Episcopal priest suspended after saying she also is Muslim

SEATTLE — An Episcopal priest who announced last month that she is also a practicing Muslim has been suspended from the priesthood and other Episcopal leadership roles for a year.

The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, who until March was director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral here, should "reflect on the doctrines of the Christian faith, her vocation as a priest, and what I see as the conflicts inherent in professing both Christianity and Islam," the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island, wrote in an e-mail to church leaders.

For the next year Redding "is not to exercise any of the responsibilities and privileges of an Episcopal priest or deacon," Wolf added.

Redding, a priest for 23 years, was ordained by a former bishop of Rhode Island and remains subject to discipline by that diocese.

"I'm deeply saddened, but I've always said I would abide by the rulings of my bishop," Redding told The Seattle Times.

She said she removed her priest's collar in a meeting with Wolf last week, adding that they planned to continue to communicate over the year.

"I understand she's holding it as an indication that we're both in this together," Redding said.

At the end of the year, the two will again discuss the matter and "I understand that one of my options would be to voluntarily leave the priesthood," she said. "The church is going to have to divorce me if it comes to that."

The Rt. Rev. Vincent W. Warner, bishop of the Diocese of Olympia in Seattle, said he accepts Redding as an Episcopal priest and a Muslim but praised Wolf's action as a compromise.

"It's a good way to have a time-out and provide an opportunity for Ann to continue to teach ... and at the same time take a look at her relationship both with the Episcopal church and the Christian faith and Islam," Warner said.

Redding is scheduled to start teaching part time as a visiting assistant professor at Jesuit-run Seattle University this fall but, under Wolf's decision, is barred from teaching, preaching or working at any Episcopal church or institution during the next year.

In a front-page article last month in The Times, she said she had been a practicing Muslim for 15 months after being profoundly moved by an introduction to Islamic prayer.

She has maintained that she did not violate any of her baptismal or ordination vows.

"Since entering Islam," she said, "I have been, by my own estimation, a better teacher, a better preacher and a better Christian."

Reaction has been deeply mixed, with some supporting her practice of two faiths and others questioning whether both could be practiced by any individual, much less a Christian church leader.

"I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I'm both an American of African descent and a woman. I'm 100 percent both," she told The Times in June.

Since being suspended from the priesthood, Redding said, she realizes many believe "the last thing the church needs to deal with at this time is this type of doctrinal dispute. I wish it could've been at a more convenient time, but as far as I know I am responding to God's will and God's timing."

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