CNY Diocese sues Binghamton parish: "Kennedy is no longer a priest," says spokesperson

by Renee K. Gadoua
posted Sunday April 27, 2008
Syracuse Post-Standard
(update-full version now online-here)

The Episcopal Diocese of Central New York has filed a lawsuit seeking the property of a Binghamton congregation that opposes the denomination's policy on homosexuality.

It's the second such lawsuit filed by the diocese and among dozens of similar cases across the country as the Episcopal Church faces ongoing opposition from congregations that disapprove of the 2003 consecration of New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson. Robinson has publicly acknowledged being in a committed gay relationship.

In August, a settlement between the diocese and St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Syracuse stipulated that the diocese would retain the building at 5013 S. Salina St. while the breakaway parish would be allowed to remain there up to a year.

A third church, St. Andrew's in Vestal, has also broken from the Central New York Episcopal Church.

All three have affiliated with Anglican groups that consider homosexuality incompatible with Scripture.

In the latest case, involving Binghamton's Church of the Good Shepherd, the diocese filed a complaint April 15 in state Supreme Court in Broome County seeking "a full accounting and delivery of real and personal property of the church to the diocese."

The legal action came after the pastor, the Rev. Matthew Kennedy, renounced his ministry with the Episcopal Church and the parish voted to leave the Episcopal Church and affiliate with Anglican Church of Kenya, said the Rev. Karen C. Lewis, assistant to Bishop Gladstone "Skip" Adams. link and comments at the newspaper

The print version of the Syracuse Post-Standard (but not the online version above) cites the Rev. Karen Lewis, the canon to the ordinary for Bishop Gladstone “Skip” Adams, telling the newspaper reporter that “Kennedy is no longer a priest.” Fr. Matt Kennedy still refers to Adams as “Bishop Adams” and to the canon as the “Rev. Karen Lewis” despite their theological differences. But in the world of the Central New York Diocese, once you leave ECUSA for another Anglican jurisdiction (in Fr. Kennedy’s case, the Anglican Church of Kenya) you are no longer clergy. Wonder what the people in the CNY diocesan office would call a native Kenyan priest of the Anglican Communion? Apparently the correspondence to Fr. Kennedy from the bishop and his lawyer calling him “Mr. Kennedy” and “Matt Kennedy,” (see April 15, press release) was a pointed denial of Fr. Kennedy’s ordained status.