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The Open Episcopal Church (OEC) is a liberal Christian denomination. It has bishops in England and Wales and clergy throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. It has over 29,000 members.[1]

The church was the first in Britain to ordain a woman as bishop and to perform religious wedding ceremonies for gay couples.

The OEC is a member of the International Council of Community Churches, which in turn is a member of The World Council of Churches and Churches Uniting in Christ.

History

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Founding of the Society for Independent Christian Ministry

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In 1994 Jonathan Blake, who had been a priest in the Church of England for over 12 years, effected a Deed of Relinquishment,[2] severing his denominational ties.

As an independent priest[3] he offered sacramental ministry to all. In 1997 he wrote about these experiences in his book, For God's Sake Don't Go To Church.[4] The same year he nailed 95 theses[5] to the door of Canterbury Cathedral, for which he was arrested[6] but not charged.[7]

A lesbian from the north of England arranged to meet Blake after reading his book. She felt a call to the ministry but had been rebuffed by the church over her sexuality and was interested in independent ministry. Following the meeting Blake placed an advert in the Church Times inviting all those interested in such a ministry to a conference the following March. Over 100 people contacted him, among them Richard Palmer,[8] who had been consecrated as a bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church in 1997, but had resigned in April 1999.

Blake wrote the Founding Principles[9] of the Society for Independent Christian Ministry (SICM), which was inaugurated by a group of Christians reciting the Lord’s Prayer in the Sanctum of the Holy Circle Trust[10] near Ryarsh in Kent at sunrise on 1 January 2000.

In February 2001, Blake conducted the first gay wedding blessing on Richard and Judy's prime time TV programme This Morning.[11]

Founding of the Open Episcopal Church

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By the time SICM met for the third time in Bournemouth, Palmer required those who had been ordained simply in Dartford to be ordained sub conditione at this gathering in a full rite of ordination. Blake realized that a new denomination had to be founded and set about writing the necessary canons.[citation needed]

At Hazlewood Castle, Michael Wilson[12] was consecrated a bishop by Palmer and Blake. The three bishops issued the "Hazlewood Declaration" on 10 November 2001, which facilitated the creation of the Open Episcopal Church. The church viewed itself as being in succession from the Old Catholic Church, which had been established in England in 1908 by Arnold Mathew from See of Utrecht and continued through the Liberal Catholic Church.[13]

The first congress of the church was held at the All Saints Pastoral Centre in June 2004. The church's college of bishops met at Weston Manor in Oxfordshire in January 2005 and Wilson, an evangelical, resigned from the Church. The second congress was held at Whaley Hall at Whaley Bridge in mid 2005. In October, Roger Whatley[14] was consecrated a bishop in the Chapel of the Ammerdown Conference Centre.

Development

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The church has had three archbishops: Richard Palmer, who left the church along with Roger Whatley after the allotted five-years of Palmer's tenure as archbishop ended; Elizabeth Stuart, who left the church in 2006 and was appointed the Archbishop of the Province of Great Britain and Ireland of the more traditionalist Liberal Catholic Church International; and Jonathan Blake, OEC's founder, who was the church's sole remaining bishop after Stuart left.

In 2008 the Open Episcopal Church became a member of the International Council of Community Churches[15] and through them, a member of the World Council of Churches and Churches Uniting in Christ.[16]

The church received national and international attention due to the wedding blessing Blake conducted for reality television figures Jade Goody and Jack Tweed,[17][18] through interviews broadcast after Jade Goody's death,[19] through the prayer released before Jade Goody's funeral,[20] through Blake's response to Michael Parkinson's criticism of Goody,[21][22][23] through the launch of Post the Host (an outreach provision to distribute the consecrated Hosts by post),[24] [25][26][27][28][29][30][31] and through David Gillham leading the prayers in the Scottish Parliament.[32]

Following Jade Goody's wedding, Christopher Woods, Chaplain and Director of Studies in Theology at Christ's College, Cambridge, called upon the Church of England to speak out against Blake and the OEC. The Church of England declined to comment.[33]

The church consecrated the first woman as a bishop for Wales in 2007.[citation needed] The bishop of Scotland, David Gillham, ordained Helen Hamilton at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney in 2010; Gillham later fell into dispute with the church and left.[34] Hamilton was subsequently consecrated as the first woman bishop for Scotland in June 2012.[35] She made an episcopal visit to Derry.[36] In 2013 the church consecrated a female bishop for Northumberland.[37]

Blake contributed to the book A Strange Vocation: Independent Bishops Tell Their Stories in 2009,[38] and contributed liturgical material to Geoffrey Duncan's anthology Courage to Love[39] and Leanne Tigert and Maren Tirabassi's compilation All Whom God Has Joined.[40] In 2014 Blake's book That Old Devil Called God Again: The Scourge of Religion was published.[41]

The church has clerics from Anglican, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Lutheran and Franciscan backgrounds and has grown internationally into America, Egypt, Brazil and Thailand.[42] The church promotes its KITE Awards for young people making a positive difference in the community.[43][44]

References

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  1. ^ "Organisation". The Open Episcopal Church. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Clerical Disabilities Act 1870". Legislation. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Have dog collar, will travel: Counselling, dance workshops, conflict". The Independent. 21 October 1994. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022.
  4. ^ For God's Sake Don't Go To Church ISBN 0-85305-446-0 Published by Arthur James.
  5. ^ "Jonathan's 95 Theses". The Most Reverend Jonathan Clive Blake. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  6. ^ Chryssides, George D. (2012). Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements. Scarecrow Press. p. 260. ISBN 9780810861947.
  7. ^ "Archbishop Jonathan Blake || Christian Alternative || Author Profile". Archived from the original on 1 September 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  8. ^ "lcc.cc". www.lcc.cc.
  9. ^ "Welcome to the SICM Website". SICM. Archived from the original on 9 September 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  10. ^ The Holy Circle Trust. Charity Number 1066062
  11. ^ "Richard and Judy screen gay wedding". BBC News. 14 February 2001. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  12. ^ "Rent-a-bishop at your service". Lancashire Telegraph. 7 August 2004. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  13. ^ "About". The Open Episcopal Church. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  14. ^ "Roger Whatley". Church Times. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  15. ^ Hooton, Michael (2016). The Extended Family. Wipf & Stock Publishers. pp. 159–160. ISBN 9781498280853.
  16. ^ "Europe". International Council of Community Churches. Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  17. ^ "Jade Goody's Wedding". Archived from the original on 26 February 2009.
  18. ^ Thompson, Damian (22 February 2009). "Jade Goody, Archbishop Blake and the strange phenomenon of 'wandering bishops'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  19. ^ "Bishop praises Jade". Talk Talk. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  20. ^ "Jade Goody's funeral: What the star planned for her last journey". mirror. 2 April 2009.
  21. ^ "Bishop Hits Back After Jade Goody Criticism". Sky News. 8 April 2009. Archived from the original on 11 April 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  22. ^ "Bishop hits back at Sir Michael Parkinson comments on Jade Goody". Telegraph. 8 April 2009. Archived from the original on 11 April 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  23. ^ "Jade Goody's wedding bishop defends her against Sir Michael Parkinson's criticism". Mirror. 8 April 2009. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  24. ^ "Find Here Your Way to God". Post the Host. Archived from the original on 14 May 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  25. ^ Butt, Riazat (8 June 2009). "Praise the Lord and post the Host: church's plan to woo worshippers". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  26. ^ Tompkins, Stephen. "The Open Episcopal Church's wafer wheeze". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  27. ^ "Church leaders offer communion wafers in the post". Telegraph. 9 June 2009. Archived from the original on 12 June 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  28. ^ Tomkins, Stephen (June 2009). "Mass hysteria". Ship of Fools. Archived from the original on 2 July 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  29. ^ Pope, Charles (9 June 2011). "Reductio Ad Absurdum - Host in the Post!". Archdiocese of Washington. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  30. ^ "Host by post". Religion News Service. 9 June 2009. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  31. ^ Thompson, Damian (20 August 2014). "Satanists are planning to desecrate the Host at a Black Mass. Let's stop them". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  32. ^ "Minutes of Proceedings Vol. 3, No. 47 Session 3". The Scottish Parliament. 20 January 2010. Archived from the original on 23 April 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  33. ^ Gledhill, Ruth (23 February 2009). "Bishop who blessed union of Jade Goody and Jack Tweed faces criticism". The Times. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  34. ^ McQuillan, Rebecca (2 April 2012). "Helen Hamilton, Scotland's First Female Bishop". Retrieved 21 June 2023 – via PressReader.
  35. ^ "Nun made Scotland's first bishop". The Herald. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  36. ^ "Bishop Helen makes first visit to the city". Northern Ireland. 17 September 2012. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  37. ^ "New church comes to Bloomington". The Herald-Times. 28 December 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  38. ^ A strange Vocation - Independent bishops tell their stories ISBN 1-933993-75-8 Published by Apocryphile Press
  39. ^ Courage to Love ISBN 0-8298-1468-X Published by The Pilgrim Press
  40. ^ All Whom God has Joined ISBN 0-8298-1838-3 Published by The Pilgrim Press
  41. ^ "Archbishop Jonathan Blake". Christian Alternative The New Open Spaces. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  42. ^ "Worship begins in Chiang Mai!". All Saints' Chiang Mai. 24 June 2013. Archived from the original on 18 August 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  43. ^ "The OEC Kite Awards 2012". The Open Episcopal Church. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  44. ^ "Apply for 10k award says Norfolk Deacon" (PDF). The Norwich and Norfolk Christian Community. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
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