Bishops Fenwick, Hunt and Rossello attended the General Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church at Dallas, Texas. At the opening Eucharist, Ray Sutton was installed at Presiding Bishop by Archbishop Foley Beach in succession to the late Bishop Roy Grote, who had died suddenly and unexpectedly the previous Thanksgiving Day. Tributes were paid to Bishop Grote at various points during the Council meeting.
Bishop Sutton launched the ‘REC 100’ initiative – to plant 100 new Churches over the next ten years – and introduced the teaching material prepared for it. The aim is to plant 100 new REC churches in the coming years.
The new REC hymn book was also launched. It was well received by the General Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church.
Bishop Primus brought the greetings of the Free Church of England to the gathering and spoke of recent developments, including the new FCE work in Australia.
From 19th to 23rd June Bishop Primus taught a course on ‘Anglicanism’ at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, Blue Bell, Philadelphia. The seminary was founded in 1886 and has been training people for ministry in the REC and beyond ever since.
Primus’ course was based on his recent book Anglican Ecclesiology and the Gospel. The class included a former Baptist minister seeking to explore the Anglican tradition and a lady from the RE Diocese of the Southeast, training to be a deaconess.