The Most Revd Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, is completing a four-day visit to Scotland, where the Episcopal Church found a friend some 230 years ago as it sought to establish its independence from the Church of England.
The Anglican Communion News Service explains,
The Presiding Bishop of the US-based Episcopal Church (TEC), Michael Curry, has delivered a sermon at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Aberdeen to celebrate the historic links between two of the earliest churches in the Anglican Communion outside England. TEC traces its roots back to 1784 – the year after the Americans defeated the British in the American War of Independence. The Church’s first US-bishop, Samuel Seabury, was required by the Church of England to swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown before they would consecrate him. He refused, and bishops from the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) agreed to conduct the consecration.
“Our bishops today trace their succession to Samuel Seabury . . . so our roots really are here in Aberdeen, Scotland. Indeed, Scotland is our mother church, so it was good to come home and give thanks to our mother church and to affirm our continued partnership in Jesus Christ,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said in an interview on Monday with the Episcopal News Service.
Curry preached at a service of Festal Evensong at St Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Aberdeen on Sunday, where the Revd Dr Chuck Robertson, Canon for Ministry beyond the Episcopal Church, was installed as an honorary canon of the cathedral.
Curry praised the Most Revd Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, for his “faithfulness, dignity, and Christian integrity” at the most recent Primates’ Meeting in Canterbury. Following the SEC’s recent decision to move towards marriage equality, the Archbishop of Canterbury confirmed at that meeting that it would face the same “consequences” of its decision as the Episcopal Church in the USA.
The Episcopal News Service report includes video of Curry’s sermon and Robertson’s installation.
The Presiding Bishop’s visit is expected to continue in Edinburgh, and may include a tour of the Scottish Parliament and visit with Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
Read more at ENS, which also carries video interviews with Presiding Bishop Curry and with Scottish Primus, Mark Strange.
Featured image: the Revd Dr Chuck Robertson is installed as an honorary canon of St Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral, Aberdeen. Still from ENS video.