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 The Rt.
Rev. Charles Chapman Grafton was the 2nd Bishop of Fond du Lac in the
northern part of Wisconsin. He was an ardent supporter of the Oxford
Movement. Prior to becoming Bishop, he co-founded the Society of St. John
the Evangelist, and served as Rector of Church of the Advent in Boston, MA.
Bishop Grafton also co-founded the American Congregation of Saint Benedict
and founded the Sisterhood of the Holy Nativity. He left behind a legacy of
printed works, sermons and essays.
In 1900, Bishop Grafton found himself at the center of controversy when he
presided at the consecration of R.H. Weller as Bishop Coadjutor of Fond du
Lac. A number of bishops from neighboring dioceses took part in the service.
Also in attendance, at Grafton’s invitation, was Tikhon, the Russian
Orthodox Bishop of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. After the service, the
bishops went outside to pose for a picture. For the first time ever, bishops
of the Episcopal Church were photographed wearing copes and mitres. The
picture, which became known as "the Fond du Lac Circus," and was widely
published in church publications and became a heated controversy.
There were a number of controversies associated with this photo. First, the
Episcopal Church had always had high, low, and broad factions that
emphasized different aspects of the faith. The low church faction typically
identifiea itself as Protestant. Contrast this with the high church faction
which has identified itself with other "catholic" churches, such as the
Roman, Old Catholic and Orthodox Churches. This photo was the first public
photo, showing Episcopal bishops dressed in catholic vestments (as opposed
to the more Protestant rochet, chimere, and tippet) and was an outrage to
low church members of the Episcopal Church.
Bishop Grafton had invited St. Tikhon and his Orthodox entourage and Bishop
Kozlowski of the Polish National Catholic Church to come to the service, not
merely to observe, but to participate. Ultimately, they did not, but they
did vest and sit with the other bishops present. Even this was scandalous to
the low church members of the Episcopal Church who held that Episcopalians
had more in common with the other Protestant denominations than with the Old
Catholics or "Greek Catholics" (i.e., Orthodox).
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