This article was first published in the March 26, 2000, issue of The Living Church.
The Rt. Rev. Charles H. Murphy III, consecrated bishop in Singapore Jan. 29, was interviewed recently by Patricia Nakamura.
I know you’ve been asked this many times, but I must ask you once more: Why was it necessary to do this right now?
We were responding to a crisis, a crisis in leadership, and a crisis in faith, that had been building up for 25 years. There’s a growing awareness that the description the House of Bishops gave of themselves in 1991 in Phoenix, [that] they were a dysfunctional house, is accurate, that they were unable to provide the correction necessary. There was an awareness that came out of the Kampala meeting in November, when the four AAC (American Anglican Council) bishops present stated that the Episcopal Church is in a deplorable state theologically … incapable of self-correction … we need an intervention … With the “come and see” visit [of Third World bishops to the U.S.] that produced serious concerns … along with the petition that had been mailed to 800 bishops around the world documenting the American church’s response to Lambeth, the archbishops who decided to act felt like that action was necessary, and that sometimes leadership needs to get out front, and cannot wait for consensus. Therefore, this was a pivotal moment. A decision was made completely on the highest levels of the Communion and it was their choice, their call, their decision.
Archbishop Carey stated in his letter to the Anglican bishops that the canons of South East Asia and of Rwanda were not followed.
That was inaccurate and it will emerge as inaccurate. … Archbishop Moses Tay has released a statement saying they were … followed. Bishop John Rucyahana of Rwanda, one of the consecrating bishops, said, “I am president of the constitution and canons committee, and I can tell you they were followed. I wrote the constitutions and canons of the Province of Rwanda.”
Why did you elect to do this before the primates’ meeting in Portugal?
Again, it was not my decision. This has been an archbishop-driven work and action … There was a concern … that it was unrealistic to expect the Portugal meeting in March to provide clear and decisive direction. It was not a legislative gathering and it was not the forum to make major decisions. They would have to tell you the reasons they felt it was important to act prior to Portugal.
You are on your way back to Rwanda this afternoon. Why is that?
Just for conversation and consultation. I’ve not spoken at any length with the leadership of Rwanda since I left Singapore in January. Now that I’ve been able to discuss things further with the First Promise roundtable and organization, I’ve been able to get some sense of the response in the American church. They have as well. We felt like a couple of days’ time to talk, discuss, consult, and plan would be valuable. So I said, “Here I am.”
When did you know that a consecration would take place?
We didn’t know for sure ’til we got there. I said to [Bishop] Ed Salmon [of South Carolina], this thing is being directed at the highest levels of this church, and they will do what they will do.
I must ask you: Who is paying for these trips?
We have funding sources from participating members of First Promise … and from special designated gifts. … It’s expensive to do this kind of work. But if you make the decision to do this work, go over the heads of the local church, the province, the Episcopal Church, to get leadership, you’d better have some money. Money is muscle; it makes things happen.
Can you tell me about Thursday’s [Feb. 24] First Promise meeting?
It was our first chance to come together since the Singapore consecrations. It was an opportunity for me to meet with the larger group, and with the advisory committee, which is made up of 18 people who sort of steer this work. … The larger group involving clergy and lay from around the country were here, and others—Reform of Ireland was here, a leader in this effort and work and cause in England. … We could present something of the story of the consecration, and answer questions. We had a brief video presentation of the consecration, so people could see, and count the hands.
How large is First Promise now?
It formed in September of 1997. It’s got a couple hundred clergy, congregations, and a thousand or so lay people—last time I asked it was about a thousand. It’s a coalition of orthodox, 501(c)(3) leaders, and clergy and lay leaders. … We have three episcopal advisers: FitzSimons Allison [retired, of South Carolina], Alex Dickson [retired, of West Tennessee], and Ben Benitez [retired, of Texas].
How would you identity this crisis of faith?
The crisis of faith is a crisis with the authority, the truth of the Bible, and the unique person of Jesus Christ, with his commands, his teachings—We’ve gotten very nervous about his unique claims. The international community began to say, if we’ve lost our confidence in the unique nature of Jesus Christ and therefore his command to go out and evangelize, make disciples, not just have conversations with other religions, but draw them into the family of the body of Christ. … The crisis of faith has expressed itself in a variety of ways. I would say one would be [Bishop of Newark] Jack Spong’s type of positions. One would be United Religions [Initiative], in which the voice of that gathering is, we need to step back from the exclusive claims of Christianity and have more of a United Nations opinion of religious thought. [Our Christian] values have become uncomfortable at the highest echelons of leadership, seminary professors.
What happens here in your diocese, your former diocese? How will you function?
Ed Salmon and I are committed to staying very much connected, and working together. He is committed to licensing me so that there is no disconnect. I will continue here at All Saints’. I’m now rector emeritus because I’m in another province. I will continue to bring my gifts and my leadership and my passion for the gospel to this community of faith, and I’ll stay very connected to Ed Salmon.
What will be your see? That is, how will you act in an episcopal capacity?
The archbishops who consecrated John Rodgers and me made it real clear that this is an interim action, not the creation of a new entity. It is intended to extend pastoral care and nurture to clergy, congregations and individuals, in dioceses that have become oppressive, restrictive to those of orthodox faith. The letter that came out of Kampala in November stated … that until orthodox episcopal oversight is restored in all dioceses there will be serious restrictions upon mission. … There is a growing consensus in the international community that there is a crisis in leadership and a crisis in faith. The archbishops asked us not to perform any episcopal actions until after the meeting in Portugal. We can visit, preach, teach, celebrate, the things any presbyter can do. Congregations are approaching us, asking to come under our oversight.
Do you expect this will be people sent only to the United States, or is Europe, England, a concern also?
The archbishops will take that up in Portugal, and the two provinces sending missionary bishops will cross those bridges when they come to them.
Will there be more archbishops taking part?
Lambeth ’98 shows us clearly the position of other provinces, other than the United States, Canada, perhaps Scotland, the larger Anglican family. That’s a clue. The fact that a number of provinces have come together for the meetings that First Promise has sponsored, that’s a clue. The interest and concern voiced in the “come and see” report is a clue. The discussions are on a much higher level than I. My sense is they have a strong resolve to see this through to a successful conclusion.
What about the “continuing churches”?
There are scores … a serious family of Christians that care about the gospel and about Anglican expression of deeply theological faith. I would want to have conversations with all the continuing churches and all Christians who care about Anglican expression and ethos of the Christian faith. Several have made contact with us … to hold conversations. I would like to talk to anyone and everyone who wants to have a conversation. We’ll see where this thing could go.
How much weight does the question of homosexual people, gay ordinations, have in all of this?
I think issues of human sexuality and other hot-button issues are symptoms of the problem. … Lambeth has spoken clearly about the authority of Scripture. If the teachings of the gospel, one, holy, catholic, apostolic are held up, hot-button issues can be resolved, and clearly. Lambeth said homosexuality is incompatible with Scripture. I don’t know if the beloved prodigal daughter, the Episcopal Church, wants to come under the authority of the larger mind of the Anglican Communion—or the Roman church, or the Russian Orthodox, or the Greek Orthodox, or the major evangelical and Protestant churches. The larger body of Christ is not operating in a theological vacuum. The question is not, “Do we have any direction on hot-button issues?” but “Do we have any desire to conform to the mind of Christ, as embodied in the larger gatherings?”
Have you spoken with [Presiding] Bishop Griswold?
No.
Do you expect to?
I wouldn’t expect he’d be interested in talking with me. I believe he’s concerned about this latest development. My counsel to him is that this needs to be discussed at the highest levels of the Communion.
In a move that decisively shaped the future of Anglican realignment, the primates of South East Asia and Rwanda consecrated Charles Murphy III (1947-2018) and John Rodgers Jr. (1930-2022) as missionary bishops on January 29, 2000. Rodgers was the former dean and president of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry (now Trinity Anglican Seminary).
Growing out of several years of consultation between North American and Global South conservatives, the consecration provoked accusations of “border crossing,” and set what has become an enduring precedent. Murphy had been among the drafters of “First Promise,” a 1997 statement that declared that the Episcopal Church and General Convention’s authority were “fundamentally impaired” because they no longer held “the truth of the gospel.”
The First Promise Movement helped to organize bishops from the Global South before the 1998 Lambeth Conference, which passed Resolution 1.10, which commits the Anglican Communion to a traditional understanding of human sexuality. The next year, Murphy and Rodgers were nominated by a group of priests from the First Promise Movement to oversee conservative parishes in the Episcopal Church.
The Anglican primates met in Porto, Portugal, on March 20-29, 2000, and in the communiqué released after the meeting, they endorsed the pastoral letter issued by Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey the previous month that called the Singapore consecrations “irresponsible and irregular,” which a spokesperson later defined as “valid but illegal.”
The primates claimed that they were divided over whether liberal teaching about human sexuality undermined proclamation of the gospel, and said the action taken by the Rwandan and South East Asian primates “without appropriate consultation poses serious questions for the life of the Communion.”
They urged individual provinces to make appropriate provisions for alternative episcopal oversight to deal with divisions in these matters and resolved to meet more often, given the intensity of disagreement and the constructiveness of collegial discussion. They would meet eight times in the following decade, more than a third of all meetings held since the Instrument of Communion was established in 1979.
Under Murphy’s leadership, the First Promise Movement established the Anglican Mission in the Americas in July 2000 under the leadership of the Archbishops Tay and Kolini, It would eventually incorporate a similar body in Canada and become a missionary diocese of the Anglican Church in Rwanda. When Murphy retired as its bishop in 2013, he said it had planted 268 congregations.
Conflict broke out within the church over the decision to break ties with the Rwandan Church and to affiliate with the Anglican Church in America in 2009. Now known as The Anglican Mission, and affiliated with neither of the larger churches, it has 13 congregations in the United States and nine in Canada.
