An Episcopal priest has resigned from his church and taken much of his congregation with him in the first significant sign that the divisions between the U.S. Episcopal Church and its Anglican counterpart have arrived in San Diego.
The Rev. Keith Acker, rector of Christ the King Episcopal Church in Alpine, resigned Monday and turned over the church keys to the diocese, San Diego Bishop James Mathes said yesterday. Most of the parish's leaders also have resigned.
Acker, 49, said last night that come Sunday morning he will be at his new parish, the Alpine Anglican Church of the Blessed Trinity, at Alpine Elementary School.
"The Episcopal Church has distanced itself from the rest of the Anglican Communion and that, in fact, is where the difficulty lies," said Acker, who has been an Episcopal priest for 23 years. "I've always seen myself as an Episcopalian, but I was an Anglican first."
The 77-million-member global Anglican Communion is at odds with the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States over the ordination of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire two years ago and for blessing same-sex unions.
But Acker said his departure, along with the exodus of about 50 of the 80 or so parishioners, also was triggered by the new bishop's balking at allowing an Anglican colleague to continue to perform "sacramental ministry" at Christ the King.
The Rev. Frank Pannitti, a priest with the Anglican Province of America, a traditional, evangelical denomination, has been helping at Christ the King for several years, with the informal approval of the previous bishop, Acker said. However, Mathes, who became the new bishop in March, said Pannitti needed to go through the process of being properly licensed by the diocese.
Angered by that stand, many members of the conservative parish boycotted Mathes' visit to Christ the King on Nov. 20. Instead, they held a separate service at the school – and a new church was born.
Acker said he and Pannitti will be co-pastors of Blessed Trinity, which will be aligned with the Anglican Province of America.
The departure is a blow to Mathes, who appealed for patience, unity and communication as he took office. He said yesterday that he had tried several times to reach out to Acker and the congregation.
"I feel every effort to misunderstand has been seized and every effort to understand has been ignored," Mathes said.
The bishop will send two priests to conduct a joint service at Christ the King on Sunday, followed by a meeting to pick new leadership. "We're going to do what we can to assist them in building up their congregation," Mathes said.
