Doesn't Owen Rhys Williams Prove My Point?

Last March, Anthony Chadwick took an indirect swipe at my views on "Continuing Anglicanism" and its tendency to elevate unqualified bishops, which had been echoed by another blogger, who apparently became too timid to stand by that opinion and took his post down. Chadwick defends the Continuum by saying,

If the person running this blog [meaning me?]took the trouble to look at the reality as it presents itself today, most of the “mainstream” continuing churches have got their act together. Yes, we did have the “bishops’ brawl” in the 1990′s and old Hamlett in England. Those problems have been sorted out through a greater degree of professionalism and accountability in the Episcopate. Can no credit be given for learning lessons and making institutional reforms where they were needed?

Hey, all I'm doing here is looking at the reality as it presents itself today and, like a good Aristotelian/Aquinas-influenced Christian, applying my God-given reason to understand it. In April 2013, the ACA consecrated a Bishop for whom I can find no evidence that he graduated from a four-year college, or received an MDiv from an accredited seminary. These are presumed to be the minimal qualifications for an ordained minister in a respectable US denomination. It is a principle of reason and justice that if the ACA will not provide this evidence, when it is normally provided as a matter of course, it may be assumed not to exist.

I will be delighted to correct this record if the ACA, "Bishop" Williams, Anthony Chadwick, or anyone else, will tell me what Williams's qualifications actually are.

Who Is The Rt Rev Owen Rhys Williams? -- II

I raised this question late last year when I first noted that he'd been made episcopal visitor to the ACA's moribund Diocese of the West. At the time, I was puzzled that there's no official biography, when this is simply normal practice for a rector or bishop in any denomination. It continues to raise questions for me.

Priests leave digital trails. They should; they preside over weddings and funerals, which make the local news. They get into the news for other reasons: the parish announces when they arrive, or when they're promoted. Sometimes something newsworthy but bad happens, as we've seen with Robert Bowman and Anthony Morello. They deliver invocations at community events; they join committees. All this comes up with Google. The puzzling thing about Owen Williams is how little comes up: other than the entries on this blog, there are just the stenographically unquestioning blurbs about his consecration in April 2013 on the usual vapid Anglo-Catholic blogs. Nothing else. Nothing. Try it!

One additional snippet of biographical data now on the St Mary of the Angels new clergy page raises another question: there's a dog here that didn't bark. "Bishop Williams was raised in southern California where his father was rector of St. Nicholas Parish, Encino." Indeed: the Rev. Evan Rowland Williams was Rector of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in Encino from 1965 until his premature death at age 59 in 1987. And he proves my point: more than 25 years later, unlike his son, this priest has a digital trail. He served, for example, on a committee to "work for the preservation of unity within the Episcopal Church" during the decision-making process that led to the ordination of women. (Lot of good that did, of course.) He had an extensive obituary in the Los Angeles Times.

But, other than that he made Bishop in the ACA last year, what his dad did is all the St Mary's vestry is willing to reveal about him. And the dog that didn't bark is this: nepotism is common in Anglican denominations. From time immemorial, a good path to career advancement for priests has been to marry a bishop's daughter. More recently, another path has been simply to be a bishop's daughter. Fathers in the clergy are also in a good position to promote their sons' careers: a word to the bishop can smooth the path to postulancy for holy orders, obtain a bishop's letter of endorsement to a good seminary, put the boy in the way of a vicar or priest-in-charge position, or move a rector in a prestigious parish to hire the boy for a vacant curacy.

As far as I can see, none of this happened to Evan's boy Owen, when Evan was apparently in a very good position to make such things happen. Owen, born in 1954, was 33 the year his father died. In 1975, when he was 21, his father was 48 and robust, with plenty of contacts among his elite colleagues. But there's simply no record of any start to a clerical career for Evan's boy Owen at the usual age.

As I mentioned last year, the only other -- the only other -- public biographical detail the ACA has seen fit to provide about Evan's boy Owen is Brian Marsh's remark, "Bishop Owen Williams is known to most of the diocese from his years at Saint Mark’s in Portland, Oregon." Public records show addresses for Owen Rhys Williams in the Portland, Oregon area in the late 1990s, when St Mark's Portland was still an ACA parish, during the time of its contentious relationship with Louis Falk's abrasive, heavy-drinker protégé Robin Connors. However, Evan's boy Owen appears to have been only a lay member of that parish. Any priestly formation that would have led to his ordination in the ACA appears, from anything I can find, to have taken place after that time, when Owen would have been nearly 50 years old.

What prevented Owen Williams from considering holy orders in his twenties, when his father would have been able to help his career? A lack of a four-year degree? I can find no such reference, in any case. Under what circumstances did Owen Williams attend seminary, if in fact he ever did? (The Ven Frederick Rivers never put much stock in seminaries himself, of course.) Again, I can pull name after name of Episcopal and Anglican clergy I've known and respected over the years, and I typically find an official bio and photo at their parish web sites, including the name of their undergraduate institution, their seminary, and details of their clerical careers.

There is nothing like that for The Rt Rev Owen Rhys Williams. Can anyone -- including Bishop Williams himself -- fill in any of these gaps?

So What's Going On Now?

St Mary's -- or at least, its rump unelected vestry -- has redone its web page and made what appears to be a non-announcement announcement: the parish now has a clergy page, with a "Pastor". We learn:

The Right Reverend Owen Williams is the Pastor of the parish. Bishop Williams was raised in southern California where his father was rector of St. Nicholas Parish, Encino. He was consecrated a bishop in April 2013 and has been serving since that time as Suffragan Bishop of the ACA Diocese of the Northeast and Episcopal Visitor to the Diocese of the West.

This is the sort of muddled opacity that we're come to expect from the St Mary's rump and the ACA. Normally, "Pastor" is an informal synonym for Rector. I don't believe there is a formal canonical designation for a "Pastor". As far as I can see, the Canons of the ACA, while they mention a "pastoral relationship", do not designate a position of Pastor -- they mention only Rector or Minister. Other formal titles for the senior priest in a parish in Anglicanism include Priest-in-Charge, Interim Rector, or Vicar.

As far as I can see, the designation of "Pastor" here can only be deliberate. In Anglicanism, a Rector is called by a vestry with the assent of a Bishop. A Priest-in-Charge or an Interim Rector is designated by a Bishop, in consultation with the vestry. If Williams is either of these, why shouldn't this be made clear? A Vicar is appointed by a Bishop to supervise a mission, which St Mary of the Angels currently is not, although given its actual membership, it probably should be designated as such.

However, according to the same clergy page,

The Venerable Frederick Rivers is the Archdeacon and Vicar General of the ACA Diocese of the West and current rector of the parish.

As far as I can see from the parish home page, Bishop Williams's "first mass" is scheduled for August 31, 2014. This strongly implies a new and ongoing relationship -- it appears to mean that Williams will be on site and celebrating mass weekly. Let me see if I can piece together what this all means:

• Williams is not the Rector of the parish. Frederick Rivers is the Rector.
• Williams had been designated episcopal visitor to the Diocese of the West on August 8, 2013.
• However, on March 30, 2014, Presiding Bishop Brian Marsh himself made an episcopal visit to St Mary of the Angels.
• Although Williams is a Bishop and the episcopal visitor, it appears that the "first mass" scheduled for August 31 is not an episcopal visit.
• Williams will be presiding at St Mary of the Angels as neither a Bishop, nor a Rector, nor an Interim Priest, nor as a Priest-in-Charge, but as a "Pastor".

I have no idea what sort of employment agreement this implies. Nor can I understand how the lines of authority are supposed to go. Rivers presumably reports to Williams if Williams is episcopal visitor to the diocese, and Rivers is just a vicar general -- as far as I can see, if things were working the way they ought, Williams should tell Rivers what to do, or Rivers should be acting under Williams's delegated authority. However, if Rivers is Rector of the parish and Williams is just licensed to celebrate mass there, Williams reports to Rivers, and Rivers can fire Williams at any time. (If I were to speculate, I would guess that this all means that, irrespective of who is called what, Brian Marsh still has the whole thing under his thumb.)

The head spins. As we've seen, though, this is business as usual for the ACA -- muddled lines of authority, extra-canonical actions, opaque communication. I thought briefly about e-mailing Williams with my questions about this arrangement, but nobody in the ACA has ever replied to my e-mails.

What Does It Mean That No Charges Were Filed

against Robert Bowman, the REC priest arrested for child pornography? This page gives some explanation:

Prosecutors have a lot of discretion on whether to charge a defendant and which offenses they wish to pursue. Here are some of the most important factors to a prosecutor:

• Political Aspirations: prosecutors often run for office or seek political appointments. As a result, they are keenly aware of the image prosecuting a particular offense sends the community. Even if the evidence is questionable, if there is considerable community outrage, a prosecutor may decide to pursue a case. Alternatively, certain crimes will almost always be prosecuted, because not prosecuting them sends a bad message (e.g., DUIs).
• Office Policies: prosecution offices often have policies regarding which crimes they want to prosecute. There may be a push to prosecute a certain kind of crime or a policy to not prosecute other crimes that the office considers less important.
• Prosecutor's Notion of Justice: prosecutors are people, and just like everyone else have beliefs and ideas about right and wrong. On one hand, it may lead a prosecutor to pursue a case more aggressively than may be warranted by the facts. On the other hand, it may lead to a prosecutor filing lesser charges or choosing not to pursue a case where the prosecutor thinks justice will still be served even though no one is charged with a crime.

My guess is that whatever Bowman paid his attorney, it was worth it. The DA might have decided Bowman wasn’t a big enough fish to go after, he was near retirement age, he was a priest who was sorry for what he’d done, or any other mitigating circumstance. Not filing charges would keep a 62-year-old man from prison as well as becoming a registered sex offender and a complete social pariah. However, this left open the question of whether he should be in parish or school work. A priest must be held to the highest standard, not whether it's worth a trial in such-and-such a case.

It would not surprise me if Bowman's attorney argued that REC disciplinary procedures would keep Bowman from parish work, or that he'd been fired from both the parish and the school, and news of the arrest would keep anyone else from hiring him in school or parish jobs. However, dioceses have just as much discretion on whether to bring canonical charges against a priest. So far, I have no evidence that any canonical charges were brought against Bowman in the REC or the ACNA. The ACNA has so far made no answer to my inquiry.

It may be that nobody could quite decide within the merged ACNA/REC whose job it would be to bring charges, and they didn't need the publicity -- one "selling point" for dissident Anglicans is that they somehow aren't subject to the same failings as the small percentage of Catholic priests who are accused of such things. This of course is incorrect. A bigger problem for dissident Anglicans is the ease with which they can hop jurisdictions -- if the REC figured there'd be a general understanding that Bowman shouldn't go back to parish work, this simply didn't apply to the ACA, which has clearly licensed him to preach and administer the sacraments there, whether they know of his problem in the REC or not.

Indeed, I've been told that the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin didn't bring charges against Anthony Morello for the scandal he caused in Modesto for a similar reason -- they figured his age and poor health would keep him from going back into parish work, so why go to the bother? Morello then hopped jurisdictions and continued to cause trouble in the ACA. But for any one denomination to inhibit or depose a priest (or more likely, just to ease him out) isn't going to keep another from putting him into parish work if it's determined to do so, which seems to be the case with the ACA and Robert Bowman.

Inquiry to the ACNA

I sent the following e-mail to the public inquiry address on the Anglican Church of North America's main web page:

Status of REC Rev Robert W Bowman

I’m trying to determine the current status of The Rev Robert W Bowman, who was rector of St Luke’s REC in Santa Ana, CA. In 2009, he was arrested on child pornography charges and terminated by the St Luke’s vestry. There were several references to the arrest in the Southern California press at the time, for instance at http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bowman-168221-home-church.html A year later, the Los Angeles District Attorney decided not to file felony charges in the case. However, due to the catastrophic consequences for anyone convicted of child pornography, it is in their interest to secure the best possible legal representation, and whether the DA decides not to file charges is not necessarily an indication that the individual should be in the priesthood.

I’ve been trying to determine whether Bowman was ever inhibited by the REC/ACNA, and what any eventual disposition of his case may have been. Naturally, termination by a vestry does not affect a priest’s ability to secure another parish job. St Luke’s REC Santa Ana closed its doors in 2012. However, following Bowman’s arrest and termination in 2009, Bishop Schofield of San Joaquin sent The Rev Earle Fox to serve as an interim there. Beyond that, I’m unable to find what diocese had responsibility for St Luke’s REC Santa Ana in 2009. I’ve inquired of both the REC Diocesr of the West and the ACNA Diocese of Western Anglcans, and they say St Luke’s Santa Ana and Bowman were never under their jurisdiction. REC Bishop Royal Grote has so far not answered my inquiry to him.

I would like to determine Robert W Bowman’s status as a priest in the REC/ACNA, and if possible, what actions may have been taken by the ACNA/REC following his arrest on child pornography charges. Bowman has recently been hired as an “interim priest” at the Anglican Church in America parish All Saints Fountain Valley, CA. I am concerned that the hiring authority, an elderly absentee priest-in-charge, may not have done due diligence regarding his decision. If the charges against him have been fully reviewed by the ecclesiastical authority and he was acquitted, well and good – but so far, I have no indication that this may have happened.

Since Bowman has now returned to parish work in another Anglican diocese and may be doing supply work at other parishes, I believe this matter should be resolved clearly, and I believe Bowman’s status as an REC priest should be public information. Many thanks for any help you may be able to provide in this.

We'll see what results.

Another Question

Looking around the web for the current status of the ACA Diocese of the West, I came to All Saints Anglican Fountain Valley. It has been without a rector since the death of Anthony Morello early in 2013. Currently Frederick Rivers is listed as "Priest" (I believe he should be "Priest in Charge"). Rivers, of course, is listed as "Rector" of St Mary of the Angels, as well as "Rector" of The Church of the Epiphany in Phoenix..

However, The Rev Dr Robert Bowman is listed as "Interim Priest" on the All Saints Fountain Valley web site. His official bio on the parish web site says, "He has served churches in Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Arkansas and Virginia, as well as California. Alongside his church work, Dr. Bowman has served as a classroom educator and school administrator in both Christian day schools, and independent prep schools."

As I usually do, I googled Fr Bowman and came up with the following in the Orange County Register for April 8, 2010:

No charges follow pastor's arrest

Robert W. Bowman, who served as pastor of a Santa Ana church, was arrested in 2009 but no charges have been filed.

By DOUG IRVING / The Orange County Register
Published: May 1, 2009 Updated: Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

(UPDATE ADDED ON April 8, 2010:
Prosecutors have declined to file charges against the former pastor of a Santa Ana church who was arrested last year on suspicion of possessing child pornography.

Police referred the case of Robert W. Bowman to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which “did not feel that it warranted a felony filing,” spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.

The DA’s office forwarded the case to the Los Angeles City Attorney, which handles misdemeanor cases, but it also decided against bringing charges.)

(THE ORIGINAL STORY:)
The senior pastor of a Santa Ana church has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography.

Robert W. Bowman, 62, the rector at Saint Luke's Reform Episcopal Church in Santa Ana and the headmaster of a Christian academy in Gardena, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home in San Pedro. He was booked into jail but was released on $20,000 bail.

The church dismissed Bowman as its rector on Friday, said Ken Sammons, a member of the church vestry. He said Bowman had been the rector, or senior pastor, of the small congregation for a few years.

He declined to comment further. Bowman did not return phone calls to his home and cell phone.

Los Angeles police arrested Bowman after a search of his home. Officer Jason Lee, a department spokesman, declined to say what led police to his home or whether they recovered any child pornography there, citing the ongoing investigation.

"There was a reasonable belief that he had possession of child pornography," Lee said.

Bowman was the headmaster at CrossRoad Christian Academy in Gardena, a school for children between "junior kindergarten" and eighth grade. His name had been removed from the school's Web site by Friday afternoon.

His name does not appear on the Megan's Law Web site, which lists registered sex offenders in California. Court records in Orange County show only a single traffic ticket for Bowman earlier this year.

Another story in the South Bay, CA Daily Breeze said that police began investigating Bowman following a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

A blog entry mentions that Bowman arrived at St Luke's in 2006. Before that, he appears to have been at an REC parish in Little Rock, AR. A copy of a listserv message places him at the head of a middle school in Little Rock in 1999. Given the location and the apparent consistency with the information in Bowman's bio on the All Saints site, this appears to be the same individual. I simply don't know if All Saints Fountain Valley or the ACA is aware of this arrest, or of Bowman's terminations.

It's worth pointing out that St Luke's REC Santa Ana closed in 2012, and the CrossRoad Christian Academy in Gardena closed in 2013. In the Daily Breeze article cited above, CrossRoad parents express pessimism about the school's future given the circumstances of Bowman's arrest. While both St Luke's and CrossRoad appear to have been marginal (which might be one reason they hired Bowman in the first place), there seems little question that Bowman was a destructive influence on both institutions.

It's also been difficult to track down the disposition of Bowman's case within the REC. Fr F. Earle Fox, an ACNA priest who took over the parish on behalf of the merged ACNA/REC after Bowman was let go, refers to him in the final sermon given at St Luke's as "Dr Robert Bowman", when he refers to other ACNA/REC priests as "Fr". Fr Fox has not replied to my e-mail requesting further information.

Inquiries to dioceses within the REC and the ACNA, as well as to knowledgeable individuals, have resulted either in no reply or, in the cases of the REC Diocese of the West and the ACNA Diocese of Western Anglicans, statements that St Luke's REC Santa Ana and Dr Bowman were never under them. As I posted yesterday, this appears to have been the case. Due to the changes in the REC and its joining the ACNA in 2008 and 2009, at the same time Bowman's arrest occurred, it may be possible that Bowman fell into a jurisdictional crack, and his case was never properly dealt with by the REC.

Certainly equivalent cases normally result in a priest being suspended and taken out of parish ministry. The fact that a district attorney declined to prosecute the case would not necessarily mean a priest would be returned to active ministry, given the overall circumstances and the extreme sensitivity of the issue in contemporary affairs. At this point, I've received no information on whether Bowman was investigated by the REC, whether any disciplinary action was brought, or what the disposition, if any, may have been. I do not find any reference to Bowman in parish work in any denomination between his arrest and termination by St Luke's in 2009 and his appearance at All Saints ACA Fountain Valley in 2013.

California law makes it an offense to possess child pornography in any form. California law prohibits an employer from using an arrest record in making an employment decision if the arrest did not result in a conviction. However, the information available does indicate that Bowman was terminated from his job at St Luke's REC, which in itself would be a normal issue to come up in a background check, especially if Bowman was not forthcoming about the reason for the termination. Given the level of trust required of even an "interim priest", who must be expected to come in contact with minors, the elderly, and other vulnerable people in a variety of potentially difficult circumstances, any hiring decision would need to take any potentially negative character information very seriously.

The hiring authority in this case would be the Priest-in-Charge at All Saints Fountain Valley, Frederick Rivers. While some interviews or checks may have been conducted by parishioners, the final decision and offer would have come from Rivers himself. It's hard to believe that a google search was not done on a potential candidate, but this was likely the case. The fact that Rivers is over normal retirement age and an absentee suggests normal attention to background checks may not have been given. At minimum, this should raise serious questions about Fr Rivers's judgment, and it should raise questions about his stewardship at both All Saints Fountain Valley and St Mary of the Angels.

I put the following information on the ACA's contact page at its home site:

Is the ACA aware that the Rev Dr Robert Bowman, currently serving as Interim Priest at All Saints Fountain Valley (DOW), was arrested on child pornography charges in 2009 and was dismissed from an REC parish (as well as the school where he was headmaster) as a result? See http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/may/01/oc-pastor-dismissed-after-arrest-for-child-porn/

I would be very interested in the ACA's take on this -- there may be some extenuating reason for his hiring, but on the face of it, it does not appear to reflect good judgment or due diligence.

So far, I have received no reply.

Looking For An Explanation Here

This is related to two possible issues I've covered on this blog: one, the most pertinent right now, is the former Diocese of the West of the Anglican Province of America, which went into the Reformed Episcopal Church in 2008. In 2009, the Reformed Episcopal Church joined the Anglican Church in North America. (The loss of this diocese on one hand would be one explanation for the APA's renewed interest, however incomplete, in merging with the ACA.)

One puzzling issue is the difference between what is now called the Reformed Episcopal Church Diocese of the West and the ACNA's Diocese of Western Anglicans. I've been trying to track down certain events connected with the former St Luke's Reformed Episcopal Church in Santa Ana, CA, which closed in 2012. For whatever reason, the REC-DOW says St Luke's was never part of that diocese, which makes me wonder if what is now called the REC-DOW is actually just the former churches in the APA-DOW that went into the REC in 2008. Meanwhile, is the ACNA Diocese of Western Anglicans largely made up of former REC parishes? (And of course, this is not the same thing as the ACNA Diocese of San Joaquin, made up largely of former TEC parishes.)

Update: the Diocese of Western Anglicans was founded new in 2009, as part of the ACNA, containing mostly former TEC parishes, but not those in the ACNA Diocese of San Joaquin. However, this leaves open the question of what diocese had jurisdiction over St Luke's REC Santa Ana, CA, before it closed in 2012, and especially during certain events in 2009.

Can anyone provide any clarification here?