From The Seattle Times:
The Episcopal Church has defrocked Ann Holmes Redding, the Seattle Episcopal priest who announced in 2007 that she is both Christian and Muslim.
Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island, who has disciplinary authority over Redding, informed the priest of her decision in a letter today.Wolf found Redding to be “a woman of utmost integrity and their conversations over the past two years have been open, honest and respectful,” according to a press release from the Diocese of Rhode Island.
“However, Bishop Wolf believes that a priest of the Church cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim.”
In an interview with the Providence Journal conducted before she was deposed, Holmes Redding said: “There is an acknowledged sadness, because if it were not for the limited vision of one particular bishop I still might have been able to function as a priest.”
While I don’t agree with Bishop Wolf on some of the more high profile issues before the Anglican Communion, I find the Rev. Holmes Redding’s characterization unfair and the bishop’s ruling sensible. This is not an instance of one’s Chrstian faith being informed by the insights of another tradition a la Thomas Merton, this is an attempt to say that two competing truth claims are somehow equally correct. Or, I suppose, both approximately correct in non-exclusive ways.
Diocese of Rhode Island press release:
Effective April 1, 2009, The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, Bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island, deposed Ann Holmes Redding as a priest in the Episcopal Church. Dr. Redding lives in the Diocese of Olympia Washington, but was canonically resident in the Diocese of Rhode Island, where she was under the authority of Bishop Wolf. The determination came after a process lasting nearly twenty-one months.
In June 2007, the Diocese of Rhode Island learned of a public profession of adherence to the Muslim faith by Dr. Redding. Bishop Wolf conferred with Dr. Redding who acknowledged taking her Shahadah to become a Muslim. Bishop Wolf then issued a Pastoral Direction to Dr. Redding, directing her to undertake a period of one year for discernment of her faith commitment. After the agreed upon period, the status of Dr. Redding was considered by the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Rhode Island.
The Standing Committee determined that Dr. Redding had abandoned the Communion of the Episcopal Church, within the meaning of the Canons of the Church, by her formal admission into a religious body not in Communion with the Episcopal Church. The Bishop affirmed that determination and issued an inhibition prohibiting Dr. Redding from exercising the gifts and spiritual authority conferred on her by Episcopal Ordination, and from public ministry.
The Inhibition continued until March 31, 2009 during which time Dr. Redding had the opportunity to withdraw, or issue a notice of intention to withdraw, from the Muslim faith. Dr. Redding also had the opportunity to renounce her orders. Dr. Redding did neither and, under the Canons of the Church, Bishop Wolf was required to consider deposing Dr. Redding.
Bishop Wolf found Dr. Redding to be a woman of utmost integrity and their conversations over the past two years have been open, honest and respectful. However, Bishop Wolf believes that a priest of the Church cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim. Consequently, as a result of the abandonment of the Communion of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Wolf imposed a sentence of deposition in accordance with the Canons of the Church.