Anglican Unscripted Episode 22, December 22, 2011 December 22, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Korea, Anglican.TV, Episcopal Church of the Sudan, Pittsburgh, Quincy.comments closed
This last week of Advent Kevin and George bring news from Sudan, North Korea and Pittsburgh. Allan Haley brings good news from Quincy in our legal segment, And, Episode 22 includes some videos to bring a little perspective to Christmas.
Pittsburgh property loss for Duncan: The Church of England Newspaper, Oct 21, 2011 p 6. October 25, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of North America, Church of England Newspaper, Pittsburgh, Property Litigation.Tags: Robert Duncan
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First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Bishop of Pittsburgh reports the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has rejected his diocese’s appeal to set aside a lower court ruling that gave control of property titled in the diocese’s name to the faction backed by the national Church.
In a statement posted on his website, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, Robert Duncan stated “we accept that the courts have not found in our favour and will, of course, comply with all court orders.”
The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh was “committed to reaching a negotiated settlement with the Episcopal Church diocese. In light of this judgment by the courts, we will redouble that commitment to reaching a final resolution of all issues between the Episcopal Church diocese and the Anglican diocese through negotiation,” he said on 18 October.
Unlike the other property cases currently in litigation in the US, the underlying dispute in Pittsburgh centred round the interpretation of contracts. Following the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, a liberal congregation in Pittsburgh brought suit against Bishop Duncan alleging he was planning on leading the diocese out of the Episcopal Church in protest.
In October 2005 the suit was settled when the parties signed an agreement that stipulated the diocese would keep all its assets intact, and would not allow individual parishes to depart from the diocese without paying adequate compensation for their properties.
Acting upon a complaint filed by the disaffected parish, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori authorized a Church tribunal to investigate Bishop Duncan for abandoning the Episcopal Church – although he had not taken any overt action to leave at that time.
In a controversial vote Bishop Duncan was then deposed by the House of Bishops in September 2008. At its diocesan convention the following month, Pittsburgh voted to quit the Episcopal Church.
In response Bishop Jefferts Schori recognized the minority loyalist faction as the new diocese and brought suit to enforce the terms of the 2005 settlement, which they claimed had been breached when Bishop Duncan’s diocese voted to leave.
After review the trial court held that the terms of the 2005 stipulation had been breached and ordered the diocese’s endowment funds and title to those properties held by the diocese to be turned over to the minority faction. Subsequent appeals to reverse the judge’s interpretation of the stipulation were unsuccessful, and the Supreme Court order ends further litigation on this issue.
The loss of its funds and some of its buildings will not change the mission of the diocese, Archbishop Duncan wrote. Pittsburgh Anglicans sought to transform “our world with Jesus Christ. We do this chiefly by planting congregations.”
He noted that at since the diocese withdrew from the Episcopal Church, each year “congregations are being added to our diocese both locally and across the country, for which we give thanks to God. We pray God’s continued favour on our mission, his grace towards those who remain within the Episcopal Church, and his help for our beloved Communion as we move into the challenges and opportunities of this new millennium,” the Archbishop wrote.
Pittsburgh petitions Pennsylvania Supreme Court: The Church of England Newspaper, April 15, 2011. April 15, 2011
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pittsburgh, Property Litigation.comments closed
First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh has appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court asking it to overturn a lower court ruling that gives almost £12 million in endowment funds and control of 22 parishes to the faction aligned with the national Episcopal Church.
On Feb 2 the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court let stand a lower court ruling that awarded property held by the diocese to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh rather than the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, which withdrew from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2008.
The Anglican diocese led by Archbishop Robert Duncan on April 6 asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to review the trial court’s decision which interpreted an October 2005 stipulation between the Diocese and Calvary Episcopal Church to settle outstanding litigation.
The lower court interpreted the language of the first paragraph of the stipulation, which required the diocese to continue holding its assets for the benefit of all the parishes of the diocese regardless of how many sought to quit the Episcopal Church, to mean that if the diocese left the Episcopal Church it would turn over all of its property to the national church—a contention disputed by the diocese.
The underlying issue of whether a diocese may leave the Episcopal Church has yet to be litigated in Pittsburgh. However, on Feb 17 Bishop Kenneth Price of the Episcopal diocese sent a letter to the 42 congregations of the Anglican diocese offering to enter into negotiations over their property. However those congregations which did not respond by a March deadline would be considered to be in violation of the Episcopal Church’s canons and their vestries and clergy would be replaced.
A spokesman for the Anglican diocese told The Church of England Newspaper the congregations responded that they accepted the invitation to discuss the question of property, but did not accept Bishop Price’s contention that they were part of the Episcopal Church and subject to its canons.
Two congregations of the Anglican diocese have so far entered into settlement agreements with the Episcopal diocese. One, which had already given up its property agreed to return an assortment of Eucharistic vessels and prayer books, while a second purchased their building from the diocese and agreed not to affiliate with the Anglican diocese for a period of five years.
At this point “we are in a holding pattern,” diocesan spokesman David Trautman explained. “Some congregations may walk away from their buildings” believing their real estate is “not essential to their mission.
“Some may try to negotiate,” he added, while those parishes where title is held by the congregation and not the diocese, are likely to take no action unless the Episcopal diocese attempts a “hostile takeover”, he noted.
While the Episcopal Church’s legal strategy had left some “scared and worried,” Mr. Trautman said the overwhelming majority of the Anglican diocese’s clergy and lay leaders were committed to the fight. Bishop Price’s February letter and the two settlements had served to “unite the clergy and lay leaders,” he said, to a degree he had not seen before.
Some “good has come out of the litigation,” Mr. Trautman noted. “What has happened is that when people are put in a position where they are threatened” it “makes them start thinking about their mission, about what is important,” he said.
One canon lawyer familiar with the case told CEN the factions need to think through carefully their next steps. If the Episcopal diocese pushes too hard it may find itself with a number of empty buildings which it must maintain. If it moves against those congregations that own their own properties, which are among the largest and wealthiest of the Anglican diocese, it will have to litigate the issue of whether a diocese may withdraw from the Episcopal Church—an issue currently before the courts in Fort Worth and Central California.
The Anglican diocese must weigh the costs of pursuing the case to the state’s Supreme Court, against making an offer for the 22 congregations the Episcopal diocese now controls, he added.
Canon lawyer Allan Haley observed the current ruling is “unpublished” by the courts, and will not “set any precedent for other cases in Pennsylvania” or elsewhere.
The Pittsburgh “result once again bears out the haphazard nature of litigation — you can devote hundreds and hundreds of hours, and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, to it, but it all comes down in the end to what, in this case, three justices—who might spend at most four or five hours on the case—think,” Mr. Haley said.
Clergy allowed to leave Pittsburgh: CEN 10.09.09 p 7. October 17, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pittsburgh.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Pittsburgh clergy who wish to transfer from the Episcopal Church to the Anglican Church in North America will be permitted to leave the diocese without being deposed, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Church affiliated Diocese of Pittsburgh have declared. The Oct 5 decision by the “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church” to allow clergy of the “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican Communion)” the opportunity to withdraw from the church without legal sanction stands in contrast to the recent actions in the Dioceses of San Joaquin and Quincy, where clergy who seceded with the dioceses from the Episcopal Church have been defrocked. |
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In a letter from the loyalist Standing Committee clergy are asked to state whether they wish to remain active in the Episcopal Church or be released. “We’re doing this for pastoral reasons,” Standing Committee president, the Rev James Simons, said. “We do not want to see our priestly brothers and sisters deposed.”
In a statement released on the loyalist diocese’s website, the Standing Committee said it had “initiated the release on its own,” but consulted with Bishop Kenneth Price, who has been nominated to become the diocese’s provisional bishop.
Bishop Price stated: “As the Standing Committee worked through this necessary action, I was painfully aware that they were not just talking about a list of clergy, but friends of long standing. For this reason I am grateful the canons provide this ‘softer’ method of allowing those who wish to depart from the Episcopal Church to do so legally without us making a judgment on their ordination.”
“This does not affect your ordination, which you may register with whatever entity you choose,” the Standing Committee said.
In the Episcopal Church a deposition removes a priest or deacon from Holy Orders, while a release ends a clergyman’s licence to officiate in the Episcopal Church.
On Sept 22 the secessionist Diocese of Quincy denounced the decision by the loyalist faction of the central Illinois diocese under provisional Bishop John Buchanan to depose seven priests, and inhibit 34 others — who will soon be deposed unless they recant their secession.
The president of the standing committee, Fr John Spencer said: “The supposed inhibitions and depositions of our clergy have no bearing on those clergy, or on their ministries, since our diocese is no longer under the authority of the Episcopal Church.”
In late August, Bishop Buchanan wrote to seven priests, including Fr Spencer, accepting their “renunciation of the ordained ministry” and declared they were deprived of all the authority conveyed in ordination. “We did leave the Episcopal Church,” Fr Spencer said, “but we didn’t renounce our ordination vows, or abandon our ministries.”
Pittsburgh’s ACNA clergy will not be defrocked: CEN 10.09.09 p 8. October 13, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pittsburgh, Quincy.comments closed
| First published in The Church of England Newspaper.
Pittsburgh clergy who wish to transfer from the Episcopal Church to the Anglican Church in North America will be permitted to leave the diocese without being deposed, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Church affiliated Diocese of Pittsburgh have declared. The Oct 5 decision by the “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church” to allow clergy of the “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican Communion)” the opportunity to withdraw from the church without legal sanction stands in contrast to the recent actions in the Dioceses of San Joaquin and Quincy, where clergy who seceded with the dioceses from the Episcopal Church have been defrocked. |
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In a letter from the loyalist Standing Committee clergy are asked to state whether they wish to remain active in the Episcopal Church or be released. “We’re doing this for pastoral reasons,” Standing Committee president, the Rev James Simons, said. “We do not want to see our priestly brothers and sisters deposed.”
In a statement released on the loyalist diocese’s website, the Standing Committee said it had “initiated the release on its own,” but consulted with Bishop Kenneth Price, who has been nominated to become the diocese’s provisional bishop.
Bishop Price stated: “As the Standing Committee worked through this necessary action, I was painfully aware that they were not just talking about a list of clergy, but friends of long standing. For this reason I am grateful the canons provide this ‘softer’ method of allowing those who wish to depart from the Episcopal Church to do so legally without us making a judgment on their ordination.”
“This does not affect your ordination, which you may register with whatever entity you choose,” the Standing Committee said.
In the Episcopal Church a deposition removes a priest or deacon from Holy Orders, while a release ends a clergyman’s licence to officiate in the Episcopal Church.
On Sept 22 the secessionist Diocese of Quincy denounced the decision by the loyalist faction of the central Illinois diocese under provisional Bishop John Buchanan to depose seven priests, and inhibit 34 others — who will soon be deposed unless they recant their secession.
The president of the standing committee, Fr John Spencer said: “The supposed inhibitions and depositions of our clergy have no bearing on those clergy, or on their ministries, since our diocese is no longer under the authority of the Episcopal Church.”
In late August, Bishop Buchanan wrote to seven priests, including Fr Spencer, accepting their “renunciation of the ordained ministry” and declared they were deprived of all the authority conveyed in ordination.
“We did leave the Episcopal Church,” Fr Spencer said, “but we didn’t renounce our ordination vows, or abandon our ministries.”
Duncan deposition ‘will not be recognised by African Churches’: CEN 11.08.08 November 8, 2008
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| The deposition of the Bishop of Pittsburgh was a “totalitarian” abuse of power and will not be recognized by the church in Africa, the chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) has declared.
On Nov 1, CAPA chairman Archbishop Ian Ernest, Primate of the Church of the Indian Ocean and Bishop of Mauritius, wrote to Bishop Robert Duncan on behalf of the African provinces and stated the African archbishops “continue to recognize you as a bishop in good standing in the Anglican Communion.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Pittsburgh dicoese votes to split from the Episcopal Church: CEN 10.10.08 p 5. October 11, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pittsburgh, Secession.comments closed
The Diocese of Pittsburgh has quit the Episcopal Church to affiliate with the Province of the Southern Cone. Meeting at the Church of the Ascension in Oakland, Pennsylvania on Oct 4, clergy and lay delegates to the diocesan convention passed the second reading of a constitutional amendment permitting secession.
By margins of 121 to 33 in the clergy order and 119 to 69 in the lay order, the diocese: its clergy, congregations and lay members, became the second diocese to quit the Episcopal Church. “We deeply value our shared heritage and years of friendship with those still within that denomination, but this diocese could not in good conscience continue down the road away from mainstream Christianity that the leadership of The Episcopal Church is so determined to follow,” diocesan spokesman the Rev. Peter Frank said after the vote.
However, US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori denounced the move in a statement released after the decision was announced arguing the secession vote was unnecessary. “I have repeatedly reassured Episcopalians that there is abundant room for dissent within this Church, and that loyal opposition is a long and honored tradition within Anglicanism.”
Schism was a “more egregious error than charges of heresy,” she said, adding that she would assist those wishing to remain affiliated with the national church to “reorganize the Diocese and call a bishop to provide episcopal ministry.”
The Rev. James Simons, a member of the Pittsburgh Standing Committee, announced after the vote he would not follow the diocese out of the church, and that he would work with the national church to create a new ecclesial entity for Pittsburgh area Anglicans who wish to remain part of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Frank said the diocese expected some of its 70 parishes to withdraw from the Diocese and affiliate with a mission district likely to be created by the Episcopal Church.
However, a spokesman told The Church of England Newspaper, it was incorrect to say, as had the Presiding Bishop, that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh would “reorganize.” By its vote, the legal and ecclesial entity known as the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh ended its affiliation with the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, but did not change its name or end its legal existence.
Those parishes and clergy wishing to remain part of the national church were free to create a new ecclesial entity in association with the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, he noted. However, under US civil and canon law, the name, assets and orders of the Diocese of Pittsburgh did not belong to those who wished to be part of the national church. Bishop Schori has argued that it is not possible for dioceses to leave the Episcopal Church. However, nothing in the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church prevents dioceses from seceding from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. The issue will likely be settled through civil litigation in the US state courts.
In 2007 the Province of the Southern Cone agreed to provide “temporary emergency shelter” to North American dioceses and congregations. Under the canons of the Southern Cone, Pittsburgh has not been formally received as a new diocese of the province, but has been given temporary metropolitan oversight by the Southern Cone’s Primate, Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina, pending the creation of a new province of the Communion in North America.
Following the close of the convention, the Diocesan Standing Committee invited Bishop Robert Duncan to serve as acting bishop of the diocese, pending the election of a new bishop at a special convention scheduled for Nov 7. Bishop Duncan is expected to be the sole candidate on the ballot.
Following his deposition from office by the House of Bishops last month, Bishop Duncan was received into the House of Bishops of the Province of the Southern Cone and has served as an administrative consultant to the diocese. He did not preside nor preach at the Oct 4 convention.
At the press conference following the convention, the President of the Standing Committee, the Rev. David Wilson said the diocese would permit parishes who wished to be part of the national Episcopal Church to leave with their property, as the diocese was committed to a “charitable” legal separation.
Diocese of Pittsburgh is to go ahead on vote for secession: CEN 10.03.08 p 6. October 3, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh.comments closed
The deposition of Bishop Robert Duncan will not derail the Oct 4 diocesan synod vote to quit the Episcopal Church, the Pittsburgh Standing Committee said last week.
On Sept 23, the Standing Committee, acting as the ecclesiastical authority of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh following what it called the “purported deposition” of Bishop Duncan by the US House of Bishops, said it “unanimously commits itself to our Annual Convention going forward on October 4th in an orderly and grace-filled manner.”
Supermajorities among the clergy and lay delegates to the meeting are expected to approve secession, and the realignment of the diocese with the Province of the Southern Cone under Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina.
The Diocese of Fort Worth is also expected to quit the Episcopal Church next month for the Southern Cone. Writing in the October issue of his diocesan newsletter, the Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker enumerated ten reasons for supporting secession, saying “now is the time to decide to separate from the moral, spiritual, and numerical decline” of the Episcopal Church.
Last year the Fort Worth synod passed the first reading of a constitutional amendment that removes language that “affiliates us with the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.” Synod will be “asked to ratify that decision to separate” at this year’s synod scheduled for Nov 14-15 at St. Vincent’s Cathedral in Belford, Texas, he said.
The Episcopal Church’s support for same-sex blessings and the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire had “brought crisis to the whole Anglican Communion,” Bishop Iker said, and next month’s vote would be “our kairos moment;” the defining moment that would permit the diocese to “dissociate ourselves from the bishops and dioceses that are violating the teaching of Scripture.”
Heretical teachers had seized the instruments of authority within the Episcopal Church’ he argued, and if “we do not act now, we will lose our momentum and lose our God-given opportunity” as there will be “no turning back” and “matters will only get worse” within the American church.
Strong majorities of clergy and lay deputies to synod supported secession, he said, noting that support was strongest among the younger clergy, ordained less than ten years. Those opposing secession were “already retired or on the verge of retiring. This is not their battle; they have had their time to lead. Now it is time to let this next generation step forward and lead,” he argued.
The present constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church permit secession, Bishop Iker said, and if Fort Worth did not act “you can be sure that the next General Convention will close off this option by adopting amendments that will make it even more difficult to separate in the future” while legal threats had already been made against the diocese by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
The ecclesial foundations of church government within the Episcopal Church had collapsed, Bishop Iker, such that “General Convention is out of control and beyond reform. Deputies seem to think that they can do whatever they want as long as they can muster a majority vote, even if what they propose is contrary to Holy Scripture.”
At its Nov 2007 General Synod the Province of the Southern Cone agreed to welcome traditionalist North American dioceses into the province on a temporary basis. The leaders of the Global South had “stuck their necks out for us and offered their encouragement, assistance and support. We must now have the courage of our convictions and act,” Bishop Iker said.
Outcry as US Bishop deposed: CEN 9.26.08 p 1. September 26, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, House of Bishops, Pittsburgh.comments closed
By Toby Cohen and George Conger
THE US House of Bishops has voted to depose the Bishop of Pittsburgh for “abandoning the Communion” of the Episcopal Church. At a special session of the House of Bishops called by US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to discuss the Lambeth Conference, the bishops voted 87 to 35, with four abstentions to defrock the Rt Rev Robert W Duncan, removing him from the ordained ministry for propounding the view that a diocese may withdraw from the Episcopal Church.
It is unclear, however, whether the Sept 18 trial in absentia will achieve the end sought by Bishop Schori. The deposition has made a martyr of the Pittsburgh bishop, and a growing list of primates and bishops – including six from the Church of England — have announced they will not honour the American decision.
Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone welcomed Bishop Duncan into the House of Bishops of that church following the vote, and it is likely the diocese will follow their bishop when they vote on Oct 4 to quit the Episcopal Church.
The deposition hearing was denounced by conservatives as an “ecclesiastical lynching,” however, Bishop Schori stated the bishops had worked “carefully and prayerfully” in deciding that his “actions over recent months and years constitute ‘abandonment of ‘the communion of this church” and that he should be deposed.”
Over the course of two business sessions, questions of the legality of the proceedings were juxtaposed with Bishop Duncan’s crimes. Led by the Bishop of South Carolina, conservatives argued the proceedings violated canon law, lacked a quorum and proper notice and violated the principles of due process. However, Bishop Schori rejected these arguments and a majority of bishops backed her interpretation of the canons.
Of the 287 members of the House of Bishops entitled to vote, only 127 were present. If the votes of diocesan bishops only had been counted, the total tally would have been 50 to convict, 30 to convict and three abstentions–indicating that there has been less movement to the left within the House of Bishops than had been supposed. The 2003 vote by the diocesan bishops to affirm the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire was 62 to 43 to two.
Peals of protest rang out around the world following the deposition of the Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt Rev Robert Duncan, in a breach of canon law. The traditionalist bishop had scheduled a referendum for his diocese on October 4 over whether to leave the Episcopal Church and join the Latin American Diocese of the Southern Cone.
Bishop Duncan will not appeal against the ruling. He said: “I’m very sad, sad for the Episcopal Church. In 15 days the diocese will determine whether it too wants to be part of the Southern Cone and figure out whether it wants me back as bishop. That is up to the diocese, although I have a sneaking suspicion they will want me back.”
“This is of course a very painful moment for Pittsburgh Episcopalians,” the president of the diocesan standing committee the Rev David Wilson said. “The leadership of the Episcopal Church has inserted itself in a most violent manner into the affairs and governance of our diocese.”
The Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Rev Peter Jensen, said: “The unfolding tragedy of the Episcopal Church starkly reveals the folly of the original decision to break with the Bible and centuries of historic Christianity on the issue of human sexuality.”
The Archbishop of Egypt, the Most Rev Mouneer Anis, said: “I don’t know what to call it, a tragedy or comedy, for the faithful to be disciplined by those who tear the fabric of our Anglican Communion.” The struggle has been brought to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. The Hon Assistant Bishop of Chester, the Rt Rev Colin F Bazley (a former Primate of the Southern Cone), has written an open letter asking Dr Williams to “take immediate action in suspending the Episcopal Church from any further participation in activities of the Anglican Communion and in calling a meeting of the Primates to give formal recognition to a new Province in North America.”
From England six bishops, the Rt Revs Nicholas Reade (Blackburn), Dr Peter Forster (Chester), John Hind (Chichester), Michael Langrish (Exeter), Dr Michael Nazir-Ali (Rochester) and Michael Scott-Joynt (Winchester) issued a statement saying they were “deeply saddened and shocked by the proposed deposition,” adding they “continue to believe that Bishop Bob is a bishop in the Church of God and a bishop in good standing in the Anglican Communion.”
Dr Williams has not yet responded. He hoped to avoid such a mess when he presided over a conciliatory Lambeth Conference and called for moratoria on same-sex blessings and cross-provincial interventions.
Bishop Duncan had stubbornly acted in disregard to that plea, but the dubious actions of the Episcopal Church have now directed international sympathy to the renegade bishop. As recriminations on either side are threatened, and bishops nauseated from biting their tongues all summer begin to speak out, Dr Williams’ fragile peace appears doomed.
Bishop of Pittsburgh deposed by House of Bishops: CEN 9.19.08 September 19, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, House of Bishops, Pittsburgh.comments closed
| The US House of Bishops has voted to depose the Bishop of Pittsburgh for “abandoning the Communion” of the Episcopal Church.
At a special session of the House of Bishops called to discuss the Lambeth Conference, the bishops voted 87 to 35, with four abstentions to defrock the Rt Rev Robert W Duncan, removing him from the ordained ministry for propounding the view that a diocese may withdraw from the Episcopal Church. It is unclear, however, whether the Sept 18 vote will affect Bishop Duncan’s ministry in Pittsburgh, as the Province of the Southern Cone has received him into its House of Bishops and is prepared to welcome the diocese also, should it vote on Oct 4 at its annual convention to quit the Episcopal Church. The deposition vote has been denounced by conservatives as an “ecclesiastical lynching,” while leaders of the moderate wing of the church have endorsed the “courageous” stand of the those bishops who voted to acquit, putting the rule of law above party political considerations. However, US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori stated the bishops had worked “carefully and prayerfully to consider the weighty matter of Bishop Duncan. The conversation was holy, acknowledging the pain of our deliberations as well as the gratitude many have felt over the years for their relationships with, and the ministry of, Robert Duncan.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Episcopal Church ‘in the clear’ after Lambeth: CEN 9.18.08 September 18, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, House of Bishops, Pittsburgh.comments closed
| There will be no consequences to the American church for its push for gay bishops and blessings, bishops attending the opening session of the US House of Bishops meeting in Salt Lake City said in closed door session on Sept 17.
On the opening day of the three-day special session, called by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to discuss the 2008 Lambeth Conference, but amended on Sept 12 by the Presiding Bishop to act upon her motion to depose conservative leader Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, the bishops offered their reactions to Lambeth. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Presiding Bishop in move to “sack” Duncan: 9.19.08 p 6. September 18, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, House of Bishops, Pittsburgh.comments closed
The Bishop of Pittsburgh will be brought before the US House of Bishops this week to face charges that he has “abandoned the Communion” of the Episcopal Church for teaching that it is permissible for a diocese to withdraw from the Episcopal Church.
The move to depose Bishop Robert Duncan ends the “season of gracious restraint” proclaimed by last month’s Lambeth Conference, and comes as a personal blow to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Dr. Rowan Williams had urged the warring factions of the church to hold together in dialogue, but the legal moves against Bishop Duncan have repudiated his authority. While deposing Bishop Duncan may provide a short term tactical advantage in the Episcopal Church’s lawsuits against traditionalists, it will likely end any rapprochement between it and the wider Anglican Communion.
On Sept 12, Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori distributed a memorandum announcing that on Sept 18 she would attempt to depose the conservative leader. “I shall present to the House the matter of the certification to me by the Title IV Review Committee that Bishop Robert W. Duncan has abandoned the Communion of this Church within the meaning of Canon IV.9,” she wrote.
However, the Presiding Bishop may face legal challenges to her planned purge, as the last minute addition of the Duncan affair to the bishop’s agenda violates canon law. The rules of the House of Bishops forbid modifying the agenda of a special session after the meeting has been announced. On Aug 20 Bishop Schori wrote to the bishops stating “as discussed in our spring meeting and confirmed in our time at Lambeth, we will hold a special meeting of the House of Bishops 17-19 September in Salt Lake City, Utah.”
“The main purpose of this meeting,” Bishop Schori wrote, “will be to reflect and deliberate together following the Lambeth Conference.”
In the schedule appended to the letter, two sessions are labeled “Lambeth de-brief”, two “Business meeting”, and one “Theological Education.” No mention is made of Bishop Duncan or any disciplinary action in the formal letter calling the special session.
Under Robert’s Rules of Order, which govern the conduct of the House of Bishops’ meetings, “only business mentioned in the call of a special meeting can be transacted at such a meeting.” Supporters of the Presiding Bishop have argued that the rubric “business meeting” could be construed to include the Duncan hearing.
However, the House of Bishops’ rules also require 30 days notice. Rule XIX states, “except by a two-thirds vote of those present and voting, no member of the house may introduce a resolution at a special meeting unless the resolution has been circulated 30 days in advance to the members.”
While Bishop Schori conceded that Bishop Duncan’s diocese had not yet voted to withdraw from the Episcopal Church, it was her contention that his statements that such a move was possible offended canon law. She also stated she would reject readings of church law that did not conform to her own, adding that “any ambiguity in the canon” should be resolved in her favor.
On Sept 13 Bishop Duncan stated the move to depose him from office this week was a bid by the Presiding Bishop to squelch the planned October vote by the diocesan synod to withdraw from the Episcopal Church and move under the protection of the Province of the Southern Cone.
He added the “House of Bishops ‘vote’ will be a gross violation of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church” and he asked the diocese “not be intimidated or turned from our over-riding commitment.”
Bishop Duncan will not be present, as will a number of other conservative bishops, to challenge the Presiding Bishop. For the vote to be blocked, a point of order must be raised and seconded. Bishop Schori will be asked to rule whether her actions constitute a breach of order. If she rules against the protesting bishops, an appeal may be taken which requires a two thirds vote to sustain her ruling.
HOB Will Hold Hearings to Remove Bishop Duncan: TLC 9.15.08 September 16, 2008
Posted by geoconger in House of Bishops, Living Church, Pittsburgh.comments closed
First published in The Living Church magazine.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has proposed a sweeping change to the previously announced agenda for the special House of Bishops’ meeting scheduled Sept. 17-19 in Salt Lake City.
In a memorandum to bishops, Bishop Jefferts Schori proposed two days of hearings to remove Bishop Robert W. Duncan of Pittsburgh permanently from the ordained ministry of The Episcopal Church for teaching that it is lawful for a diocese to withdraw from The Episcopal Church.
The revised scheduled calls for the Presiding Bishop’s council of advice to hold an “informal evening meeting to investigate the matter” on Sept. 17, with further discussion leading to a vote during the business meeting the following day.
“At that time, the house may, by majority vote of those present, grant or withhold its consent or decline to vote until a later time,” Bishop Jefferts Schori wrote. “In that regard, some have suggested that a vote not be taken until a later meeting of the house after the forthcoming convention of the diocese in early October, when Bishop Duncan’s intentions and actions can perhaps be viewed more clearly.”
Delegates to the convention of the Diocese of Pittsburgh will not consider a final vote to realign with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone until Oct. 4. Bishop Jefferts Schori wrote that Bishop Duncan, by “encouraging the diocese to choose to leave” The Episcopal Church, had “abandoned the communion of this church by ‘an open renunciation of the… discipline… of this church’ within the meaning of Title IV, Canon 9, Section 1(i),” Bishop Jefferts Schori said.
Bishop Jefferts Schori defended the canonical process she outlines based on precedent and expediency. She also repeatedly reminds the bishops that any member may request a ruling, and that the chair may be overruled by a two-thirds vote under the House of Bishops’ bylaws.
“I concur with my chancellor and parliamentarian that any ambiguity in the canon should be resolved in favor of making this important provision work effectively, and that the discipline of the church should not be stymied because a majority of nearly a majority of voting bishops are no longer in active episcopal positions in the church and their attendance at meetings is hampered by age, health, economics, or interest in other legitimate pursuits,” she said.
Bishop Jefferts Schori may face a challenge on the legality of introducing new business so close to the start of what she has characterized as a “special meeting” of the House of Bishops. On Aug. 20, the agenda, dates and location for the Salt Lake City meeting were given to the bishops, with no mention of a hearing into the charges brought against Bishop Duncan. The first formal declaration by the Presiding Bishop that the bishops would decide whether or not to depose the Pittsburgh bishop came on Sept 12.
Whether the vote will take place is unclear, however, as the canons specifically forbid the Presiding Bishop from amending the agenda once she issues her call for a special session to review the Lambeth Conference.
Under Robert’s Rules of Order, which are cited as the authoritative source for conducting business under the House of Bishops’ rules of order, “only business mentioned in the call of a special meeting can be transacted at such a meeting.” As the Presiding Bishop did not include the hearing on Bishop Duncan in her agenda and her “call” of the special meeting, the rules of the House of Bishops would seem to forbid her from adding it to the agenda five days before the start of the meeting.
The House of Bishops’ rules also require 30 days notice. Rule XIX states, “except by a two-thirds vote of those present and voting, no member of the house may introduce a resolution at a special meeting unless the resolution has been circulated 30 days in advance to the members.”
Bishop Duncan said previously he will not be present for a hearing. For the deposition hearing and vote to be blocked, a point of order must be raised and seconded. Bishop Schori would then be asked to rule on whether her actions constitute a breach of order. If she rules against the appeal, it would require a two-thirds vote of the house to overrule her.
Legal doubt over Presiding Bishop’s move to depose Duncan: CEN 9.14.08 September 14, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, House of Bishops, Pittsburgh, Property Litigation.comments closed
| Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori may face legal hurdles in her bid to depose Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan (pictured) this week, as her decision to change the agenda of the special session of the House of Bishops five days before its start appears to violate canon law.
On Sept 12, Bishop Schori distributed a memorandum to the American bishops announcing that on Sept 18 she would attempt to depose the conservative leader. “I shall present to the House the matter of the certification to me by the Title IV Review Committee that Bishop Robert W Duncan has abandoned the Communion of this Church within the meaning of Canon IV.9,” she wrote. However, the rules of the House of Bishops forbid modifying the agenda of a special session after the meeting has been announced, placing her plans in legal and canonical limbo. Whether the bishops will challenge her request is unclear, however, as her past legal missteps in the cases of Bishops John-David Schofield and Williams Cox provoked protests from bishops and dioceses distressed over what they perceived was her abuse of office, but no action followed. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Duncan dumps Windsor: CEN 8.29.08 p 3. August 29, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England Newspaper, Pittsburgh.comments closed
Published in The Church of England Newspaper.
The Windsor Continuation Group (WCG)’s proposals for a “holding tank” for American traditionalists is a non-starter, the Bishop of Pittsburgh said, as it assumes traditionalists would want to be part of an unreformed American church.
Writing to a member of the WCG, West Texas Bishop Gary Lillibridge on Aug 11, Bishop Robert Duncan shared traditionalist concerns over the inadequacy of the proposals and their naïve view of the state of the American church.
While the contents of the letter are in line with statements made by Bishop Duncan during the Lambeth Conference, its release was a matter of controversy as it was leaked by a member of the WCG to a left wing commentator and circulated on the internet on Aug 18.
Bishop Duncan released the full text of the letter on Aug 20 stating he was “happy to publicly acknowledge” the “concerns we in the Common Cause Partnership have about the proposals of the Windsor Continuation Group. Nonetheless, it is disturbing to discover that at least one member of the [WCG], a body that is supposed to be working for reconciliation in the Anglican Communion, so quickly leaked private correspondence in an attempt to gain some passing political advantage,” he said.
The WCG’s proposals for the American church raised four concerns, Bishop Duncan said. The proposal to cease “all cross-border interventions and inter-provincial claims of jurisdiction” posited a “moral equivalence” between gay bishops and blessings by the left and the border crossings of the right. Such a “notion” had been “specifically rejected” by the Windsor Report and the Dromantine primates meeting, he said.
Nor was it possible to “freeze” the game board in the US as the pieces were already in play “for those of us in the process of separating from The Episcopal Church.”
“Pittsburgh, Quincy and Fort Worth have taken first constitutional votes on separation with second votes just weeks away. We all anticipate coming under Southern Cone this fall, thus to join San Joaquin. This process cannot be stopped,” he explained, and to undo what had been done “without guarantees from the other side would be suicidal.”
There was no desire by those who had left the Episcopal Church for the African-overseen jurisdiction in the US to enter a “holding tank” that would funnel back into the Episcopal Church, as it was “obvious to all at Lambeth that the majorities in the US and Canada have no intention of reversing direction.”
He added that there had been no cessation of litigation by the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada against traditionalists, with “no willingness to mediate or negotiate though we have proposed it repeatedly.”
US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has not responded to the claims made in Bishop Duncan’s letter. However, she has already stated she plans to bring the Pittsburgh bishop up on charges before the US House of Bishops at its special meeting in September.
The House of Bishops will meet in special closed session Sept 17-19 in Salt Lake City and is expected to discuss the Lambeth Conference as well as Bishop Duncan. Whether the Pittsburgh bishop will be brought to trial during the meeting is unclear. Pittsburgh’s synod will not vote on secession until Oct 4.
US Bishop to be SAMS/CMS South American director: CEN 8.22.08 p 5. August 25, 2008
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The Church Mission Society (CMS) and the South American Missionary Society (SAMS) have called the Assistant Bishop of Pittsburgh to be is Mission Director for South America.
Bishop Henry Scriven will join CMS/SAMS on January 1 to oversee its South American work. Bishop Scriven a former SAMS missionary in Argentina and Spain and the former Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe will return to England after six years in Pittsburgh.
Writing to the diocese on Aug 15, Bishop Scriven said he and his wife had “enjoyed living and working [in Pittsburgh] more than any of the other 12 places we have lived in the last 33 years of marriage. We have incredibly gifted clergy and lay leaders and I know realignment will bring fresh incentive for mission, both local and worldwide.”
He added that his decision to return to England was not related to Pittsburgh’s political battles with the American church. “My decision does not reflect any change of heart regarding realignment or my confidence in the vision and leadership of the diocese,” Bishop Scriven wrote.
In addition to the opportunity of guiding SAMS at this new stage of its corporate life, Bishop Scriven noted the “major pull” of being “nearer the family.” The bishop’s children and grandchildren reside in the UK.
CMS and SAMS are working towards a merger by January, subject to final negotiations and decisions by their respective governing bodies. Bishop Scriven will initially work in a leadership role within SAMS but it is planned that he will ultimately become the Mission Director for South America in the Oxford office of the new mission agency.
Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan stated he was sad to see Bishop Scriven go. “We will miss Henry’s grace and humor, his international insights, his leadership of our diocesan networks, and his pastoral caring,” he said.
The Bishop of Pittsburgh July 20, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Album (Photos), Lambeth 2008, Pittsburgh.comments closed
The Rt. Rev. Robert W Duncan on the second day of the Lambeth Conference. First published in Christianity Today.
Crack up of Anglican Communion at hand, evangelicals say: Christianity Today 7.19.08 July 20, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Christianity Today, La Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America, Lambeth 2008, Pittsburgh.comments closed
The crack-up of the Anglican Communion is at hand, evangelical bishops attending the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury tell Christianity Today, and the 400 year old Anglican project appears over.
“I’d like to expect a miracle,” said Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina, a leader of the evangelical alliance at Lambeth, but said he feared the prospects for the church holding together were grim.
“Humanely speaking there is little hope for even a peaceful separation” between the liberal and evangelical wings of the 80-million member communion of churches, Bishop Venables said on July 18.
The twenty day gathering of bishops from across the 80-million member communion began on July 16 on the campus of the University of Kent in Canterbury. The conference—held every ten years—is one of four institutional ties for the 38 provinces, or member churches, of the Anglican Communion. While it has no juridical power, Lambeth has exercised a moral authority over the Communion and has been the venue for resolution of past controversies such as the ordination of women and the morality of contraception.
Read it all at Christianity Today
267 bishops say they will attend Gafcon conference: CEN 5.09.08 p 1. May 8, 2008
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Organizers of Gafcon report that as of April 25, 267 bishops have registered for the June meeting in Jerusalem.
Denounced as a rival gathering to the July Lambeth conference, a detailed agenda has yet to be released. Like Lambeth much of the conference will be devoted to worship and spiritual reflection. However, Gafcon will play host to bishops, clergy and lay leaders, and will also seek to formulate a common approach to the divisions of doctrine and discipline within the Anglican Communion.
Approximately 150 bishops and conferees from Muslim majority countries unable to travel freely to Israel along with the Gafcon leadership team will meet at a resort on the Dead Sea in Jordan from June 18-22, while a further 600 are expected to join the self-styled “pilgrimage” in Jerusalem from June 22-29.
Organizers note that many of the bishops attending Gafcon will also be among the 625 bishops attending the Lambeth Conference. While the Archbishops of Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda and their bishops have said that as it is currently organized, they will not attend Lambeth, the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone Gregory Venables announced last week that he will go to Lambeth.
Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh announced on May 6 that he would attend Lambeth and Gafcon, joining Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker and the other conservative American bishops in attending both meetings.
“After consulting with the people of Pittsburgh and our friends around the globe, we have come to the conclusion that it is necessary for us to be present at both gatherings,” said Bishop Robert Duncan. The American conservative leader said that he would attend the first half of Lambeth, from July 16-25, and that his suffragan, Bishop Henry Scriven will attend from July 26-Aug 3.
At Gafcon, “we will be among friends, focused squarely on the Gospel, and dealing openly with how we build the missionary relationships, covenantal boundaries and responsible structures for the future of Anglicanism,” he said.
At Lambeth, “those who accuse us of abandoning the Anglican Communion will certainly be present and vocal,” he noted. “It is important for us to be able to respond directly to their claims about the situation in the Episcopal Church and our place in the Communion,” he said.
Memorandum Concludes Presiding Bishop is Subverting Constitution and Canons: TLC 4.30.08 April 30, 2008
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Sufficient legal grounds exist for presenting Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori for ecclesiastical trial on 11 counts of violating the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church, according to a legal memorandum that has begun circulating among members of the House of Bishops.
A copy of the April 21 document seen by a reporter representing The Living Church states Bishop Jefferts Schori demonstrated a “willful violation of the canons, an intention to repeat the violations, and a pattern of concealment and lack of candor” in her handling of the cases of bishops Robert W. Duncan, John-David Schofield and William Cox, and that she “subverted” the “fundamental polity” of The Episcopal Church in the matter of the Diocese of San Joaquin.
Prepared by an attorney on behalf of a consortium of bishops and church leaders seeking legal counsel over the canonical implications of the Presiding Bishop’s recent actions, it is unclear whether a critical mass of support will form behind the report’s recommendations for any action to be taken, persumably as a violation of the Presiding Bishop’s ordination vows. Title IV, Canon 3, Section 23a requires the consent of three bishops, or 10 or more priests, deacons and communicants “of whom at least two shall be priests. One priest and not less than six lay persons shall be of the diocese of which the respondent is canonically resident.” Victims of sexual misconduct and the Presiding Bishop also may bring charges before the Title IV [disciplinary] Review Committee. Title IV, Canon 3, Section 27 specifies that the Presiding Bishop appoints the five bishops to the Review Committee and the president of the House of Deputies appoints the two members of the clergy and two lay members. A spokeswoman said the Presiding Bishop was unable to respond to the charges as she had not yet seen the memorandum.
The Rev. Ephraim Radner, a member of the Anglican Covenant Design Group, said he found the matters addressed by the brief troubling. The lack of a common understanding of the church’s constitution and canons was “tearing apart our very episcopate and the credibility of our church’s ability to make formal decisions,” he said
The 7,000-word memorandum states it does not address issues of doctrine under Title 4, Canon 1, Section 1c, but limits its review to the “recent actions she has taken against bishops Cox, Schofield and Duncan and the Diocese of San Joaquin.”
The paper argues the Presiding Bishop “failed to seek the inhibition of Bishop Cox as required by [Title IV, Canon 9].” This failure was not a “technical issue that could be waived,” but was an “important procedural protection that is integral” to the use of the canon. Nor did she comply with the requirement that the bishop be given timely notice of the legal proceedings, as the Presiding Bishop withheld notice for seven months.
By not inhibiting Bishop Cox during the two-month period she gave him for denying the charges, the Presiding Bishop was also creating “new procedures” for deposing bishops. The 60-day notice to deny the charges applies only to an “inhibited bishop,” according to the memorandum. Bishop Jefferts Schori had made the same error in her treatment of Bishop Duncan, the document noted.
Bringing Bishop Cox before the House of Bishops without securing his inhibition first also violated Title IV, Canon 9, Section 2, the memorandum said, as “a bishop who has not been inhibited is not ‘liable to deposition’ under this canon.”
To suggest that the provision of Section 2 of the Canon: “Otherwise, it shall be the duty of the Presiding Bishop to present the matter to the House of Bishops at the next regular, or special meeting of the House,” was “nonsensical,” the paper argued for “if the ‘Otherwise’ sentence deals with uninhibited bishops such as Bishop Cox (and Duncan), there is no provision under which the Presiding Bishop is authorized to depose an inhibited bishop such as Bishop Schofield. No rule of legal interpretation permits such a nonsensical result.”
The Presiding Bishop’s deposition of Bishops Cox and Schofield was done without the “necessary consent” of the House of Bishops. “The conclusion that the requisite consent was not given is irrefutable” as the “plain meaning” of the words of the canon, as well as voting procedures detailed in other parts of the Constitution and Canons do not permit the interpretation interposed by the Presiding Bishop’s chancellor, the paper said
Concerning the Diocese of San Joaquin, the Presiding Bishop’s announcement that she did not recognize the “duly elected” diocesan standing committee violated Articles IV and II.3 of the church’s constitution and repudiated her duties under [Title I, Canon 2, Section 4(a)(3)] which permits her only to “consult” with the diocesan ecclesiastical authority in the event of an episcopal vacancy.
The appointment of “representatives and vicars” to act in San Joaquin violated Article II.3 of the church’s constitution, the document stated, while the convening of a special convention in San Joaquin and installation of Bishop Jerry Lamb as the provisional bishop violated Article II.3 and Title III, Canon 13.
“The violations with respect to Bishops Cox and Duncan, although willful and repeated, pertained primarily to individual bishops. The violations with respect to [San Joaquin] however, subvert the governance of an entire diocese and go to the heart of TEC’s polity as a ‘fellowship of duly constituted dioceses’ governed under Article II.3 by bishops who are not under a metropolitan or archbishop,” the legal memorandum concluded.
The procedural difficulties in bringing this matter to adjudication were formidable, the paper argued, as the “ability of the complainants to hold accountable the Presiding Bishop or another bishop thus ends at the [Title IV] Review Committee.”
The authors of the legal memorandum were not optimistic the current legal and political environment within the church would be conducive for a conviction. The Title IV committee could issue a presentment, it could decline to issue a presentment and “produce a rationale that is persuasive to most objective observers,” or it could “decline to issue a presentment on grounds that are not persuasive and serve only to discredit the Review Committee and the process as well as the respondent,” it said.
This third outcome is “highly likely,” the paper concluded, but it noted the effort should nonetheless be made to hold the institution “accountable.”
The Bishop of Pittsburgh March 31, 2008
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The Rt. Rev. Robert W Duncan
Bishop Duncan: “I have not abandoned the Church”: CEN 3.28.08 p 7. March 31, 2008
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The Bishop of Pittsburgh has denied accusations that he has “abandoned the Communion” of the Episcopal Church.
In a March 14 letter to US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Robert Duncan pledged his fealty to the doctrine, discipline and liturgy of the Episcopal Church.
“I have kept my ordination vows – all of them – to the best of my ability, including the vow I made on 28 October 1972 to ‘banish and drive away all strange and erroneous doctrines contrary to God’s Word’,” he stated.
He had been “present to all but two meetings of the House of Bishops (out of 24) during the last 12 years. In those meetings I have clearly and openly opposed the theological and moral drift of The Episcopal Church, often in the face of great hostility and sadly, at times, derision,” Bishop Duncan wrote.
On Jan 15, Bishop Schori said she would bring move to depose Bishop Duncan at the September House of Bishops Meeting unless he provided a statement and evidence proving his innocence of the charges.
Bishop Schori told a press conference on March 12 that she would distribute copies of the investigation into Bishop Duncan’s alleged “abandonment of Communion” with an eye towards convening a special meeting to depose him from office before the next House of Bishops meeting in September.
Writing to Bishop Schori’s attorney, David Booth Beers, Bishop Duncan’s attorney said his client’s statement had resolved the issue “and we expect that there will be no further action with respect to the certification enclosed with the letter from the Presiding Bishop.”
Should Bishop Schori proceed against Bishop Duncan, his attorney said they would demand a full hearing before any vote was taken. The canons require the Bishops to “investigate the matter,” attorney John Lewis wrote. “That provision, together with fundamental due process, requires that Bishop Duncan (or his representative) be given a hearing by the House of Bishops, including the right to present evidence and witnesses.”
Under the terms of the abandonment canon, a majority of all bishops eligible to vote must consent to a deposition. As of March 25, 147 votes would be required to remove Bishop Duncan from office.
Presiding Bishop backs US deal: CEN 2.23.08 February 23, 2008
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| US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has endorsed a programme of alternative Episcopal oversight brought to her by a group of conservative American bishops.
The “Anglican Bishops in Communion” seeks to meld the Primates’ Dar es Salaam pastoral council scheme with the “Episcopal Visitor” programme created by Bishop Schori in a bid to hold the fissiparous elements of American Anglicanism together until an Anglican Covenant is agreed. “This is a step forward, albeit a small one,” the Bishop of Central Florida, the Rt Rev John W Howe noted, that permits freedom of conscience for traditionalist while preserving good order in conformance to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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US bishops explain their actions over inhibitions: CEN 2.01.08 p 5. February 1, 2008
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The three senior bishops of the Episcopal Church have released statements explaining their views on charges of “abandonment of Communion” lodged against the Bishops of Pittsburgh and San Joaquin.
The bishops of Texas and Virginia, Don Wimberly and Peter Lee, last week stated that they had consented to the inhibition, or suspension, of Bishop John-David Schofield, but had refused to countenance the suspension of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan. However, the senior bishop of the church, the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade of Southeast Florida stated he had concurred with the request to inhibit both men.
Under the canons of the Episcopal Church, if the church’s Title IV review committee issues a recommendation that a bishop be brought to trial before the House of Bishops on the charge of abandonment, the presiding bishop must ask the three senior diocesan bishops for permission to inhibit the accused pending trial. The three must be in full agreement for the suspension to take place.
Bishop Wimberly of Texas, a member of the “Windsor Coalition” of bishops stated he had consented the inhibition of Bishop Schofield “because the Diocese of San Joaquin had recently voted to leave the Episcopal Church”
“We did not consent to the request for Bishop Duncan because the Diocese of Pittsburgh has not held their annual convention yet and therefore has not formalized any change to their membership within the Episcopal Church, as the Diocese of San Joaquin had,” Bishop Wimberly explained.
Bishop Lee concurred with this sentiment saying it was “clear” Bishop Schofield had abandoned the Communion of the Episcopal Church. However, Bishop Duncan’s Diocese of Pittsburgh had “not formalized any change to their membership within the Episcopal Church.”
Episcopal Headquarters Takes Steps to Remove Conservative Bishops: Christianity Today 1.18.08 January 18, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Christianity Today, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, San Joaquin.comments closed
Three conservative bishops of the Episcopal Church are under fire from the church’s national leaders and are being threatened with dismissal for seeking to pull their dioceses out of the church in protest of its leftward drift.
The attempted purge of conservative bishops Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, Jack L. Iker of Fort Worth, and John-David Schofield of Fresno by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori marks a new stage in the battle over church doctrine and discipline that has threatened to split the Episcopal Church since the hotly contested 2003 consecration of a non-celibate gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire.
On January 11, Bishop Jefferts Schori stated that a secret review panel had handed down an indictment against Bishop Schofield for “abandoning the Communion” of the Episcopal Church. In November delegates to his diocese’s annual convention voted to pull out of the Episcopal Church and seek the oversight of an overseas archbishop from the Anglican Communion.
Read it all in Christianity Today.
Bid to depose US Bishop backfires: CEN 1.16.08 January 16, 2008
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| US PRESIDING Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s bid to depose Bishop Robert Duncan before the opening of the 2008 Lambeth Conference has misfired, leaving the Pittsburgh Bishop in office pending a trial at the autumn meeting of the House of Bishops.
On Jan 15, Bishop Schori wrote to the conservative leader saying that although a secret review panel on Dec 17 had found that he had ‘abandoned the communion’ of the Episcopal Church, after four weeks of deliberations the Church’s three senior bishops were not able to agree upon suspending him from office. Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh December 14, 2007
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Bishop Bob Duncan of Pittsburgh December 12, 2007
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Bishop Duncan at a press gaggle, (center Jonathan Petre of the Daily Telegraph, right Chris Sugden of Anglican Mainstream)
Synod Backing for US Bishop: CEN 11.09.07 p 1. November 8, 2007
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EVANGELICAL and Anglo-Catholic members of General Synod have pledged their support to the Bishop of Pittsburgh in his dispute with the US Presiding Bishop over the proposed secession of his diocese from The Episcopal Church.
In a letter published in The Church of England Newspaper, over 40 members of General Synod, along with a number of leaders of Forward and Faith and the Church Society, stated they were ‘outraged’ by the threats of litigation by the ‘current leadership’ of the Episcopal Church, who ‘appear to be unitarian and universalist in theology, and coercively utopian in social practice.’ Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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Three US Dioceses on the Verge of Quitting: CEN 9.21.07 p 9. September 23, 2007
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Failure of the US House of Bishops to respond appropriately to the Primates’ Dar es Salaam Communiqué may force three American dioceses to quit the Episcopal Church.
On Sept 11 the dioceses of Pittsburgh and Quincy announced their upcoming diocesan synods would sever their ties to the national Episcopal Church, while a Sept 6 letter from the Bishop of Forth Worth reported “the realignment of the Anglican Communion is well under way.”
Fort Worth Bishop Jack L. Iker reported that the leaders of the conservative movement had had “some very encouraging meetings and conversations” with the leaders of the Global South coalition of Anglican provinces, and were prepared for action.
This week’s House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans would most likely reject the primates’ requests, Bishop Iker said, forcing the diocese “to choose in favor of the Anglican Communion majority at the expense of our historic relationship with the General Convention Church.”
The Diocese of Quincy announced that it too would consider amendments to its bylaws “that would cut its ties with the General Convention of the Episcopal Church if leaders of that church continue to pull away from mainstream Anglicanism.”
“Leaders of the Anglican Communion have repeatedly asked The Episcopal Church to repent and heal the schism they’ve caused in our Communion. The Episcopal Church has simply refused,” Bishop Keith Ackerman said.
Quincy had “gone the extra mile in demonstrating patience,” but there was “no sign” the Episcopal Church would “turn back from the destructive path it is on,” the president of the diocesan standing committee, the Rev. John Spencer, said.
“While we continue to pray for the House [of Bishops], we must also prepare for the very real possibility they will not respond favorably” to the Primates’ communiqué, the president of the Pittsburgh diocesan council, the Rev. David Rucker, said.
The proposed legislation would allow Pittsburgh to create parishes outside its geographical boundaries, welcoming any “parish formed and desiring union with the diocese.” The diocese will also seek to allow it the option of withdrawing from the Episcopal Church and affiliate with “such province of the Anglican Communion as is by diocesan canon specified.”
Mr. Rucker said Pittsburgh hoped the House of Bishops would act in such a way as to make these “votes unnecessary”, but was prepared to act if they did not.
ACN Pittsburgh Conference: TLC 11.12.05 June 30, 2007
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A view of the participants of the Anglican Communion Network’s Pittsburgh Conference on Nov 12, 2005 at the Pittsburgh Civic Center. First published in The Living Church magazine.
GC Columbus: Bishops Jack Iker and Bob Duncan 6.21.06 June 7, 2007
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The Rt. Rev. Jack Iker, Bishop of Forth Worth, and the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh, speaking to the press outside the Columbus Convention Center on June 21, 2006 at the 74th General Convention.
This photo was first published on line by The Living Church.
It was republished by the Church Times on 11.23.07.
Pittsburgh Chancellor Appointed Executive Officer for AMiA: TLC 1.23.06 January 23, 2006
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Robert G. Devlin, chancellor for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, will remain in that office while serving as executive officer for the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA).
The organization’s website describes AMiA as providing “a way for congregations and clergy to be fully Anglican…while, at the same time, being free of the crises of faith, leadership and mission in the Episcopal Church USA.”
Read it all in The Living Church.
Row over ‘unAnglican’ confirmation service: CEN 5.20.04 May 20, 2004
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Pittsburgh, Reformed Episcopal Church.comments closed
An American bishop is under fire for authorising a bishop of an Anglican Church not in Communion with Canterbury to take a confirmation service on his behalf.A liberal advocacy group, Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh (PEP), complained to Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold on May 13 urging that he discipline the Bishop
of Pittsburgh, the Rt Rev Robert Duncan for the action.
Bishop Duncan licensed the Rt Rev Daniel G Cox, a retired bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC), to celebrate the Eucharist and confirm 13 adults at a church in Pennsylvania on May 9.
Formed in 1873 after Evangelicals split in a dispute over ritual and theological disagreements with the High Church party, the 14,000-member Reformed Episcopal Church, like the Church of England in South Africa, is an “Anglican”
Church outside the Anglican Communion.
PEP President Lionel Deimel wrote to Bishop Duncan accusing him of breaching Church law. “We believe that your actions demonstrate a pattern of continuing indifference to the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church, and that your support of others showing similar disrespect for the order of the church are unworthy of a bishop or other minister.”
The Rt Rev Walter Righter, retired Bishop of Iowa and former assistant to Bishop Jack Spong of Newark, told The Church of England Newspaper, “It seems to me it does not matter what Bishop Duncan thinks about whether he is in communion with the REC Bishop or not. The church called ECUSA has not decided that. So is Bishop Duncan free to make that decision when the church which gave him his orders has not done so?”
The Rt. Rev. Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church’s ecumenical and interfaith officer, also objected telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “We are certainly not in full communion with the [REC] and so I do not believe it is appropriate for one of their bishops to confirm.”
The permission given to Bishop Cox to officiate by Bishop Duncan, who was in Jordan on the day in question, was “faithful to a decades-long effort by Episcopalians and members of the Reformed Episcopal Church to heal a 131-year old breach in the Anglican family.”
The two Churches, Bishop Duncan argued, “share the same foundations of Anglican Christianity – the 39 Articles, the Book of Common Prayer, and the succession of bishops from the apostles.”
“As to the constitutional and canonical questions that have been raised,” Bishop Duncan stated that he had acted with the guidance of the diocesan legal officers.
“No provisions of the constitution or the canons had been broken in the authorisation for a reformed Episcopal bishop to act.”
“Confirmation”, wrote Bishop Duncan, “is primarily a sign of an adult individual’s relationship with the whole Christian church, not just a particular portion of it.”
Episcopalians, he argued, “have acknowledged this for decades by not requiring individuals confirmed in other denominations to be reconfirmed when they enter
the Episcopal Church.”
Whether any charges will be proffered against Bishop Duncan lies with Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, who, as of our going to press, has not responded to our queries on this matter.
Conger 