Bishop Shaver, the APA, and the ACA in Context

I didn't intend to go after Bishop Shaver, but since I've had several e-mails from him, I decided it would be prudent to get a clearer idea, via ordinary web searches of public records, of who he is.

He was first consecrated on 8th July 1972 in San Jose, California, in the US branch of the Old Catholic Church-Philippine Independent Church (where, incidentally, Anthony Morello was first ordained). I can find no record of Bishop Shaver's priestly formation; he may wish to provide this. He was then received into the American Episcopal Church in March 1975. The AEC was the body originally founded by the segregationist James Dees in 1963, later headed by the disreputable Anthony Clavier until it merged into the defrocked Episcopal priest Louis Falk's Anglican Church in America in 1991.

However, about 1985, Bishop Shaver was received into the Philippine Independent Church's Anglican Rite Jurisdiction of the Americas. The ARJA "thought it wise to consecrate him again conditionally in order that he would possess orders not only from the line of succession in the Old Catholic Church but would also have the same Anglican succession as the Bishops of the Anglican Communion." According to Wikepedia, "At its height, ARJA consisted of approximately a dozen parishes in the United States." (Douglas Bess discusses the ARJA in some detail in Divided We Stand, but as elsewhere in that book, he puts insufficient stress on the truly tiny size of these "continuing" bodies.) Note that the ARJA, with at most a dozen parishes, seems to have had at least four bishops!

It appears that Bishop Shaver was with the ARJA during the 1991 merger of the AEC with the ACA, the subsequent purge of Clavier from the ACA, and the schism of the Anglican Province of America from the ACA. By 1999, I find him as Bishop of the Diocese of St Augustine in the Anglican Rite Synod in the Americas, a Western rite of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, in 2004, the non-geographical Diocese of St Augustine, still with Bishop Shaver at its head, had apparently left the Anglican Rite Synod and merged into the post-ACA APA.

According to the APA page linked above, the Diocese of St Augustine morphed into the geographical Diocese of Mid-America in 2008, still with Shaver as its bishop. Currently the APA Diocese of Mid-America lists nine parishes on its web site, of which most are missions, and of which only two have their own buildings. Yet, as we saw last week, it now has not only a diocesan bishop, but a suffragan, whose own parish is listed as a mission on the APA web site, with a membership estimated at 15. This tiny mission, through its various mutations, seems also to constitute the bulk of Bishop Giffin's pastoral experience prior to his consecration.

This puts the APA Diocese of Mid-America at roughly the same size and consequence as the ACA Dioceses of the Missouri Valley, the West, and the Eastern US, all numbering in the neighborhood of a dozen parishes (probably fewer in actuality). As we've seen, the APA and the ACA are mooting merger, pretty clearly out of desperation, and ACA Presiding Bishop Marsh co-consecrated at Suffragan Bishop Giffin's ceremony. What this may imply for Bishop Giffin's future in a merged ACA-APA is anyone's guess; I doubt that ACA Bishop of the Missouri Valley Strawn is anywhere near wanting to retire. Bishop Giffin, watch your back.

What we do see with Bishop Shaver is the standard "continuing Anglican" pattern: insecurity over succession of bishops; ambiguous priestly formation among key figures; jurisdiction hopping among comically tiny denominations; a clear indication that personal agendas take priority over pastoral care; organizations top-heavy with bishops and prebendaries. As far as this story applies to St Mary's Hollywood, it's another indication of the environment in which it finds itself, in spite of its repeatedly expressed intention to leave.

I will welcome any clarifications of this unfortunate record from Bishop Shaver.

While I Appreciate The Clarification

that I ran yesterday from APA Bishop Shaver, it's been pointed out to me that he said

Bishop Strawn released him [now-Bishop Giffin] as a priest in good standing to the APA, and any information to the contrary is simply not true.

when the chronology that I ran on February 27 indicates that Giffin and his parish went from the ACA to the Antiochian Church, not directly into the APA, and there were apparently several transformations over 2009 into 2010 before the parish finally wound up in the APA. An informant suggests to me that Bishop Shaver and I may both be right, and if Bishop Strawn, known here for a hair-trigger in disciplinary matters, caused some contention over Giffin's earlier departure to the Antiochan Church, this does not rule out a subsequent change of heart based on remonstrances from the likes of Marsh or Grundorf. Bishop Shaver's version of the transition may be a simple inadvertency, but when dealing with the "continuum", I think we all need to be aware of the very real potential for weasel-wording. If Bishop Shaver wants to clarify his statement further, one way or another, I'll publish that as well.

It's also been suggested that "the vestry made him do it" doesn't necessarily fly as an explanation, again especially in the context of the "continuum", which since even before St Louis has been characterized by jurisdiction hopping, sudden reversals, purges, ego-tripping, mergers-followed-by-further-schism, and so forth. Much of Bishop Shaver's explanation boils down to "hey, this is the Continuum, what'd ya expect, guy?" which it seems to me makes my point. If Joe Schmo rises to the rank of Grand Kleagle in the Exalted Society of Cutpurses, it avails little to point out that Joe is a cutpurse. By the same token if Bishop Giffin rises to that exalted rank from among the roiling population of vicars general, canons, archdeacons, and the like in the tiny, screwball "continuum", it makes just about as much sense to complain that, well, that's exactly what he's done.

UPDATE: Bishop Shaver replies:

Dear John,

Bishop Giffin (then Fr. Giffin) was never under discipline, suspension, inhibition, or any other term by the ACA at any time. Again, thank you for seeking clarification.
--

+Larry L. Shaver
Bishop Ordinary
Diocese of Mid-America, APA

He then replies further,

Dear John,

Given that allegations such as these are very serious because they have been published, and you have been duly notified that they are in no way true (twice), I must tell you that the person or persons making such allegations are opening themselves up to legal action.

--

+Larry L. Shaver
Bishop Ordinary
Diocese of Mid-America, APA

I'm not entirely sure which allegations Bishop Shaver means. I certainly repeat what I said above, that the so-called "Anglican continuum", of which the APA and the ACA are normally regarded as major denominations, has been characterized by jurisdiction hopping, sudden reversals, purges, ego-tripping, mergers-followed-by-further-schism, and so forth. I think I may have forgotten to mention litigiousness in that list. For the time being, I will accept the assertions of Bishop Shaver regarding any discipline on Bishop Giffin in the short time when he was a priest in the ACA.

Trouble In Paradise? -- II

St Mary of the Angels is now without a curate, and until they can find a supply priest someplace, there's no one to celebrate mass. As had been intimated to me in an e-mail from the absentee priest-in-charge Fr Rivers in January, Fr Nicholas Taylor, who had been installed as curate only last December, was on his way out, and has now returned to Colorado. A prospective new curate, a Fr Hart, declined the position. (There appear to be more than one Fr Hart; if anyone knows more about this, I'd appreciate any info.)

On the face of it, this is not good news for the ACA and what remains of its Diocese of the West, since two key parishes of the six or eight that credibly remain, the "cathedral" at All Saints Fountain Valley and St Mary of the Angels, are currently without priests. St Mary's, of course, was always a plum assignment, but now there are no takers.

My understanding is that Fr Taylor was packed off at the instigation of the "senior warden" appointed by the late Anthony Morello, Mrs Bush. Mrs Bush, let's recall, was a member of the parish for exactly one year, which was the minimum time to qualify her for election to the vestry in 2012. Prior to that time, she had not attended church in any denomination for 40 years, due to the anti-religious stance of her late husband. However, it appears that Mrs Bush's recently discovered religious fervor has drawn her in an increasingly low-church direction, to the point that, as I understand it, she is ordering the removal of icons and other religious imagery from the parish. The ACA, of course, had already excommunicated any parishioners who might have resisted this course.

Her leadership style, which might be characterized as "Off with their heads!", has become a sticking point for clergy, along with the prospect of life under conditions amounting to house arrest in the tiny rectory, with a salary of whatever Mrs Bush is willing to part with, being contributory factors.

However, I would guess there are problems beyond that. A curate, as the title is used in "continuing Anglicanism", is an associate, who normally reports to the rector, who is normally under the supervision of a bishop. In the case of St Mary's, the curate theoretically works for Fr Rivers, the 74-year-old absentee "priest-in-charge", who is in Arizona. The Diocese of the West has no diocesan bishop, with its episcopal visitor being Brian Marsh, who lives in the colorfully named village of Belchertown, MA, who has canceled all events scheduled for the coming year requiring his presence in the Diocese of the West, and who would probably prefer even a root canal to dealing with any issues relating to St Mary of the Angels, on the other side of the country. Mrs Bush is thus basically out of control.

My guess is that this places any clergy in a completely untenable position. But hey, Brian Marsh has got to be good for something, right? He can rent himself out as a co-consecrator! The APA loves him!

Clarification

I received the following e-mail, which I reproduce here in its entirety:

Dear John,

I wanted to write to you in order to clarify a few things that you had written on 27 February regarding one of the APA Bishops. First, Bishop (then Fr.) was never disciplined or inhibited by the ACA in any way. Bishop Strawn released him as a priest in good standing to the APA, and any information to the contrary is simply not true. Secondly, the various mutations in the name of the parish in question, while true, are quite more complex that it might seem. Having known more than a few of the parishioners of this parish before and after these events, I feel it prudent to say that Fr. Giffin had a vestry at the time that insisted upon these changes in an attempt to "grow" in a time of flux in North American Anglicanism if I may use that term. What this lay leadership and the wider parish soon realized is that these changes did none of that. I tell you this so that you may see a different side to this story. Surely, in your experience at St. Mary's, you realize how vestries can get cross ways with their rectors and insist upon things that may not be in the parishes best interest. Also, I think that you know of the confusion that many have had in trying to navigate not only the waters of the ACNA, the Continuum, but also Rome. Some people want change, others do not. It leaves bitterness on both sides that seems to go on and on without relief. That being said, as Rector, Fr. Giffin certainly bears that burden as well and is not without blame. He has certainly expressed this to me. I guess if people want to continue to rake him over the coals for some name changes and liturgy changes that were not under his control, that is their prerogative. Lastly, even though I know many of the ACA Bishops are not in your favor or esteem, the participation of Bishop Marsh in a consecration of an APA Bishop is not irregular as we are in full communion and he is President of the House of Bishops of the ACA. Bishop Giffin is a 2002 Master of Divinity graduate of Nashotah House. Thank you for welcoming these clarifications.

I do hope the situation at St. Mary's gets better in the coming days. It is a beautiful parish with a wonderful history and much to offer. May you have a blessed Lent.

+LLS

--

+Larry L. Shaver
Bishop Ordinary
Diocese of Mid-America, APA

A Couple Of Answers

In response to my post on unanswered questions in Louis Falk's career (I'm now told that he goes by the name "Tod", apparently when people aren't calling him "Your Grace"), an informant has filled in a couple of gaps.

Tod apparently came to James Mote's attention via the Nashotah House old-boy network. Mote (who passed away in 2006) was, according to my informant, an enthusiastic Nashotah House alumnus, and this was a blind spot for him. Nashotah House alumni, my informant points out, have a very high opinion of themselves and each other, although as an attorney, he has no dog in this fight. They refer to it, he says, as "The House" among themselves.

Now that he mentions it, yes, I've noticed that in the "continuum", alums of The House are as quick to mention this about themselves as, say, alums of Yale Law, although my informant points out that The House has been busily turning out lady rectors and openly gay deacons with the best of them -- it's an Episcopal seminary, after all; what's so good about it? In any case, he says that apparently Tod came to Mote's attention as a worthy product of The House, then at something of a loose end, and Mote snapped him up without much further question.

The ACC synod that elected him Bishop of the Missouri Valley in 1980 or 1981 did quiz him about the obvious question -- gee, how come you left The Episcopal Church back in, er, 1966 was it? My informant relates at second hand that Tod was not immediately forthcoming about the reasons but did finally stammer out an explanation that satisfied the synod. Since Tod was Mote's candidate and the only credible alternative, they voted him in.

My informant also says that General Growth Management Company in Des Moines, of which Falk was president from 1976 to 1981, was a Falk family enterprise, although I don't have independent confirmation of this. This was one possibility that I had always considered, since the Falk family was involved in the founding of Pabst Brewing as well as a large manufacturing company in Milwaukee called the Falk Company, so it appears that there may have been other family enterprises sufficiently removed from Wisconsin to occupy Tod once the scandal in Rhinelander died down.

Many thanks to those who have continued to provide information.

A Small Data Point

regarding the actual size of the "worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion": I'm told that Samuel Prakash, the current "Acting Primate" of the TAC, is, with his father (who I believe is John Prakash) engaged primarily in a legal maneuver to seize properties of the former Church of India (i.e., the Church of England branch in colonial India) that went to newly constituted pan-Protestant denominations in the years following independence. Their intention, according to the account I've heard, is simply to acquire the constructive use of the properties and live off their income, not to minister to any appreciable laity.

This, from a different source, would be consistent with the firsthand account I've heard from India that there is no actual TAC presence on the ground. It's also one more data point in the picture that's beginning to emerge for me that the TAC and the ACA are essentially bogus denominations.

The Portsmouth Letter In Context

Given what we now know about the TAC and the ACA, let's take a quick look at the Portsmouth Letter, and indeed Anglicanorum coetibus, which will almost certainly be listed among the main accomplishments of now-retired Pope Benedict XVI.

First, of the Portsmouth signers who were bishops in the ACA, I'm aware of only one who even became a Catholic under the provisions of Anglicanorum coetibus, Louis Campese. Campese was effectively purged from the House of Bishops at the time the Patrimony of the Primate was set up, resigning as an ACA bishop and taking the parishes associated with him into the Pro-Diocese of the Holy Family. He then became a lay Catholic in his former parish, the Church of the Incarnation. The general opinion, with which I have no reason to disagree, is that he chose not to become a Catholic priest due to his age.

David Moyer, a Portsmouth signer, had intended to become a priest in the US Ordinariate, but was turned down both by Archbishop Chaput and Msgr Steenson. So far, he has not become a Catholic layman. Whatever one may say of Moyer's specific position in relation to The Episcopal Church and Bishop Charles Bennison Jr, he appears to exhibit a general "continuing Anglican" pattern of jurisdiction-hopping, litigiousness, and controversialism, which would probably not have suited him well in the US Ordinariate.

Louis Falk, a Portsmouth signer and regarded by many as a prime mover in the process, remains outside the Catholic Church and the US Ordinariate. The received version is that he chose to remain in the ACA with his tiny parish of 25 members, St Aidan's Des Moines IA, when it became plain that so many of those 25 members had divorces and remarriages, or memberships in the Masons, that they could not consider becoming Catholic. Less noted up to now is the fact that Falk had left The Episcopal Church in 1966 under discipline (he was deposed as a priest in that denomination), and by the public policy statement of Msgr Steenson, he could therefore not be considered for ordination as a Catholic.

John Hepworth, the single most influential TAC figure behind the Portsmouth letter, was also not eligible to become a Catholic priest, since he had been laicized once already. It appears that Hepworth expected an exception to be made in his case, which is probably an indication of the general level of unreality that surrounded some of the key Portsmouth players.

Daren Williams, a signer, clearly opposed the provisions of Anglicanorum coetibus once they were released and took adverse actions against clergy and parishes who intended to go into the Ordinariate. George Langberg, a signer as then-Bishop of the Northeast, has made no move to become Catholic or take his parish into the Ordinariate, and has consistently voted the anti-Ordinariate line in the House of Bishops with his successor Brian Marsh. Other ACA bishops or bishops-elect, including Brian Marsh, Stephen Strawn, and Robin Connors, were unavailable to sign the Portsmouth letter or, asked to endorse its contents prior to consecration, seem to have done so under false pretenses.

In hindsight, this raises for me the question of what the TAC's intentions were with the letter, and I can only look at this in the context of Falk's maneuvers in the 1980s and 1990s: from his standpoint, the Ordinariate would be a springboard for furthering his own ambitions. For instance, he absorbed Anthony Clavier's AEC, only to purge Clavier. I've got to wonder if he had a fantasy that he could get Pope Benedict to declare some sort of a "merger" between the Catholic Church and the TAC, so that he could purge the Pope!

Regarding the US Ordinariate in the same context: if it's controlled by a former Episcopal Diocese of Ft Worth in-group, that's likely preferable to control by any other in-group of "continuing Anglicans", certainly including Louis Falk and his collection of cronies and stooges. I'll have more thoughts on this.