virginia was consecrated in what is now the college’s basketball stadium. St Bede’s also operates a campus facility that contains the American shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
By the time the Episcopalians withdrew their request, a petition opposing the use of St Bede’s was signed by more than 3,000 people. The laws that govern such ecumenical events are clear that this kind of ceremony is permitted (with, as the bishop insisted, the consecrated hosts removed from the sanctuary). And it has happened before. But whether it is a good thing is another matter. As Fr John Zuhlsdorf wrote on his blog: “The short answer is: Yes, this is allowed. The longer answer involves whether or not it should be allowed.”
A letter dated January 14 from Mgr Joseph Lehman, the pastor of St Bede’s, explained the circumstances of the proposed arrangement: “The Diocese of Southern Virginia made contact with the former pastor of St Bede (Msgr Timothy Keeney) in early December of 2018 to inquire about the use of the church (nave and commons), Kaplan Hall (our event/receptions venue), and the other spaces here for this significant event in the life of their diocese.”
A day later Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond (pictured speaking at the US bishops’ plenary assembly) weighed in with a letter of his own saying, “the offer of hospitality to a Christian neighbour in need is an act of charity and well within the teachings of ecumenism and the norms provided by the Church for ecumenical activities.”
Tue enough, but there are both historical ironies and contemporary controversies that would have made this consecration somewhat fraught. For one thing, it would have most of Virginia’s colonial and early republican Anglicans turning in their graves. The first Anglican cleric in Virginia was described by Edward Wingfield, first president of the colony, as “a man not in any way to be touched with the rebellious humours of a popish spirit, nor blemished with the least suspicion of a factious schismatic.” Samuel Wilberforce wrote in his history of American Anglicanism that “the Papists and the Indians were believed to be in secret league against the colony.”
Moreover, Virginian Anglicanism is, historically, extremely Protestant. The mother diocese, which now covers the northern part of the state, is so low church that it has a retreat centre instead of a cathedral. The 18th-century religious spaces one finds across the Tidewater, the ones associated with most of the Founding Fathers, are especially Protestant in their austere decoration.
Even as recently as 1912, the diocesan convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia passed a slate of anti-Catholic resolutions. One objected to “sectarian” schools where “Indian children” were being taught by priests and nuns “wearing their distinctive religious garb”. Another objecting to Catholic Masses being celebrated on public property in Washington, DC, for Memorial Day.
Setting aside issues like the invalidity of Anglican orders or the impossibility of ordaining women, some Catholics might argue that it is a false ecumenism to roll out the red carpet for a denomination that has spent tens of millions of dollars suing more conservative Anglicans for possession of their parish buildings in the very recent past.
It is good to hope, pray and act for unity. It is not good to pretend that unity exists where there is none. It is the Episcopal Church that has divided itself from the broader Christian world, including much of the Anglican Communion, through its deviations from moral orthodoxy. In my view, the truer gesture of ecumenism would be to deny Episcopalians the use of any Catholic spaces in solidarity with those Anglicans who also recognise the Episcopal Church to be in an impaired state of communion with them.
It is to those who are disaffected with the Episcopal Church whom Catholics should really be making overtures. The church of Pete Buttigieg is, I’m sorry to say, a lost cause. It may not even exist in 50 years.
As for the conservative Anglicans, maybe the best way to alleviate their scepticism toward the Catholic Church’s claims of leadership of the Christian world, is to show that Catholics can actually lead it.
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