An extinct parish celebrates the Eucharist
by Douglas LeBlanc

IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. — On a bright and cool Sunday morning in this suburb of Rochester, the tensions between the Diocese of Rochester and an evangelical congregation led to this spectacle: Bishop Jack McKelvey sat in protest, sometimes chatting and sometimes silent, through a Holy Eucharist.

One day before, on Nov. 19, the diocese’s annual convention agreed to a proposal from the diocesan council that made All Saints Protestant Episcopal Church extinct, at least in the eyes of the diocese. Approval of this resolution, based on a rare diocesan canon, means the diocese considers the Rev. David Harnish, rector of All Saints since 1986, its former rector; considers the All Saints vestry dissolved; and considers the building and all assets of the parish to be in diocesan hands.

The approved resolution resulted from the parish’s repeatedly declining to pay its $16,000 apportionment for 2005. Parish leaders said their consciences no longer allow them to support the diocese because it favors ordaining gay clergy and blessing gay couples. For All Saints, these leaders said, it became a question of the authority Scripture has over the lives of Christians.

In a letter dated Nov. 15, McKelvey attempted to forbid Harnish from celebrating the Eucharist on Nov. 20, the morning after diocesan convention’s vote.

The rest at the ACN website