Anglican church in Maysville to ordain its first priest

Members broke with Episcopalians over ordination of gay bishop

By Jim Niemi - jniemi@herald-leader.com

A Kentucky Anglican church in Maysville that has broken ranks with the U.S. Episcopal Church will witness its first ordination July 12.

Pastor Robert W. Hudson, a graduate of Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pa., who has ministered to St. Luke's Anglican Church since May 19, will be ordained to the priesthood in a 10 a.m. service. It will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church, 621 Parker Drive, where St. Luke's 18 members have been meeting for services.

The ordination will be conducted by the Rev. Bill Atwood, a bishop of the All Saints Cathedral Diocese (Nairobi) of the Anglican Church of Kenya.

”Anglican churches exist under the ministry of bishops,“ Hudson said. ”I had known of Bishop Atwood, one of two American bishops providing oversight for the archbishop of Kenya in the United States.“

St. Luke's is affiliating with the Anglican Church of Kenya because it is one of a handful of U.S. Anglican churches that have disagreed with the U.S. church's decision to consecrate Lexington native V. Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, as bishop of New Hampshire.

The breakaway churches also disagree with the Anglican Church of Canada, which recognizes committed gay relationships.

Anglican archbishops in Kenya, as well as Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Southern Cone of South America, have remained steadfast against what they see as a liberalization of Anglican doctrine, and have welcomed like-minded congregations from North America.

The Rev. Martin Gornik of Apostles Anglican Church in Lexington said his church has affiliated with the Anglican Church of Uganda. Other Kentucky Anglican churches affiliating with Uganda include Good Shepherd in Louisville, St. Andrew's in Versailles and Holy Apostles in Elizabethtown, Gornik said.

St. Patrick's, another Anglican church in Lexington that also has a mission in Corbin, is affiliated with the church in Rwanda, Gornik said.