September 23, 2004

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil -The Anglican Diocese of Recife, lead by Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti said a decision to send Bishop Mauricio de Andrade to exercise a "special Episcopal oversight" was "illegal, illegitimate and unacceptable."

The agreement was made by the Chamber of Bishops from the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB) in an extraordinary meeting held in Porto Alegre on September 16 at the request of the suffragan bishop of Recife Filadelfo Oliveira Neto, 14 clergy, nine from parishes and six from missions, due to Cavalcanti's "intransigent and disrespectful" attitude.

The crisis is rooted in a decision made by the Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA) in July last year to accept the ordination of declared homosexual Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. Different Churches objected to the ordination and a great debate was sparked in the World Anglican Communion. Cavalcanti is among those who rejected Robinson's ordination.

At that time, Cavalcanti participated, without authorization from the Brazilian Church and without the permission of the Episcopal Bishop of Ohio, United States, in the confirmation of a group of young people in a congregation opposed to Robison and the US Episcopal hierarchy. The Primate of the IEAB warned him not to participate in that ceremony but Cavalcanti responded by saying that "extreme situations demand extreme measures."

The IEAB considered that Cavalcanti's decisions breached norms of the Anglican Church. "The fact that the Brazilian Anglican Province respects a decision from the maximum ECUSA body does not mean that we share it. It corresponds to the General IEAB Synod to debate and deliberate such material," said Christina Winnischofer general secretary of the denomination.

The IEAB Bishops' Chamber decreed the special oversight for the communities and clerics in the Anglican Diocese of Recife "who feel pastorally uncared for by their diocesan bishop" and named the Diocesan Bishop of Brasilia Mauricio Andrade to exercise this special supervision.

Not Andrade, or any other bishop will be welcome in the Diocese of Recife, warned Cavalcanti. In a letter addressed to Primate Orlando Santos Oliveira he also censured the "disloyal and anti-ethical behavior of the Suffragan Bishop." He added that the bishops made a political as opposed to legal decisions and overstepped their bounds when they violated the principle of diocesan autonomy based on distorted and partial information.

ALC News Service