Church secessions frustrate leadership

Deepa Bharath

The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States

said he was disappointed at the secession of three Southern

California churches, including one in Newport Beach, from the Diocese

of Los Angeles over the last two weeks, according to a statement

issued by him on the Episcopal Church’s website.

Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold on Wednesday released a

statement supporting the actions of Bishop J. Jon Bruno, of Los

Angeles, who refused to release the three churches that broke away

and aligned themselves with the Diocese of Luwero in the Anglican

Province of Uganda, Africa.

“I’m saddened by the action of clergy and members of three

congregations in the Diocese of Los Angeles, and their desire to

separate themselves from the Episcopal Church,” Griswold said.

Praveen Bunyan, rector of St. James Church in Newport Beach, said

that his church has severed all ties with the Episcopal Church. St.

James owns the church and the surrounding property, he said.

Archbishop Henry Orombi of the Church of Uganda released a

statement earlier this week saying that the churches -- St. James and

All Saints’ Church in Long Beach -- now come under the Diocese of

Luwero and that the Bishop of Los Angeles has no authority over them.

Orombi criticized the Episcopal Church for appointing Gene

Robinson, an openly gay man, as Bishop of New Hampshire, a move all

three churches that seceded oppose. But Bunyan maintains that the

main reason for the secession for St. James is not the issue of

homosexuality, but the Episcopal Church’s reluctance to accept Jesus

Christ as Lord and Savior and acknowledge the supremacy of the Bible.