[Oe List ...] Episcopal meltdown: the schism hits the fan

[KarenBueno at aol.com]

I know the schism in the Episcopal church has been over the election of gay 
bishops.  Is this the reason for the action you describe below?

Karen Bueno

In a message dated 9/23/2008 12:08:37 PM Mountain Standard Time, 
synergi at yahoo.com writes:


> Jefferts Schori removes Pittsburgh bishop from office
> Duncan led effort to take diocese out of Episcopal Church
> 
> By Mary Frances Schjonberg 
> 
> September 22, 2008 [Episcopal News Service] Robert Duncan has been
> given a formal sentence of deposition from the ordained ministry of
> the Episcopal Church and has been removed as the bishop of the Diocese
> of Pittsburgh.
> 
> Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori signed Duncan's sentence on
> September 19, the day after the House of Bishops agreed by a vote of
> 88-35 to authorize the action. Bishop Richard S.O. Chang, vice
> president of the house, and Bishop Kenneth Price, the secretary, also
> signed as witnesses to the sentence.
> 
> The sentence and an accompanying letter from Jefferts Schori to Duncan
> were sent to Pittsburgh diocesan offices on September 22 and later
> released to the public.
> 
> The Rev. Dr. Charles Robertson, canon to the Presiding Bishop, told
> ENS that the Presiding Bishop signed the deposition before leaving for
> meetings with the Church of Sweden directly from the House of Bishops,
> "but she chose not to release it out of consideration for Duncan until
> he had been notified, which was done via his office [September 22]."
> 
> In the sentence Jefferts Schori declares that "from and after 12:01
> a.m., Saturday, 20 September, 2008, Bishop Duncan shall be deprived of
> the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority of God's word
> and sacraments conferred at ordination in this Church and further
> declare[s] that all ecclesiastical and related secular offices held by
> Bishop Duncan shall be terminated and vacated at that time."
> 
> Robertson said that diocesan staff were contacted September 22 and
> told that the sentence of deposition was on its way to their offices.
> Robertson said he did not know if Duncan was aware of the effective
> date of the deposition before he received the sentence.
> 
> The diocesan Standing Committee, now the ecclesiastical authority in
> the diocese, will meet September 23 in a regularly scheduled
> gathering, the Rev. David Wilson, committee president, told ENS.
> Wilson said that Standing Committee members would discuss the details
> of the diocesan convention, scheduled for October 4, at which the
> deputies will be asked to approve resolutions (see resolutions one,
> two and three here) re-aligning the diocese with the Anglican Province
> of the Southern Cone of southern South America.
> 
> A September 18 news release posted on the diocese's website said that
> "Bishop Duncan's own continuing status as a bishop in The Anglican
> Communion has been secured by the Province of the Southern Cone" and
> quoted Southern Cone Primate Gregory Venables as saying that
> "effectively immediately" Duncan was a member of that House of Bishops.
> 
> "Neither the Presiding Bishop nor the House of Bishops of the
> Episcopal Church has any further jurisdiction over his ministry,"
> Venables claimed.
> 
> In a September 18 statement issued after the House of Bishops vote,
> the Pittsburgh Standing Committee said that Duncan would "continue to
> support the work of our diocese under the terms of his administrative
> employment agreement and within the bounds of his deposition,
> providing many of the services that he previously performed for the
> diocese."
> 
> Meanwhile, a group called "Across the Aisle" issued a statement
> September 22 saying that Jefferts Schori's office had informed the
> group of the sentence of deposition via a phone call that afternoon.
> "The direct communication is further evidence of the Presiding
> Bishop's recognition that Across the Aisle is the primary group
> working to maintain a diocese in Pittsburgh that is part of the
> Episcopal Church, even if the existing diocese votes at its upcoming
> convention to realign with an Anglican province in South America," the
> statement said in part.
> 
> The Presiding Bishop had singled out the group during her September 19
> remarks to reporters after the end of the House of Bishops meeting,
> calling it "a remarkable example of cooperation across a variety of
> differences of opinion."
> 
> Jefferts Schori said during the news conference that the Episcopal
> Church would support efforts to reorganize the diocese should
> delegates vote for re-alignment.
> 
> "The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh will not go away, even if their
> convention makes a canonically inappropriate vote to secede" from The
> Episcopal Church (TEC), she said during the news conference.
> 
> Robertson told ENS September 22 that "the Presiding Bishop's office is
> communicating regularly with a group of leaders in the Diocese of
> Pittsburgh who, despite holding diverse opinions and positions, are
> committed to remaining in the Episcopal Church."
> 
> In the letter to Duncan which accompanied the sentence, Jefferts
> Schori noted "the prayerful and thoughtful atmosphere of the
> discussions" leading up to the bishops' authorization of the deposition.
> 
> "In their deliberations at the special session last week, the House of
> Bishops was clear that this action is based on Robert Duncan's actions
> and statements to facilitate the departure of congregations out of the
> Episcopal Church," Robertson told ENS. "This was not based on Robert
> Duncan's theological position." Duncan has taken a conservative stance
> on such issues as church attitudes toward homosexuality.
> 
> The Title IV Review Committee had certified in December that Duncan
> had abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church under the terms of
> Canon IV.9.1 "by an open renunciation of the Doctrine, Discipline, or
> Worship of this Church."
> 
> The Presiding Bishop moved to inhibit Duncan (restrict his episcopal
> acts) during the time between the certification and the time she
> brought the matter to a meeting of the house. However, the House's
> three senior bishops could not agree unanimously with Jefferts
> Schori's request. The canon on abandonment does not call for a formal
> trial, as do the disciplinary canons.
> 
> John H. Lewis, Duncan's attorney, said in a September 18 statement
> that was posted on the diocese's website September 22, that Duncan
> "was denied his fundamental right -- the right to a church trial …
> because the Presiding Bishop believes that his 'deposition' will
> assist her in her desire to seize the property of the Diocese of
> Pittsburgh."
> 
> -- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is Episcopal Life Media
> correspondent for Episcopal Church governance, structure, and trends,
> as well as news of the dioceses of Province II. She is based in
> Neptune, New Jersey, and New York City
>  
> 
> 
> 




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