FW: 'Connecticut Six' suit stops consideration by Archbishop of Canterbury's Panel of Reference

The self-proclaimed “Connecticut Six” thought they were so clever when they appealed for help from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Panel of Reference and filed suit against Connecticut Episcopal Bishop Drew Smith.

After all, Bishop Smith was unworthy to be their bishop – he had voted in support of making Gene Robinson our church’s first gay bishop – and clearly Anglican ‘orthodoxy’ allows parish priests to select their own bishop. Of course,  the idea of priests selecting their own bishops is bupkis, it is in fact just about as unorthodox as notion as one can  advance in the Anglican Communion. The geographical nature of a Bishop’s diocese has been clear since the earliest days of the Apostolic succession. But tradition is not the same as the new forged “orthodoxy” of the “Connecticut Six.”

Unfortunately for these six priests, Connecticut state law does not allow a priest or parish to take their building or endowment with them if they leave the Diocese of Connecticut. Worse the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Panel of Reference has a simple rule: they won’t consider cases that are also the subject of civil suits. Until the legal action against Bishop Smith and the diocese of Connecticut is resolved, the panel cannot consider the plight of the “Connecticut Six.”

The "Connecticut Six" are, of course, appalled/enraged/upset that the panel is actually following its own rules. They think the Archbishop of Canterbury should interceded on t heir behalf, should demand that his panel help them.

Which is all to the good: let the Archbishop spend some time with these men and see what they are really like and what they really want.

The decision of the Archbishop’s panel in this case is as follows:

“The second reference relates to the Diocese of Connecticut in the Episcopal Church USA, and to an appeal by six parishes against the oversight of their Bishop.  In January of this year, however, civil proceedings were initiated in respect of matters connected with these situations.  The Panel decided last year as a matter of principle that it should not normally consider references where civil cases are proceeding.  The Panel is not a court, and its recommendations, which may be published with the consent of the Archbishop of Canterbury, have moral and pastoral force.  Civil proceedings should either have come to completion or be stayed if the work of the Panel is to have space in which to operate.  On this basis, the Archbishop of Canterbury has withdrawn the reference to the Panel until such time as the matter of the civil cases has been resolved.” Full statement here.