US News | April 02, 2009 | 5 comments

Episcopal Priest defrocked after announcing that she is both Christian and Muslim.

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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."

"I am very sad," Redding had said Tuesday. "I'm sad at the loss of this cherished honor of having served as a priest."

She also said she was sad at what seems to her to be a narrow vision of what the church accepts.

Redding, who had formerly served as director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral on Capitol Hill, announced in June 2007 that for more than a year, she had also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Muslim prayers moved her profoundly.

It was an announcement that perplexed many, though Redding said she didn't feel a need to reconcile all the differences between the two faiths, believing that at the most basic level they are compatible.

Redding's defrocking — formally called deposition — comes almost 21 months after Bishop Wolf first told the priest to take a year to reflect on her beliefs.
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5 comments // Episcopal Priest defrocked after announcing that she is both Christian and Muslim.

  • Freaked2Much
  • ClipsFC
    • 0
      ClipsFC  
    • If she was ordained as an Episcopal Priest and did a good job as per her Bishop, then she must have given conflicting messages to the congregation or else I can't see how they would defrock her. But who knows. We only have so much information from that article. Always good to know all the facts.

    • 3 years ago
  • LisaVlad
  • QuitItAlready
  • ClipsFC
    • 0
      ClipsFC  
    • The Rev. Kendall Harmon, the canon theologian with the Diocese of South Carolina: "what's at stake is central to the church, he said. "To be a Christian is to be a Trinitarian and worship Jesus. If we're not clear on that, we have nothing to offer in our witness."

    • 3 years ago
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