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The Episcopal bishop of Connecticut temporarily removed a Hartford priest from his parish July 14, saying he had taken an unauthorized sabbatical. Mark Hansen, for 15 years the rector of St. John's Church, opposed Bishop Andrew D. Smith's support for the ordination of a practicing homosexual as bishop of New Hampshire. Along with five other priests and their parishes, the "Connecticut Six" have sought alternative oversight. And the six parishes have stopped paying dues to the diocese.

Smith said he suspended the priest for the sake of the health of St. John's Church. According to a statement by the diocese, Hansen never told Bishop Smith of his intention to take a sabbatical. Smith said, "I am concerned for the life and ministry of St. John's. In the past few months Fr. Hansen has made decisions that left the parish without sustained clergy leadership."

Smith also appointed Susan J. McCone as the priest in charge of the parish. McCone is the Episcopal chaplain at Vassar College in New York and the executive director of Affirming Anglican Catholicism, a group that affirms members "regardless of gender or sexual orientation." Ed Seibert, an administrative and financial consultant, was appointed to review parish records and administration.

One witness said that the bishop showed up to the church with computer hackers and a locksmith. "The hackers set to work on the computer, took down the church's website," and the locksmith changed the locks. The next Sunday all but fifteen of St. John's parishioners worshiped at nearby Trinity Church, with Fr. Knapp, a retired priest.

"He abandoned his leadership," Bishop Smith said about Hansen. But the priest says he sent Smith a letter explaining that he was taking a sabbatical "because his school-age son needed 'specialized support services,'" writes The New York Times. "I am deeply saddened at the tactics displayed by Bishop Smith," Hansen told The Times. Hansen also said he had provided pastoral care for his absence.

Episcopal conservatives are up in arms over the move. The American Anglican Council, a conservative network, called the move "unconscionable." "We are outraged that any bishop would seize control of a church without lengthy consultation with the vestry [elected church board]," the council said in a statement. "Bishop Smith has exhibited pastoral disregard for the leaders, members, and clergy of St. John's."

"We are deeply concerned that Bishop Smith's actions yesterday are punitive in nature against a church and priest who have requested alternative Episcopal oversight," the American Anglican Council said. "We fear the bishop will also seek to punish the other five churches in theological dispute with him."

The other five priests also condemned Smith's actions, calling it "a personal attack devoid of pastoral concern for the Hansen family or the parishioners of St. John's." The priests said, "We believe this is one more example of Bishop Smith's apparent intention to systematically destroy, one by one, the six parishes that have requested adequate Episcopal oversight."

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July (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49