Excised All Saints here now Church of Uganda
Marketta Gregory
Staff writer

(December 19, 2005) — IRONDEQUOIT — A church that was recently voted out of the local Episcopal diocese has aligned itself with the Church of Uganda.

All Saints Episcopal Church on Winona Boulevard refused to pay more than $16,000 it owed the diocese because it believes the diocese and the Episcopal Church of the USA shouldn't have supported the 2003 ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire and shouldn't have given individual dioceses the right to decide whether to bless same-sex unions.

Three Episcopal churches in the Los Angeles, Calif., diocese also have aligned with the Church of Uganda following the ordination of New Hampshire's bishop. A judge has ruled that two of those parishes are rightful owners of their church buildings but that issue has yet to be settled in the Irondequoit case.

The local diocese has requested the keys and All Saints has refused.The Province of Uganda is a separate church within the Anglican Communion. Like the Episcopal Church, it has its roots in the Church of England. The Church of Uganda draws its members from the entire country of Uganda.

"We have received formal notification from the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop and Primate of the Church of Uganda, that All Saints' has been accepted in the Province of Uganda and is now under their authority and protection," states a letter sent to the local diocese by an attorney for All Saints Episcopal Church.

The $16,000, called an apportionment, is required from each of the Rochester diocese's 52 congregations, so many delegates to last month's diocesan convention felt it was unfair to withhold the money and voted to dissolve ties with All Saints.

"Their willingness to withdraw from the community of the Diocese of Rochester was expressed first in their refusal to keep their financial commitment, and is once again made clear by this action," to align with the Church of Uganda, the diocese stated in a printed statement.

All Saints' pastor and its attorney were not immediately available for comment today. Story



Letter sent to the Bishop of Rochester from the Attorney for All Saints

November 25, 2005
The Rt. Rev. Jack M. McKelvey
Episcopal Bishop of Rochester
935 East Avenue
Rochester, New York 14607

Re: All Saints Church in Rochester
Dear Bp. McKelvey:

I am writing to respond to your letter of November 21, 2005 wherein you repeat the demands which you made when you and I met in the parking lot of All Saints in Rochester. At that time your chancellor on your behalf asked for the keys to the parish. On behalf of the parish, I refused. Again, on behalf of All Saints, I refuse to give you possession of the buildings of the parish.

You and your convention have declared All Saints to be “extinct”, but it is alive and well in Christ. It did not deserve to be declared “extinct.” For you the parish is a building which you desire to take. But for the rector, wardens, vestry, and those who continue to worship there (as you saw when you attended, but did not participate in last Sunday’s worship service) it is not at all an “extinct” church. What is now extinct, however, is your authority over this parish and these people. They did not ask to be removed from the jurisdiction of the diocese of Rochester, but you have done this, and with that irrevocable step you extinguished any authority you had over that part of the body of Christ.

That which you declared extinct in the diocese of Rochester has been resurrected in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the province of the Church of Uganda. We have received formal notification from The Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop and Primate of the Church of Uganda, that All Saints has been accepted in the province of Uganda and is now under their authority and protection.

You have chosen to walk apart from the rest of the Anglican Communion by your wholehearted support of the actions of the 2003 General Convention as it embraced a new gospel ignoring the authority of the Bible, and instead chose to rewrite the 2000 year tradition of Christian sexual morality. In this country of religious freedom that is your prerogative, but this parish cannot follow you. They will remain aligned with the vast majority of Christians around the world through their new bishop in Uganda. They have chosen the historic Christian faith of Paul, Augustine of Canterbury, Cranmer, and countless other saints in the Anglican Communion worldwide, rather than the new gospel of bishops such as Pike, Spong, and yourself. Time will tell whether the Church in the Province of the United States will embrace the Gospel as written, or as you proclaim it. However we will continue to proclaim the Gospel as it has been defined by the historic formularies of the faith.

Since you still have 52 congregations left in your jurisdiction, please leave All Saints alone and let us go our separate ways.

Very Truly Yours,
Raymond J. Dague
Attorney at Law
620 Empire Building
472 South Salina Street
Syracuse, New York 13202
(315) 422-2052
www.DagueLaw.com