Episcopal bishop won't suspend priests involved in Druid rites

DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. - Two Episcopal priests who led Druidic activity will not be suspended, said a bishop, who blamed the local scandal on conservative groups out to destabilize the Episcopal Church USA.

The Rev. William Melnyk and his wife, the Rev. Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk, had participated only in "exploratory thinking" with Druid circles as students of pre-Christian Celtic spirituality, said Bishop Charles E. Bennison, leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.

But his discussions with the couple, he said, convinced him that they had not led any Druid groups or joined nature-worshiping Druid rites.

"They made a small error of judgment that has been very costly to their ministry and their church, and the church at large," Bennison said Tuesday.

Melnyk resigned Saturday as rector of St. James' Church in Downingtown, after a parish board asked him to step down. His wife remains rector of St. Francis-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Malvern.

The couple's involvement in Druidism came to light last month after the Episcopal Church's women's ministry listed two of the couple's Druidic liturgies on its Web site for possible use in developing feminist liturgies. The church removed the liturgies, but several Christian groups and private Web sites accused the church of promoting pagan rites. The church denied it.

Last week, the Melnyks wrote letters of apology, saying they "recanted and repudiated" their Druid connection, and that their goal had been to reach out to marginal Christians.

The Washington-based conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy alerted Christian media to the online rites, and aimed "to intimidate people in our church ... who would think out of the box," Bennison said.

Erik Nelson, research associate for the institute's Episcopal Action Project, said he was surprised Bennison "would continue to defend (the two priests) when they repented and admitted it was wrong."

Ruppe-Melnyk, reached at her church Tuesday, said, "We are just trying to keep from escalating an unfortunate and misrepresented situation."

There are actually a number of organizations in the world that use the term "Druid," and most of them are more like fraternal lodges than religious organizations. The largest "Druid" group in the world, OBOD, is headquartered in Britain and bills itself as a general philosophy of living that is compatible with most mainstream religious practice. OBOD counts many Christians among their membership throughout the world. In fact I personally know at least two Christian clergymen who are active members of OBOD.

The second largest "Druid" group in the world, ADF here in the USA, is expressedly pagan and their belief system is highly incompatible with even the most liberal Christian beliefs: a pre-Christian European polytheistic cosmology that has much in common with Japanese Shinto and certain sects of Hinduism. ADF isn't hostile to Christianity - not at all - but whenever Christians attempt to join (and it has happened) the relationship invariably ends in a shambles. Christians, no matter how liberal and new-agey they may be at the time of joining, always become alarmed as the realization sinks in that ADF is a serious organization and its membership is really pagan, in the literal sense.

My point here is that it's highly unlikely that these Episcopal priests were hangin' with the hardcore polytheists so that they could indoctrinate their congregation into the spiritual ways of hugging trees. They were most likely involved with OBOD or another of the smaller fraternal-order groups; and their explanation about Celtic Christianity is also very reasonable. The Druids were in fact the literate, priestly caste of pagan Celtic Europe, and 1600 years ago when the Celtic countries were Christianized, many of that caste became monks and nuns in their new religion. It's a legitimate area of research.

This point of view offered here for the edification of anybody who cares; and I realize that a lot of you won't. :)

More info about this couple:
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/politics/10107674.htm

He goes by the name OakWyse, and yes, he's been involved in OBOD for years. He's very well-known in pagan circles and frankly, none too popular. He was also briefly a member of ADF and left on very bad terms because it became obvious to the membership that he was proselytizing. His behavior in that organization supports his explanation that he was involved with Druidism to "help others who had lost connection to the Church to find a way to reconnect." So for that reason, maybe you evangelicals don't need to be so hard on him.

Personally, though, I think the guy's a major hypocrite and I'm suprised it took the Episcopal Church this long to find him out.

Hi - OBOD stands for "Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids," and this name is based on classical texts by Julius Caesar and others which outlined the structure of pre-Christian Celtic intelligentsia. OBOD was founded way back in the 1700's when there was a craze for "secret" fraternal orders such as the masons. Winston Churchill actually belonged to one of these orders - I don't remember offhand if it was OBOD. In the late 50's the head of OBOD was a fellow named Ross Nichols, who was a friend of Gerald Gardner, the founder of the Wiccan religion. Nichols began to take OBOD in a more spiritual direction, a process that was greatly expanded by his successor and current head of OBOD, Philip Carr-Gomm. OBOD's website is at http://www.druidry.org. It's quite New-Agey to my tastes, "fluffy."

The basics of Druid philosophy/religion:
since the Celts deliberately avoided literacy, everything we have about their pre-Christian life is fragmentary. But through linguistics, archeaology and comparative mythology a decent picture has been constructed. First of all, there was no Druid religion per se. Celtic society was built on a kind of caste system similar to Hindu society and the Druids were simply the priestly caste, just like the Brahmins in India. The Druids had a lot of power and were always the top advisors to the kings and others in the warrior caste.

As for the religion itself: like every other pre-Christian European culture, they were polytheists and animists. Everything had a spirit and there were many, many gods and goddesses. The Celts especially venerated water and springs. They did not build temples, preferring to worship in sacred groves of trees they called the "nemeton." Until the arrival of the Romans, they rarely made images of their deities, one notable exception being the Gundestrup Cauldron.

Let's see, what elese ... the central act of faith for these ancient Europeans was sacrifice, just as it was for the Greeks, the Romans, the Norse and everyone else. Their notion of sacrifice was quite different from the notion found in the Middle East, however. They didn't sacrifice to atone for sins, but to maintain a good working relationship with their deities. "I give this freshly slaughtered sheep to you in hopes you'll do this favor for me" was the line of reasoning.

The names of Celtic gods and tribes live on in many European place names: Paris, the land of the Parisii; Lyon and London, cities of Lugh; Ireland/Eire, named after the tutelary goddess Eriu. Lots of other examples.

Nowadays, there are tons of people running around calling themselves "Druids" who are indeed really Wiccans under another name. In fact OBOD's ritual form is basically Wiccan, not suprising since Ross Nichols was deeply influenced by Gerald Gardner. ADF on the other hand takes itself quite seriously by using scholarly sources to put together a modern neo-paganism based on the belief systems of ancient Europeans, with no claim to direct lineage.

In remoter parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, traces still remain of pre-Christian practices, hard-wired into that rapidly dying culture. For instance, springs are still venerated (although now in a Christian context) and there are still many springs where people leave offerings.

This stuff is all very interesting to me and I hope I haven't turned anyone off as a godless heathen. :)

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