A decision to leave the Province 3 regional ministry jurisdiction of The Episcopal Church cannot be made unilaterally, according to the Rt. Rev. Robert Ihloff, retired Bishop of Maryland and president of Province 3. Bishop Ihloff wrote all ordained clergy canonically resident in the Diocese of Pittsburgh on June 22.

“We need you,” he wrote. “We need your voices, insights, your convictions, and your Christian fellowship. If the officers or ministry coordinators of Province 3 can assist you, answer questions, or simply be in dialogue with you, we welcome that opportunity. Meanwhile we remain in contact with a number of leaders in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and remember you all daily in prayer.”

Last November delegates to Pittsburgh’s diocesan convention voted to withdraw from active life in Province 3 ministry. Article VII of the constitution states that “no diocese shall be included in a province without its own consent.” But the Rev. Barbara J. Seras, province coordinator, said the provincial leadership has received a definitive ruling from David Booth Beers, the Presiding Bishop’s chancellor, that General Convention must approve any changes in provincial membership.

In one of the few business items during the annual provincial synod in Martinsburg, W.Va., on May 22, delegates debated, without coming to any conclusions, how to respond to the withdrawal from the province by Pittsburgh’s leadership.

Read it all.

On June 15, the Executive Council, the governing body between General Conventions, passed Resolution NAC023 which noted that Article V, Section 1 of the Constitution of The Episcopal Church requires each diocese’s constitution to state “an unqualified access to the Constitution and Canons of this Church.”

“Any amendment to a diocesan constitution that purports in any way to limit or lessen an unqualified accession to the constitution of The Episcopal Church is null and void,” the resolution continued, adding that “the amendments passed to the constitutions of the dioceses of Pittsburgh, Fort Worth, Quincy and San Joaquin, which purport to limit or lessen the unqualified accession to the constitution of The Episcopal Church are accordingly null and void and the constitutions of those dioceses shall be as they were as if such amendments had not been passed.”

The chancellors of the four dioceses said June 18, in a statement on the Diocese of Pittsburgh’s website, that they “reserve the right not to accede to [the Episcopal Church’s] unbiblical actions.”

“The Executive Council does not have the authority to make decisions or pass resolutions of this type on behalf of [the Episcopal Church],” their statement said. “Furthermore, the Executive Council does not have the right to interfere in internal diocesan constitutional processes … The Executive Council’s declaration is contrary to the law and to the historic Anglican faith.”

Via Media USA, an alliance of Episcopal laity and clergy formed in 2004 to offer a counterpoint to efforts to “realign” the Episcopal Church along more conservative lines, said June 18 that it was “pleased that the Executive Council, in its resolution NAC023, has made clear what we have understood for a long time to be the case.”

Read it all.

The adversarial relationship between this Diocese and the leadership of The Episcopal Church was
exacerbated by two decisions made by the Executive Council of TEC at its meeting last week.

I. The Council’s refusal to participate in the Pastoral Scheme developed by the Dar es Salaam Primates’
Meeting has deepened our sense of alienation from TEC. Instead of “waging reconciliation,” the Council
has failed to respond to the expressed needs of those dioceses appealing for Alternative Primatial
Oversight, pushing us further apart from TEC. They have claimed that the Pastoral Council proposal
violates the polity of TEC, but they have been unable to substantiate this by citing any constitutional or
canonical provisions to that effect.

II. Claiming an authority that our polity does not give, the Council has declared certain amendments to
our Diocesan Constitution “null and void.” To this, we respond, first, that it is not within the scope of
duties assigned to the Executive Council to render findings as to the legality or constitutionality of
actions by the several dioceses of The Episcopal Church; and second, that resolutions adopted by the
Council, or even by the General Convention, are non-binding. Therefore, this resolution is nothing more
than an opinion expressed by those individuals who issued the statement. It is itself “null and void“ ”“
unenforceable and of no effect. This action is another example of the heavy-handed tactics being used by
those who do not have the right to interfere in the internal constitutional process of the dioceses.
While the Council’s resolutions on a range of subjects may excite debate, that does not guarantee their
opinions are consistent with the Faith, the law of the land, or the Constitution of The Episcopal Church,
much less that they establish precedent. That the Council would attempt to interfere now, nearly 20 years
after this diocese first amended its Constitution, is evidence of an illegitimate magisterial attitude that
has emerged in the legislative function of TEC. Sadly, the one thing the resolution does show is that there
is no desire on the part of the Council for reconciliation with those alienated by the recent actions of
General Convention.

The Council’s threats may continue, but we will continue to stand for the historic biblical faith and our
Lord Jesus Christ’s call to extend His Kingdom. We regret that a further deterioration in our relationship
with TEC has been effected by these decisions.

The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker
Bishop of Fort Worth

The Very Rev. Ryan S. Reed
President, Standing Committee
June 19, 2007

From the diocese of Pittsburgh:

Calling a recent resolution by the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church a failed attempt to interfere in the internal constitutional processes of their dioceses, the chancellors of the Episcopal Dioceses of Fort Worth, Quincy, Pittsburgh and San Joaquin rejected claims that changes the dioceses had made to their accession clauses over the last fifteen years were null and void.

Read it all.

From the Peoria Journal-Star:

The dioceses of Quincy, San Joaquin, Pittsburgh and Fort Worth were singled out, said the Rev. Jan Nunley, deputy director of the denomination’s communications office, “because they (the dioceses) had passed amendments that had basically said if there was disagreement between the diocese and The Episcopal Church, that they no longer acceded to our constitution and canons.”

“What (the resolution) simply said is those amendments to those constitutions . . . are null and void,” Nunley said.

She said the changes referred to had been made within the past three years.

However, Bishop Keith Ackerman as well as retired Quincy Bishops Edward MacBurney and Donald Parsons and diocesan chancellor Tad Brenner said the diocese hasn’t changed its constitution since at least 1993. The constitution states that the diocese “accedes” to the national constitution “contingent upon the continuing consent of the diocesan synod.”

Ackerman said the council’s actions have no real teeth anyway.

Read it all.

Update: Episcope has more on this here.

From ENS:

Episcopal Church dioceses that change their constitutions in an attempt to bypass the Church’s Constitution and Canons were warned by the Executive Council June 14 that their actions are “null and void.”

The Council passed Resolution NAC023, reminding dioceses that they are required to “accede” to the Constitution and Canons, and declaring that any diocesan action that removes that accession from its constitution is “null and void.” That declaration, the resolution said, means that their constitutions “shall be as they were as if such amendments had not been passed.”

The action came on the last day of its four-day meeting at the Sheraton hotel in Parsippany, New Jersey. The Council spent June 11, 13, and 14 in New Jersey, and on June 12 traveled to the Episcopal Church Center at 815 Second Ave. in New York City. Earlier in the day, the Council issued its reply to the communiqué issued by the Anglican Primates at the end of their February meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. ENS coverage of that statement and a link to the statement itself is available here.

At the close of the meeting, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori congratulated the Council for engaging a variety of issues “faithfully and with clarity,” recognizing the diversity of opinion that exists within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. She also noted that Council learned that there are sometimes other ways to cope with tough issues rather than legislation that can result in winners-and-losers situations. She observed that during the Parsippany meeting, members worked pastorally behind the scenes to achieve consensus on some issues.

Read it all.

From The Living Church:

In other news, council approved a resolution declaring “null and void” attempts by a number of dioceses to revise their constitution to qualify their accession to the Constitution and Canons of the General Convention.

“Any amendment to a diocesan constitution that purports in any way to limit or lessen an unqualified accession to the constitution of The Episcopal Church is null and void, and be it further resolved that the amendments passed to the constitutions of the dioceses of Pittsburgh, Fort Worth, Quincy and San Joaquin, which purport to limit or lessen the unqualified accession to the constitution of The Episcopal Church are accordingly null and void and the constitutions of those dioceses shall be as they were as if such amendments had not been passed,” council stated in Resolution NAC-023.

After the resolution was approved, the Rt. Rev. Stacy Sauls, Bishop of Lexington, said Episcopalians had all agreed to live by certain principles and rules and that council believed it would be “helpful to have an authoritative statement [on the matter] with respect to any litigation that might occur in the future.”

Read it all.

When the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church convenes June 11-14 in Parsippany, New Jersey, its members will spend time reflecting on the past, present and future shape of the Church and of the Anglican Communion, as well as considering issues of ministry and governance.

The Church’s governing body between General Conventions will, as part of its agenda, look to the past to hear a report about the effort to gather information about how the Episcopal Church may have benefited from slavery.

The Council will look to the present and the future as it discusses how the Church might reach out to Episcopalians in a small number of dioceses and parishes where the leadership is disaffected with the wider Church.

Council will consider a report and resolutions in response to portions of the communiqué issued by the Anglican Primates at the end of their February meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; get a summary of responses to its invitation for Episcopalians to discuss the proposed Anglican Covenant; and will hear about the experience of one gay Anglican in Nigeria.

“I am sure that a number of international concerns will be the subject of our conversation and deliberation,” said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. “Among them, Anglican Communion issues, of mission including the Towards Effective Anglican Mission meeting and matters of peace and justice such as our Millennium Development Goal efforts. We’ll talk about how we can grow our partnerships around the Communion; as well as relationships with our covenant partners such as Brazil, Mexico and Philippines.

“The current conflict around the draft Anglican Covenant and the process for its consideration, as well as the Lambeth Conference and the House of Bishops’ response to the Primates’ Communiqué, will be discussed. We will also include in that discussion the conflict caused by incursion into the Episcopal Church from other members of the Anglican Communion.”

“We will consider domestic issues including the federal Farm Bill and our concern about domestic poverty, as well as matters of internal governance,” she continued.

Read it all.

The Standing Commission on Constitution and Canons met recently in San Diego, agreeing to review the current consent process for episcopal elections and to update an annotated commentary on national church bylaws. It was the second time the interim body had met since the 75th General Convention adjourned last June.

During the meeting a commission member from the Diocese of Eau Claire reported that the diocese’s consent to the election of the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence as Bishop of South Carolina had been ruled invalid.

“For us to do a full standing committee meeting requires a full day,” said the Rev. Ward Simpson, rector of St. Andrew’s Church, Ashland, Wis., and a member of the Eau Claire standing committee. “For us to be able to hold some meetings by telephone would be helpful.”

The language by which standing committees give notice of consent is spelled out in Title III, Canon 11. The language to be used in granting consent has remained essentially the same since it was adopted in 1904, according to the most recent edition of White and Dykman’s annotated commentary on the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church. In recent years, the office of the canon to the Presiding Bishop has interpreted the consent language to require individual signatures from all of the standing committee members voting in the affirmative. Electronic reproductions of individual signatures have been ruled valid, but the language, which was adopted in the infancy of the telephone, does not specifically permit them.

.