John Bryson Chane

The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane
Bishop Emeritus Washington
Province	The Episcopal Church
Diocese	Washington, DC
Installed	2002
Term ended	2011
Predecessor	Ronald Hayward Haines
Successor	Mariann Edgar Budde
Orders
Ordination	24 June 1972 (deacon) 6 January 1973 (priest)
Consecration	1 June 2002
Personal details
Spouse	Karen Chane

John Bryson Chane (born May 13, 1944)^[1] is a bishop in the Episcopal Church. He was the eighth diocesan bishop of Washington. He was elected on the second ballot and was consecrated on June 1, 2002. In his capacity as bishop, he also served as interim dean of the Washington National Cathedral while it searched for a new dean. He was President and CEO of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation which oversees the operations of the Washington National Cathedral and the three cathedral schools of Saint Alban's, the National Cathedral School for Girls, and Beauvoir School.^[2] He was named by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 150 most influential leaders in the District of Columbia and recognized by the London Telegraph as one of the 50 most prominent leaders in the Anglican Communion.

A leader in global interfaith dialogue and study he has traveled to Iran on numerous occasions as the invited guest of former President Sayyed Mohammad Khatami. In late 2011 he was part of a four-person delegation that traveled to Tehran and was instrumental in freeing the American hikers held prisoner in Evan Prison. He is one of the few from the West who has ever met with the current Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameni. He has participated as a presenter at three conferences, held in Oslo, Norway, and Tehran, sponsored by the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, the Club de Madrid, and Le Dialogue des Civilizations, focusing on religion, politics and terrorism, religion and politics and gender equality. He continues to work with the Brookings Institution in Washington DC as a planner and presenter at the Annual U.S. Islamic World Forum, held in Doha, Qatar. He has spoken on numerous occasions at the Industrial College of The Armed Forces in Washington DC, the US State Department's Secretary's Open Forum and as the Anglican principal at the semi annual Christian-Muslim Summit sponsored by Washington National Cathedral. As a respected speaker and preacher he has been invited on several occasions by the Chautauqua Institution of New York as Preacher in Residence and as a frequent speaker by the Department of Religion addressing various contemporary religious themes.

Crane has been the recipient of various awards, including DC's Interfaith Bridge Builders Award, the George Washington University's President's Medal, the Berea College Founder's Medal, Search for Common Ground's Award for Global Peace and Reconciliation, the Rumi Forum's Global Peace Award, and the Yale Divinity School's Lux et Veritas Award. He was a contributing author to Iraq Uncensored, published by the American Security Project and a contributor to Messengers of Monotheism, published by Dog Ear Publishing. On January 30, 2010, Chane announced his intention to retire as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, relinquishing the role to his successor in 2011.^[3] The ordination and consecration of the ninth bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde, took place at the Washington National Cathedral on November 12, 2011.

Biography

A Boston native, Chane was previously the dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in San Diego and served in congregations in Southborough, Massachusetts, Erie, Pennsylvania and Montvale, New Jersey. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Boston University and a Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School. He was the team chaplain for the Team USA Hockey team during the 1980 Olympics. He later received honorary doctorates from Virginia Theological Seminary, Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge and Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University. He is father to Chris Chane and Ian Chane. He also has three grandchildren,Madeline, Althea and Ashton.

On the side, he has a band called The Chane Gang.^[4]

Chane and Archbishop Akinola

In February 2006, Peter Akinola, Primate of Nigeria, issued a communique on behalf of his Church of Nigeria Standing Committee stating that "The Church commends the law-makers for their prompt reaction to outlaw same-sex relationships in Nigeria and calls for the bill to be passed since the idea expressed in the bill is the moral position of Nigerians regarding human sexuality."^[5] The bill in question, as well as criminalising same-sex marriage, also proposed to criminalise "Registration of Gay Clubs, Societies and organizations" and "Publicity, procession and public show of same-sex amorous relationship through the electronic or print media physically, directly, indirectly or otherwise", on penalty of up to five years imprisonment.^[6] The proposed legislation was formally challenged by the United States State Department as a possible breach of Nigeria's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.^[7]

Chane, writing in the Washington Post, said:

"The archbishop's support for this law violates numerous Anglican Communion documents that call for a "listening process" involving gay Christians and their leaders. But his contempt for international agreements also extends to Articles 18-20 of the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which articulates the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, association and assembly. Surprisingly, few voices -- Anglican or otherwise -- have been raised in opposition to the archbishop. When I compare this silence with the cacophony that followed the Episcopal Church's decision to consecrate the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, a gay man who lives openly with his partner, as the bishop of New Hampshire, I am compelled to ask whether the global Christian community has lost not only its backbone but its moral bearings."^[8]

See also

• List of Succession of Bishops for the Episcopal Church, USA

References

1. Episcopal Clerical Directory 2013 (2013). New York: Church Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-0-89869-888-6, p. 175
2. Biography of Bishop John Bryson Chane Episcopal Diocese of Washington
3. Bishop John Bryson Chane's Retirement announcement Episcopal Diocese of Washington
4. Our Bishop Really Rocks
5. Message to the Nation, September 2006 Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria
6. A Bill For An Act To Make Provisions For The Prohibition Of Sexual Relationship Between Persons Of The Same Sex, Celebration Of Marriage By Them And For Other Matters Connected Therewith Be It Enacted By The National Assembly Of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria As Follows
7. Nigerian Legislation Threatens to Limit Rights of Sexual Minorities Press Statement from the United States Department of State
8. A Gospel of Intolerance John Bryson Chane

External links

• Episcopal Diocese of Washington website