Retired Bishop William Cox to be Tried by Ecclesiastical Court

Living Church

3/21/2007

A panel of bishops will proceed with an ecclesiastical trial of the Rt. Rev. William J. Cox, retired Bishop Suffragan of Maryland, on charges that he illegally performed sacramental acts without the permission of the local Episcopal bishop. News of the trial was announced during the March 16-21 meeting of the House of Bishops.

In June 2005, Bishop Cox, 86, ordained two priests and a deacon at Christ Church in Overland Park, Kan., after he was asked by the Primate of Uganda. The following month, Bishop Cox returned to Christ Church and led a service of confirmation.

In April 2005, Christ Church agreed to pay the Diocese of Kansas $1 million over the next 10 years as part of a separation agreement which allowed the congregation to retain its property, and for the clergy to be relieved of their canonical obligations to The Episcopal Church. Christ Church and its clergy subsequently affiliated with the Province of Uganda.

Bishop Cox served as Bishop Suffragan of Maryland from 1972 to 1980 and Assistant Bishop of Oklahoma, 1980-1988. He and his wife, Betty, now live in Tulsa.

Two bishops - the Rt. Rev. Dean Wolfe, Bishop of Kansas and the Rt. Rev. Robert Moody, Bishop of Oklahoma – presented Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold with documentation of the alleged canonical violations last summer. Bishop Griswold forwarded the charges to the Title IV [disciplinary] Review Committee, which recently completed its investigation, determining that there were sufficient grounds to proceed to trial.

The case will be sent to the Court for the Trial of a Bishop. If found guilty, punishment ranges from a verbal reprimand to permanent removal from the ordained ministry. Appeals are heard by the Court of Review for the Trial of a Bishop.

The House of Bishops received no news on two other ecclesiastical complaints. The standing committee in the Diocese of Pennsylvania filed a formal complaint last year against the Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennison, Jr., Bishop of Pennsylvania, accusing him of withholding financial and legal information. Two years ago, a group of clergy and lay members in the Diocese of Connecticut filed charges against the Rt. Rev. Andrew Smith, Bishop of Connecticut, alleging that he acted improperly in removing the rector and vestry at St. John’s, Bristol. Bishop Smith is a member of the trial court that will hear the case against Bishop Cox.

Steve Waring

    Comments & Responses

  1. Indeed, this is excellent news - this is ECUSA admitting what the Global South has been saying all along that we are out of communion with them indeed we follow a different religion.

    Posted by  on  03/22  at  05:17 PM

  2. Any finding against +Cox will not be recognized by the Global South, as it would not be the result of a legitimate procedure from a legitimate province. +Cox will simply transfer his canonical residence to Uganda and continue his ministry on behalf of ++Orombi in the U.S.

    Posted by James Gibson  on  03/23  at  05:46 AM

  3. It says so very, VERY much that the Episcopal hierarchy so unwilling to discipline Pike or Spong for blatant heresy would go after an old man—and strip his pension in the process—for a procedural detail on the cusp of Christ Church’s separation from that particular diocese.

    Of course maybe TEC doesn’t view denial of Christ’s divinity as heresy.

    I’m a member of Christ Church, Overland Park and can assure you that our connexion with Kampala is deep and warm—and precedes the debacle in TEC by nearly a decade. Two of my dearest friends from CCA are on long-term mission in Uganda: this is not some ‘flag of convenience’ arrangement.

    I’ve spent a day driving Abp Orombi around rural Kansas; I farm for a living and he is a rural man himself. He is one of the most humble people I’ve ever been privileged to meet. The contrast to Mr. Wolfe and many other Episcopal bishops is profound.

    TEC prattles on about procedural technicalities and cuddles up to every critter in the petting zoo of modern American secular leftism.

    The Global South Anglican preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ and puts their lives on the line for it.

    Choose this day whom you shall serve ...

    Posted by  on  03/23  at  10:18 AM
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