Connecticut Six Statement in Response to the Panel of Reference Communiqué

The Panel of Reference yesterday issued a communiqué outlining it progress to date on three references made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, including the request for intervention filed by six Connecticut Parishes. In response, the wardens representing the Parishes issued the following statement:

We, our priests, vestries and congregations, were shocked and gravely disappointed to learn of the Panel of Reference’s actions in causing the Archbishop of Canterbury to withdraw his referral of our applications to the Panel. Our congregations appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, requesting he refer our situation to the Panel of Reference in July 2005 in light of the abusive and hostile actions of the Rt. Rev. Andrew Smith, Bishop of Connecticut.

Our circumstances certainly met the criteria established by the Primates in their February 2005 Communiqué calling for establishment of the Panel of Reference to "supervise the adequacy of pastoral provisions made by any churches (that were experiencing) serious theological dispute with their diocesan bishops." We have not only experienced extreme theological disputes, but Bishop Smith has also provoked civil litigation by displacing parish control over property and assets by unlawfully seizing all property and assets of St. John’s, Bristol, inhibiting and deposing its priest, installing a Priest-in-Charge without consultation with the vestry, and thereafter attempting to displace its wardens and vestry. Bishop Smith also seized the investment accounts of Christ Church in Watertown, Christ & The Epiphany Church in East Haven and Bishop Seabury Church in Groton, but returned those assets to the Parishes after civil litigation was started. Notwithstanding, we have had no contact with, or personal communication from, the Panel or the Archbishop.

the rest at Connecticut Six