Bishop Asserts Control

Moving to assert control over three breakaway parishes, the Episcopal bishop of Los Angeles on Friday appointed two assistant bishops to serve the congregations and said he would appoint new lay governing boards.

The move by the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, communicated in letters dated Sept. 1 but delivered Friday, escalated what probably will be a protracted legal battle over ownership of the parish property and Bruno’s jurisdiction over the breakaway priests.

An attorney for the three parishes on Friday rejected Bruno’s claims and said services would go on as usual Sunday, led by the three breakaway priests.

“The people of these churches want to exercise their freedom of choice to worship God in the buildings they alone have erected and supported, and to get on with their many diverse ministries,� said attorney Eric C. Sohlgren of Irvine.

Janet Kawamoto, a spokeswoman for Bruno, said there were no plans to dispatch the assistant bishops to the parishes Sunday. Sohlgren said the bishops would be welcome to worship, but not to disrupt services.

“If anyone comes in at any of these churches with the intention of disrupting services or worship -- whether that is somebody from the street or somebody from the Episcopal Church diocese -- they’ll be asked to leave,� Sohlgren said in an interview.

In the letters, Bruno said that effective immediately, the Rt. Rev. Robert M. Anderson would assume charge of All Saints’ Church in Long Beach and St. James Church in Newport Beach. The Rt. Rev. Sergio Carranza would take over St. David’s Church in North Hollywood.

Bruno also served notice that because the actions of the parish governing boards, known as vestries, were also “illegal and unauthorized,� new vestries were being appointed.

Two weeks ago, the three parishes announced that they had left the Episcopal Church and no longer considered Bruno their bishop. They charged that the Episcopal Church had drifted from historic Christian understandings of biblical truth.

One of the priests cited the denomination’s consecration of an openly gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire as an example. They also objected to Bruno’s decision last May to bless the same-sex union of a senior priest and the priest’s partner of 20 years.

They said they had affiliated with the Anglican Church in Uganda, which, like the Episcopal Church, is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi has welcomed the three parishes, and said they were now under the immediate supervision of one of his bishops, the Rt. Rev. Evans M. Kisekka of the Ugandan Diocese of Luweero.

But Bruno said he would not surrender jurisdiction.

In his letter, Bruno again notified the breakaway parish priests that, under church law, he had suspended their authority to act as priests -- a step known as inhibition.

“Given your recent actions in violation of your ordination vows, the national and diocesan canons of the church, your status as an inhibited priest under my canonical authority and your unwillingness to rescind your recent illegal and unauthorized actions, I have ... assigned a priest-in-charge,� Bruno wrote.

He said earlier said that unless the priests recanted and returned to the church within six months, they would be stripped of their priesthoods.

Bruno also wrote that pastoral care and governance of the three parishes would be provided under the supervision of the assistant bishops and the new vestries.