The 18-month-long impasse between a vestry in Accokeek, Maryland, and the Diocese of Washington over the election of a rector was broken August 29 with the issuance of a joint statement between the vestry and Bishop John Chane, naming the Revd Stephen Arpee as the parish's new rector. Fr Arpee has served, in recent months, as priest-in-charge for the parish.

Agreement was reached between Bishop Chane and the vestry during a series of private conversations conducted since early June. The conversations involved the Bishop, diocesan chancellor Paul Cooney, senior warden Barbara Sturman and other members of the vestry.

The agreement also binds the Accokeek vestry not to appeal to the Supreme Court, a decision in the case of Bishop Dixon v Fr Edwards. The case was brought by Washington's then-bishop pro tempore, Jane Holmes Dixon, in June 2001 asking that a federal judge prohibit the Revd Samuel Lee Edwards from officiating at Christ Church and declare his contract with the parish invalid, and prohibiting the vestry from barring Bishop Dixon from performing episcopal acts there. Two lower federal courts had ruled in Bishop Dixon's favour.

"The course of events involving the Parish and the Diocese over the past several years has been painful for all concerned," said the statement. "However, even as all concerned must acknowledge this pain, it is essential to affirm that the call of the Gospel is a call to live into a relationship in the future that is grounded firmly on our common commitment to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our recent discussions have offered the opportunity to discuss areas of disagreement in the context of mutual respect and trust."

The Accokeek vestry has agreed that the parish will "resume its participation in both the legislative and pastoral life of the Diocese of Washington," and Bishop Chane is to conduct a regular visitation to Christ Church on 22 September 2002. He was consecrated as the eighth Bishop of Washington in June. Bishop Dixon retired as suffragan bishop on August 31.

Controversy in court

The vestry and the diocese had been embroiled in controversy since March 2001, when Bishop Dixon informed the vestry that she refused Fr Edwards' election as rector on the grounds that he was not "duly qualified," based on reports of his teachings while executive director of the traditionalist group Forward in Faith/North America (FIF/NA) and on what Bishop Dixon termed his "unwillingness to guarantee his obedience" her as his bishop and his "lack of commitment to keeping Christ Church and church property" in the Episcopal Church. Fr Edwards' backers claimed that Bishop Dixon had exceeded a canonical time limit for objection to his election, while her attorneys argued that no such time limit existed in the canons.

Fr Edwards and his family moved into the parish rectory, and he continued to function there as an unlicensed priest beyond the 60 days permitted by canon. The following Sunday, Bishop Dixon was met at the parish door by vestry members who refused to allow her to officiate at services and threatened her and her supporters with criminal trespass charges. Shortly afterward, she filed suit and, in October 2001, a federal district judge ruled in her favour, ordering Fr Edwards to vacate the rectory.

An appeals court upheld the decision in May 2002, stating that "in the Episcopal Church the priests and the laity of a diocese are subject to the authority of their bishop." A month later, Fr Edwards renounced his orders as an Episcopal priest in order to be received as a priest in the Anglican Province of Christ the King (APCK), a breakaway church formed in 1977 to protest the ordination of women and the proposed revision of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer by the Episcopal Church.

Presentment charges were filed against both Bishop Dixon and Fr Edwards during the controversy. The charges against Dixon were dropped by the Title IV review committee, while one of the charges against Fr Edwards was sustained and a trial set for his home diocese of Fort Worth. The trial was cancelled in light of his renunciation of orders and he was deposed by Fort Worth bishop, Jack Leo Iker.

Article from: ENS by Jan Nunley