The Anglican Province of America

The Most Rev. Walter Grundorf     Presiding Bishop

 DEUS Synod Report

and Address 2008

by The Most Rev. Walter Grundorf    

To our Bishops, Priests and Deacons, to all lay delegates and observers, invited guests and visitors, greetings and welcome to the 40^th annual Synod of the Diocese of the Eastern United States. 

No one here today was part of this tiny fledgling church 40 some years ago.  I came along in August, 1971 and have been around through the various metamorphoses that we as a church and diocese have been through.  Fr. Mark Clavier was born in 1970 so he is the longest standing member of this Church and Diocese in attendance today.  Through all of the ups and downs of those years, the Lord has preserved us to the present time.  This is the first Synod held in the State of Maryland.  Many thanks to Bishop Loiselle and the Synod Coordinator, Betty Royer, and all of the hard working folks of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Crownsville, Maryland, for this glorious venue for this year’s Synod.  With all the frustration of getting the new church building completed with delays of nearly a year, they have labored on with Synod preparation.  We are all anxious to worship in the new building for our Synod Eucharist.  St. Paul’s has truly demonstrated how God’s people can work together for the common good despite obstacles and achieve their goal.   Bishop Loiselle, in addition to serving as the Rector of St. Paul’s, is our Area Dean for Maryland and Delaware.  I will give Bishop Loiselle the opportunity to bring greetings to us and a welcome to the area later today.

I also want to welcome our guest from other jurisdictions. A very special welcome to our new intercommunion partners from the Communion of Christ the Redeemer (CCR).  Bishop Richard Lipka is the President of their Convocation.  Four Bishops of the Anglican Province America (APA) and Bishops Lipka and Miles signed the intercommunion document which is essentially the same as the document we signed with the Reformed Episcopal Church ten years ago.  Although the CCR comes from a different liturgical tradition than the APA, they share in common our Classical Anglican doctrine and discipline.   I will invite our guests to bring a word of greeting to this Body later.  Please make these our invited guests feel a warm and friendly welcome as they come sharing a like precious faith.  Also I would like to welcome the Rt. Rev. Paul Hewitt from the Diocese of the Holy Cross and Reverend Ian MacGregor from All Saints’ Anglican Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I will begin my address as I usually do to this assembled body by giving a report of my activities over the past 11 months.  Our Suffragan Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Peter Brewer, will give his report later this morning.

 Diocesan Bishop’s Activities:

Presiding Bishop’s Activities:

v Episcopal visitations: 18

v New/Potential congregations visits: 1

v Confirmation: 70

v Ordinations: 3

v Prospective clergy meetings: 9

v New clergy received: 8

v Ecumenical meetings: 6

v House of Bishops meetings: 3

v Standing Committee meetings: 2

v Deanery Meetings: 2

v Provincial Council Meetings: 1

v Building Dedications: 1

v Clergy meetings: 3

v Miscellaneous: 5

 Suffragran Bishop’s Activities

v Episcopal visitations: 3

v Confirmation: 8

v Ordinations: 1

v Ecumenical meetings: 1

v House of Bishops meetings: 2

v Standing Committee meetings: 2

v Deanery Meetings: 2

v Retreats: 1

v Clergy meetings: 1

v Miscellaneous: 6

Statistics for our Diocesan YE 2007 are as follows:

v No. of Congregations: 43 

v No. of Communicants:  3460

v Total Membership:  3909

v  

v Bishops: 5

v Priests: 69

v Deacons: 11

v Total Clergy: 85

v Deaconesses: 4

 I want to welcome all new clergy who have joined the Diocese and Province since our last Synod.  I would like to ask each of them to stand and be recognized at this time as their names are called.  The Rev. David Chatel, Holy Spirit Anglican Church, Mobile, Alabama;  the Rev. Robert Tufton, Holy Spirit Anglican Church, Hatfield, Pennsylvania.  I would also like to welcome the Rev. Edward Moore who was a deacon serving at All Saints, Charlottesville, Virginia and was Ordained to the Sacred Priesthood in December 2007.  We welcome Deaconess Deborah Kidd of St. George the Martyr Church, Greenville, South Carolina, as she was set aside as a Deaconess on November 1, 2007. 

I am pleased to announce the formation of a new mission in the Buffalo, New York area named Church of St. Nicholas.  Fr. Gene Bagen is serving as the priest-in-charge.  We also welcome St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Appomattox, Virginia which was an associate parish last year and has been officially received into full membership of the Diocese and Province.  Epiphany Church, Leesburg, Florida was formed last year as a church plant with three people and in a year they have grown to around 15.  They are now designated as an official mission of the diocese.  St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, Asheville, North Carolina, recently purchased an historic building in the Asheville.  They experienced a sizable increase in membership and are now asking to become parish church of the Diocese. 

It is my annual duty, privilege and honor as your Bishop to address you concerning the state of the Diocese and to issue a challenge on this occasion as we move into the new Synodical year.  There are a number of concerns that I would like to address as I issue my charge to this year’s Synod.

Clergy Concerns 

I feel a great burden and concern for our clergy.  Each one is part of my flock as the Chief Pastor and is precious to me. As I have officially entered the wonderful world of Medicare, it is easy to forget that the younger priests of our church often have real struggles finding health insurance.  For years the only option most of us had for decent health insurance coverage was a working wife.  Today, as well as years ago, without a working wife with health insurance, it then becomes the responsibility of the priest to get a high cost/high deductible policy that usually had little value other than for catastrophic disease.  The other unacceptable option is to do without any health coverage at all.  Under our Strategic Plan for the Diocese, we have a category called: Clergy Compensation.  Dr. Mary Bennett Williams is the champion of this part of the Plan and has formulated some ideas.  The primary problem encountered with attempting to set up a uniform compensation package for clergy is the tremendous diversity of the parishes and missions both in communicant and financial strength.  That being the case, I am in support of a percentage of the diocesan budget being set aside each year for a clergy assistance fund, specifically to assist a parish or mission with demonstrated need such as health insurance.  We have struggled for years trying to find a health coverage policy to cover everyone.  It is impossible to find it at an affordable rate.  This may be the only possible solution and then leave it the parish to find the actual policy locally.

I have additional concerns for our clergy.  Financial stress and unrealistic expectations are the usual reasons why there is clergy burn out.  I have seen enough casualties over the years to know the symptoms.  It seems that many lay people think that ordination provides some kind of magical pill that will automatically provide success to the parish.  There are so many factors that enter into the equation of success.  It should always be remembered that success in God’s eyes is not always the same as that in men’s eyes.  If financial success is the only indication of God’s blessing then we should all become Mormons.  What disturbs me so often is when I witness laymen going after a clergyman blaming him for the lack of growth in the church and yet never thinking about the fact that that parishioner has never bothered to invite anyone to church.  It must be a team effort with each person regardless of his calling in the church to help with the evangelism effort.  Complaining and criticizing has never been helpful in building this or any other church.  When new people visit the parish, the prevailing attitude will be detected by the visitor.  If you are positive and upbeat, it will be known in time.  The same is true of a negative attitude.  The lay leadership of each parish/mission must insist that their parish priest take a vacation and be out of touch from the everyday concerns of the congregation for no less than 2 weeks with a total of four weeks off in the course of the year.   Each clergyman of this church must deal with a host of issues both personal and ministerial and needs our support and prayers and time off to re-charge.

Growth and Expansion

Since the last part of 2007, we of the APA have been communicating with our friends who have departed from the Charismatic Episcopal Church (CEC). Part of their reason for departing the CEC was to be more Classically Anglican in catholic faith and order.   Upon departure from the CEC, this Body renamed themselves the Communion of Christ the Redeemer. They have been seeking a traditional Anglican jurisdiction to join and have narrowed their interest to a few, finally deciding that the APA was where they would feel at home.   In January 2008, I was invited to attend a meeting of the Communion of Christ the Redeemer (CCR) by the President of the Convocation, the Rt. Rev. Richard Lipka to speak to their assembled body to address them and answer questions about the APA.  It was a time of getting to know each other and to determine commonality.  Attending with me was Bishop Larry Shaver and Archdeacon Erich Zwingert.  We met a wonderful group of Christian people who are thoroughly Anglican in their doctrine and discipline.  While there are differences in our Liturgical expression, we share our traditional Anglican faith. 

The CCR will be attending the Provincial Synod of the APA in July 2008 to seek acceptance as a separate Convocation under our Constitution and Canons for the next four years.  This will be a time of assimilation as we come together under the banner of the APA.  There are 21 congregations in 4 dioceses in the CCR in addition to several other non-parish ministries. 

Along with this development, the Diocese of St. Augustine has experienced growth with the merging of another body from the CEC called the Missionary Society of St. John the Evangelist under the leadership of the Rt. Rev. Frederick Fick.  The Society requested reception into the Diocese of St. Augustine (DSA)/APA at a special Synod in April 2008.   As a result of the addition of these churches the DSA has voted to petition the APA to be a permanent geographical diocese of Mid-America.   The Synod also approved Bishop Shaver’s request to remain the Bishop Ordinary until age 75 to be a part of the transition.  We of the DEUS will be asked later to vote to cede territory in the Midwest to this Diocese.  This is all part of Provincial business, but it does have obvious impact upon our Diocese.   I have activated an Ecumenical Council to assure all jurisdictions applying for membership in the APA meet the standards of Traditional Anglicans. 

Part of our growth process this past year has been the implementation of a Strategic Plan.  Within this Plan, we have developed a Vision and Mission Statement.  Many thanks to Fr. Gene Mallard for his work in organizing this plan.  Our goals are stated as follows (the complete Plan is on the website):

1. To double the number of congregations in the Diocese. 
        Champion:  Dean Gene Mallard

2. To develop a foundation to underwrite the affairs of the Diocese. 
        Champion: D.J. Fulton

3. To encourage stability of Clergy through adequate compensation and benefits. 
        Champion:  Dr. Mary B. Williams

4. To improve education for clergy and implement uniform standards for postulants. 
        Champion:  Dean Douglas King

5. To develop an effective youth ministry and standardized Sunday School Program.     
        Champion:  Open

6.  To improve internal and external communication throughout DEUS and the APA. 
        Champion:  Gene O’Hara

7. To revitalize the richness of music in Anglican Worship Services. 
        Champion:  Mark Street

8. To secure an adequate number of Clergy to serve the needs of an expanding Diocese. 

        Champion:  Canon Chad Jones

9. To establish a permanent retreat/camp center.  Open

           10. To acquire adequate facilities and staff for the Diocesan/APA Office. 
                     Champion:  Ben Sibley

I greatly appreciate all the work that has been done by the Champions thus far and we are making progress in a number of areas of the plan.  Regarding the first item number of the plan, we do in fact have 3 churches that are in the process of considering becoming part of the DEUS.  All three of these are unattached congregations and are going through a process of discernment in making their decision.

Improving Communications

In the interest of better communications, I have established another deanery to be called the Deanery of the Northeast.  I have appointed the Rev. William Stott as the Dean to help get it up and running.  One of the problems, even regionally, is the great distances between churches, but to have a senior priest who is available for consultation and advice and to come together for fellowship and prayer occasionally is strengthening for both clergy and laity. I have also expanded the Deanery of Georgia to include two churches that have not had a deanery.  I have included both Church of the Redeemer, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and Holy Spirit, Mobile, Alabama into the Deanery of Georgia and renamed it the Deanery of the Deep South.  Fr. Gene Mallard will continue as Dean.  I want to thank all of our Area Deans who have done such a splendid job of providing guidance and counsel in so many different ways to those in their charge. 

Common Cause Partnership

Nothing in my memory has created more controversy in this Province than the Common Cause Partnership (CCP).  I have received threats from both sides of the aisle on participation.  (I do not do well with threats because they are counterproductive).  At the same time, I must add that I have also received reasoned positions presented by those in favor and those opposed. 

As most of you know, I along with the majority of our House of Bishops have taken the position of, “…waiting, watching and praying,” as the CCP develops and we are better able to see its future direction and leadership.  My position paper, which by the way was intended for the eyes of the APA membership only, was distributed far and wide.  In spite of this attempt to embarrass me, my position received somewhere around 90% support from what I and others read.  We will discuss this subject further at the Provincial Synod in July 2008, but the final decision following that discussion, I will make as the Presiding Bishop along with the House of Bishops of our Church.   It is important for those who are supportive of the CCP to know that the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas (FACA), of which we are founding members, has a voice for Classical Anglicanism at the CCP leadership meetings.  The Rt. Rev. Paul Hewitt is now the Moderator of FACA and will be a strong voice for our position at the CCP meetings. 

The Cathedral

I want to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers as we of St. Alban’s Cathderal have been through the long and tedious process of calling a new Sub-dean and Canon Pastor.  With the loss of Fr. Chad Jones to St. Barnabas’ Church, Dunwoody, Gerogia, it has been a long period of searching for the right priest to come take on the challenges that St. Alban’s presents.  We are most thankful that God in his good time has sent the Rev. Ralph Waterhouse and his wife Debbie back to St. Alban’s to become Sub-dean.  He will assume his new duties this month and will be celebrating and preaching this Sunday.  Please pray for a smooth transition as he, along with those who have recently relocated, has the monumental task of trying to sell a house.  I want to thank the Chairman of the Cathedral search committee David Arnott, who also serves as Cathedral Chief Operating Manager (COM) and Senior Warden Scott Ryerson for the hard work they have done in completing this task.  

Finally, I want to publicly and personally bid farewell to one of our finest priests in this Diocese and Province.  Fr. Mark Clavier will be leaving us for England August 19, 2008 along with Diane and Paul to begin his academic career at Durham University.  I have known Mark since he was a baby and have watched him grow and mature into a fine man and a great priest.  To say I will miss him would be such an understatement.  Please pray for him and family as they make the transition that the Lord will continue to bless his ministry no matter where he is.  With his departure, the family of All Saints’ Mills River, North Carolina will begin the search process for a new rector.  We pray for them as they experience the feeling of loss and as they seek to move forward to build upon the work that Fr. Mark has established. 

Other parishes/missions in search of a priest are Holy Cross, Knoxville, and St. Luke’s Port Orange, Florida.

I want to thank Lisa Ulrich, our Diocesan Coordinator as well as the Parish Coordinator for St. Alban’s Cathedral for her tireless work and her good nature.  I want to thank our Deaconess Linda Burns who volunteers daily at the Cathedral for caring for the Altar and many other duties but also packing my vestments for my many Episcopal travels.  The support of the Cathedral has been invaluable to the work of the Diocese and I am always grateful for their interest and support.  To all our faithful clergy, who work so very hard even when the fruit of their labor often seems to be so meager in men’s eyes, I extend my deepest thanks.  We must never forget that the Lord has called us all into his service, no matter what our gift and responsibility may be.  We are to be faithful in spite of the opposition which can be within as well as without.  Each year brings new and exciting challenges.  We may not always agree with the decisions that those who are our leaders in the Lord, but we are called to work together in love as long as we remain faithful to what God has called us to be.  God bless and keep each of you who have taken the time and gone through the expense of being here at this Synod.  May he bless and prosper our Church and Diocese. 

Faithfully yours in Christ,

+Walter

The Most Rev. Walter H. Grundorf, D.D.

Bishop of the Diocese of the Eastern US, Presiding Bishop APA