12,000 Jam Hall for Record Session of Episcopalians

A turn-away crowd of nearly 12,000 Episcopalians overflowed the Anaheim Convention Center on Sunday to attend what church officials said was the largest gathering in the history of their denomination.

The faithful began assembling hours ahead of the scheduled time for a colorful worship ceremony, hoping to find seats in the main arena. A 1,000-seat overflow room where closed-circuit television was set up also filled, and about 300 people spilled out into the lobbies and halls of the convention center. They were nevertheless served Communion there during the service.

Another 70 received the sacrament on the lawn outside, and 1,500 people were turned away by security personnel, convention officials said.

The Communion marked the opening worship service of the 2.8-million-member denomination’s eight-day triennial legislative meeting here. This is the first time the Episcopal General Convention has convened in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

The Episcopal Church is observing the anniversary of its founding 200 years ago in Philadelphia. The denomination is a self-governing offshoot of the Church of England.

But Robert A. K. Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, said in the Eucharist service that most Anglicans are not English any more.

Nor is the Anglican family of churches any longer made up of the “white middle-classes allied only to the prosperous Western world,” Runcie said.

An obvious example, he added, was Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu’s “courageous witness in South Africa” on behalf of his black constituents opposing racial separation in that country.

“We’ve developed a worldwide family of churches,” Runcie declared. “No longer are we identified by having some kind of English heritage. For many of our members, English is today the second language of the Communion. There are more black members than white. Our local diversities span the spectrum of the world’s races, needs and aspirations.”

The archbishop also noted that, next to the Roman Catholic Church, the world’s 70 million Anglicans in 28 branches represent the widest geographical distribution of a Christian group.

Underscoring that reality, the “prayers for the people” during the Communion service in the convention center were said in 14 languages. One by one, people came forward to pray in the Cambodian, Cantonese, Dakota, Eskimo, French, Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Navajo, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese tongues--and in English.

The Communion and pageantry were large-scale, even though the main arena could not accommodate everyone.

About two-thirds of those seated there indicated they were residents of Southern California. A 1,000-voice choir from 75 parishes of the Los Angeles Diocese sat behind a massive 18-foot altar flanked by huge candles on a raised platform. The altar cloth bore the image of a red, orange and white dove, and the pulpit cloth was decorated with a three-tongued flame. The bishops and priests served wine from brown pottery chalices to the communicants, who formed in long lines.

Bishop Robert C. Rusack of Los Angeles welcomed officials of other religious groups, including Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Manning, who retired as the Archbishop of Los Angeles Thursday when Roger M. Mahony, former Bishop of Stockton, was installed in an elaborate Mass in St. Vibiana’s Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles.

Also retiring is Episcopal Presiding Bishop John M. Allin, 64, the top official of the Episcopal Church for the last 12 years. He is stepping down in January, and delegates here will elect his successor Tuesday.