Resignation in Scarsdale

Since his ordination 23 years ago, William C. Kernan has made a name for himself as an Episcopal priest. In addition to his parish duties as assistant to the rector of the Church of St. James the Less in suburban Scarsdale, N.Y., Father Kernan has appeared as a religious spokesman on frequent radio and TV programs. Most recently he has been leading a fight against "Communist influences" in Scarsdale's public schools. Last week, after preaching at the morning service, 52-year-old High Churchman Kernan told his rector that he did not consider himself an Episcopalian any more: he was seeking admission to the Roman Catholic Church.

To Father Kernan, it was the second big step in his life in his search for religious certainty. He was brought up a Baptist, but turned to the Episcopal Church in college days (Yale '23) because he was distressed at the latitude of belief among Northern Baptists. But over the years, Father Kernan's satisfaction with the Episcopal communion began to wear thin. He wanted to speak for his church on such matters as birth control (which he opposes) and the invocation of the saints (which he advocates). But he found no binding pronouncements by Episcopal Church authority either in favor of these practices or against them. He felt himself equally helpless even to enforce some of the explicit rules of the church, e.g., the "bounden duty" of every Episcopalian to attend services on Sunday. Says Kernan: "The laity may do almost anything they want . . . If you tell them that something's their bounden duty, they're liable to get sore at you . . ."

Father Kernan summed up his personal dilemma: "Authority means law which is enforceable. There is an absolute lack of authority in the Episcopal Church--at least so far as the priesthood is concerned. Our Lord did not found the church on the laity. He founded it on the priesthood. Yet the rector of an Episcopal church has to do what the people want him to do."

As the pressure of his doubts grew heavy, Episcopalian Kernan began looking outside his own communion, decided that he belonged in the Church of Rome. Last week, though he has no definite plans for supporting his wife and six children, he told his friends he felt like a new man.

Said he: "The search had gone on for a long time. I'm glad it's over. The trouble with the Episcopal Church is the same as the trouble with the Baptists--only it took me 35 years to find that out. I could kick myself."

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