Bishop Schori Says One Thing, but Does the Opposite
Commentary by Raymond Dague,
Attorney for St. Andrews Church in Syracuse, New York
Tuesday, February 27, 2007

It took Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori less time to go back on her word this year than it did for the former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold to go back on his word in 2003.

On February 19, 2007 Bishop Schori as one of the primates at the Dar es Salaam meeting in Tanzania signed a communique which said that:

"We are deeply concerned that so great has been the estrangement between some of the faithful and The Episcopal Church that this has led to recrimination, hostility and even to disputes in the civil courts.

"The Primates urge the representatives of The Episcopal Church and of those congregations in property disputes with it to suspend all actions in law arising in this situation. We also urge both parties to give assurances that no steps will be taken to alienate property from The Episcopal Church without its consent or to deny the use of that property to those congregations." Communique-ACNS

At the exact moment she and the other primates penned those words, Mrs. Schori’s lawyers in Washington, D.C. were seeking to intervene in lawsuits pending in New York and Virginia in attempts to seize the local parishes from the worshipers who built and paid for them, and who worship in them on every Sunday. What a perfect time this was to drop her attempts to seize these local churches, and in doing so demonstrate that she was a woman and bishop of integrity who meant what she said!

Alas, it is apparently not to be. Yesterday, Mrs. Schori’s lawyers sent 91 pages of papers to be filed today in the state supreme court in Syracuse in their attempt to seize one parish. Those papers are part of her attempt to intervene in the lawsuit that the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York brought last summer against St. Andrews Church in Syracuse at the behest of Bishop Gladstone “Skip” Adams, III. In this lawsuit the Diocese, and now the Episcopal Church, seeks to seize the local church of St. Andrews in Syracuse, New York from its parishioners.

With the papers of her lawyers dated February 26, 2007, Mrs. Schori can give no excuse for her behavior, other than to admit the obvious: She signed the Dar es Salaam communique only to get along with the other primates. She never meant what she said, and never intended to do what she said. The pious words of her statements were just for show. They cannot be taken seriously, because it took her only seven days between her saying one thing, and have her lawyers do the exact opposite.

There is nothing in the legal papers sent to me by her attorneys seeking “to suspend all actions in law.” The papers contain nothing to allow the people of St. Andrews the use of its property, despite her communique that she would not “deny the use of that property to those congregations.” The legal papers do the exact opposite. They are part of a well funded legal campaign which is being prosecuted against parishes nationwide to take the church buildings from those who have worshiped in them.

Perhaps it is strangely appropriate that this little parish in snowy upstate New York be the first one against which she displayed her contempt for her fellow primates and the communique to which she solemnly affixed her signature. After all, when her lawyers filed legal papers against St. Andrews Church in Syracuse in mid-January, it was the first parish in the country to be targeted by the new presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in her struggle to enforce her rule over a parish which refuses to accept her theology.

The last presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Frank Griswold, completely destroyed his credibility with the primates of the Global South when he did something similar. On October 16, 2003 Bishop Griswold signed a primates statement which told the Episcopal Church that to proceed to consecrate a man as bishop living in a relationship with his same-sex partner would “tear the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level,” “tear the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level,” and warned the American church not to do it. Yet 17 days later Frank Griswold was the man who was the principal bishop to do that which he himself said should not be done. He consecrated a homosexual bishop for the Diocese of New Hampshire as that new bishop’s male partner proudly watched the ceremony.

It took Frank Griswold 17 days to go back on his word. It took Bishop Schori only 7 days. Will the bishops of the Anglican Communion, or for that matter will anyone, take Bishop Schori’s word seriously after this? Only the most gullible should believe her at this point.

The case is on for the argument of motions on Thursday, March 1, 2007 in Syracuse, including Bishop Schori’s motion to intervene in this lawsuit on the side of Bishop Adams and the Diocese of Central New York. Her lawyers will be up from Washington to try to convince the judge to let them into the case. The people of St. Andrews Church in Syracuse covet the prayers of all as the Central New York Diocese and the Episcopal Church tries to take their church away from them.

Raymond Dague is the attorney for St. Andrews Church in Syracuse, New York and is defending the lawsuit brought against it by the Diocese of Central New York and the Episcopal Church. http://www.DagueLaw.com