Brazilian Bishops to Canterbury: Don't Allow Reinvention of Communion
11/29/2005

The House of Bishops of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB) has written to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams questioning his impartiality over the Recife crisis.

In a Nov. 14 letter, 12 active and retired IEAB bishops defended the deposition of Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti of Recife for “disregard” of his fellow bishops and for performing an illicit confirmation in the Diocese of Ohio in 2004. Bishop Cavalcanti’s trial by the Brazilian House of Bishops conformed to canon law, and should be recognized by the wider Church, they said.

The bishops also defended the deposition without trial of 32 Recife clergy, saying the canons permitted the priests’ removal for “abandoning the communion of this Church” after they had refused to disown Bishop Cavalcanti and support the replacement named by them.

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