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

Adam Thomson dmtmsn at language.eclipse.co.uk
Wed Sep 24 00:27:43 EDT 2008


How can a schism hit a fan...?

At 19:07 23/09/2008, you wrote:
>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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