PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. — The Episcopal bishop of South Carolina, who has joined a new “network” of dioceses in opposition to the Episcopal Church, has told a conservative breakaway parish that it may not leave the denomination.
All Saints Church in Pawleys Island is the home church of the dissident group Anglican Mission in America and its senior bishop, Charles Murphy, who cut ties with the denomination in early 2000. Murphy, the rector emeritus of All Saints, was irregularly ordained a bishop in 2002 by like-minded conservative bishops from Africa.
South Carolina Bishop Edward Salmon, who like the parish opposes the church’s policies on homosexuality, nonetheless said the congregation cannot leave because the property is owned by the diocese, and ultimately the denomination.
The Pawleys Island parish, which voted to delete all references to the Episcopal Church from its 1902 charter, has been locked in a legal battle over its property with Salmon and the national church for three years. Salmon, in a Dec. 18 letter, reduced the parish to “mission” status, allowing him to replace its pastor and name new lay leadership. He called the church’s attempts to leave “schismatic.”
The church’s vestry, or elected leadership, defied Salmon’s order, saying in a statement it “will remain on the property and continue to maintain possession and responsibility for that property that is All Saints Church.”
Salmon, with at least 10 other dioceses, has joined a new “network” that hopes to be recognized as the legitimate Anglican “franchise” in North America by overseas leaders of the Anglican Communion.
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