DATE: Thursday, October 16, 1997            TAG: 9710160486

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B13  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   56 lines

ANGLICAN CATHOLICS ELECT NEW ARCHBISHOP IN NORFOLK MEETING

Anglican Catholics from around the world elected a new archbishop here Wednesday, with hopes that he can heal some of the tiny church's internal divisions.

The 12th synod of the Anglican Catholic Church chose Michael Stephens, 57, of New Orleans, to lead the denomination of about 30,000 worldwide.

A good-humored man, Stephens is expected to be a bridge-builder. He seemed genuinely surprised at his selection and did not have a speech ready.

``I'm amazed and somewhat taken aback,'' he said. ``I had rather thought it was going to be someone else. I will say that we've been through some terrible times, with some internal divisions. We have to go on and do our best to heal them.''

The 250 delegates meeting at the Omni Hotel downtown through Friday are mostly from the United States, but included Anglican Catholics from South Africa, Australia and England.

The Anglican Catholics, established in 1976, broke away from the Episcopalians because that church began to ordain women as ministers and, they felt, was generally becoming more liberal. They are not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church or the Church of England, although they share some aspects of both.

Only men may be Anglican Catholic priests, and the church opposes abortion. There are two Anglican Catholic parishes in Hampton Roads, both in Newport News. The mid-Atlantic region, with 27 parishes, forms the largest diocese in the Anglican Catholic Church.

The meeting's host is the Rev. Frank Blair, the priest at St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Newport News.

``We're no longer interested in being defined by what we are against,'' Blair said. ``You don't survive as a church by only being against something.''

The last Anglican Catholic archbishop, William O. Lewis, died last month after a long illness. In recent months some of the church's bishops broke away from the main body and are having their own meeting in Allentown, Pa.

``When there is an illness at the top, there's often a rush to fill that vacuum,'' Stephens said. ``But some of those separated bishops are close friends of mine. They do not dislike me. There is still an opportunity, I think, to mend the differences.''

The separated bishops also wanted the church to elevate the Virgin Mary to a higher theological status, a debate that is also going on in the Roman Catholic Church. Stephens said people are free to hold those positions, but the church is not ready to accept it as official doctrine.

There was even a motion among the lay members Wednesday not to elect a new archbishop at all, but it was quickly voted down. ILLUSTRATION: MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Pausing during prayer Wednesday morning at the Omni Waterside Hotel

in Norfolk are two delegates from the Diocese of the Resurrection

attending the convention here of Anglican Catholics. They are Amelia

Harding, left, of State College, Pa., and Robert Konvalin of

Sullivan County, N.Y.

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