St. James receives a Texas-size boost

Jeff Benson

Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno sent letters Friday to leaders of St.

James Church and two other churches seceding from his diocese,

notifying them they were all fired from the church and would be

replaced by other Episcopal leaders in their respective communities.

It would have been business as usual at St. James Sunday -- but

churchgoers welcomed a few surprise visitors for Mass who supported

the church’s nondenominational cause.

Maurice Benitez, a former bishop of the Diocese of Texas, read

from a prepared statement in each of the church’s three Sunday

services, urging parishioners to embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ,

to pray for Bruno and the Diocese of Los Angeles and to look to what

lies ahead under Anglican jurisdiction.

“Pray fervently for the Episcopal Church, that it may be an

instrument for the furtherance of God’s kingdom,” Benitez read. “Pray

that it will turn away from these departures from the faith and

practice of the one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, that have

led many good and Godly people -- clergy and lay -- to feel utterly

heartsick about the church, and to feel that they could not in good

conscience accept the pastoral care and Episcopal ministry of their

diocesan bishops, to feel abandoned by the Episcopal Church, and

forced to leave.

“This is the price, and a painful one it is, they feel they must

pay to remain loyal to the faith in which they were nurtured. And I

grieve for them, because I, in the name of God, agree with them.”

St. James’ legal spokesperson Eric Sohlgren said Bruno had

threatened to disrupt Sunday services dispatching Episcopal clergy to

St. James, to All Saints in Long Beach and to St. David’s in North

Hollywood, but representatives at St. James said the opposition never

showed.

The three churches broke away from the Episcopal Church because of

its liberal views relating to the Bible, the divinity of Jesus Christ

and homosexuality, church officials said. The churches then joined

the Diocese of Luwero in the Anglican province of Uganda.

Benitez said Henry Orombi, Archbishop of the Anglican Province of

Uganda, and Evans Kisekka, Bishop of the Diocese of Luwero, now have

jurisdictional authority over the three churches and invited him to

St. James to speak at Sunday Mass.

“They asked me to come and offer, on their behalf, a measure of

pastoral care and ministry to these three congregations, as best I

can,” he read. “I now address you in these congregations to whom I

was sent, and I begin by declaring that I am here today to preach the

Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to call all people, beginning with each

one of us, to repent our sins and to embrace Godliness and

righteousness, and to obey Biblical doctrine and the Apostolic

faith.”

During the 11 a.m. Mass, Benitez walked to the back of the church

to hug and sing with Ugandans Lazarus and Lois Seruyange, who

received applause and a standing ovation when they were announced.

“We would like to thank God for what he’s doing,” Lazarus

Seruyange said. “We were very much impressed, and that’s a sentiment

you’re going to stay true to the Scriptures.”

The Seruyanges said they’d heard about the church’s conversion to

the Anglican Church of Uganda, wanted to pay their respects

first-hand, and planned to share the bishop’s goodwill with fellow

Ugandans when they return to the capital city, Kampala, in October.

“We like that people are loving the lord and worshipping him, and

we were happy when they mentioned Uganda, Bishop Kisekka and Bishop

Orombi specifically,” Lazarus Seruyange said. “We are all brothers

and sisters loving the lord.”

* JEFF BENSON is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com.