The Bishop of South Carolina has received the news of his removal from the ordained ministry with sorrow, and a little pity. On 5 Dec 2012 the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church announced that she had accepted the voluntary renunciation of the ministerial orders of the Bishop of South Carolina. However, Bishop Mark J. Lawrence reports the presiding bishop’s actions have no canonical significance.

On the fourth anniversary of her deposing Bishop Jack Iker by the same canonical maneuver, Bishop Jefferts Schori announced she had deposed Bishop Lawrence. The Episcopal News Service reported that pursuant to Title III, Canon 12, Section 7 the Presiding Bishop “has accepted the renunciation of the ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church of Mark Lawrence as made in his public address on November 17 and she has released him from his orders in this Church.”

Read it all.

Watch it all carefully.

This post remains ‘Sticky’ at the head of the page.

Quite simply I have not renounced my orders as a deacon, priest or bishop any more than I have abandoned the Church of Jesus Christ””But as I am sure you are aware, the Diocese of South Carolina has canonically and legally disassociated from The Episcopal Church. We took this action long before today’s attempt at renunciation of orders, therein making it superfluous.

Read it all.
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December 5, 2012

Dear Friends in Christ,

“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

The Presiding Bishop called me this afternoon to inform me that she and her council of advice have “accepted my renunciation of ordained ministry.” I listened quietly, asked a question or two and then told her it was good to hear her voice. I did not feel any need to argue or rebut. It is the Presiding Bishop’s crossing of the T’s and dotting of the I’s””for their paper work, not my life. I could point out the canonical problems with what they have done contrary to the canons of The Episcopal Church but to what avail? TEC will do what they will do regardless of canonical limitations. Those canonical problems are already well documented by others and hardly need further documentation by me. She and her advisers will say I have said what I have not said in ways that I have not said them even while they cite words from my Bishop’s Address of November 17, 2012.

Quite simply I have not renounced my orders as a deacon, priest or bishop any more than I have abandoned the Church of Jesus Christ. As I am sure you are aware, the Diocese of South Carolina has canonically and legally disassociated from The Episcopal Church. We took this action long before today’s attempt to claim a renunciation of my orders, thereby making it superfluous.

So we move on””onward and upward. As I write these words in the vesper light of this first Wednesday of Advent, the bells of the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul ring in the steeple beside the diocesan office, and I remain the Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. We shall continue to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ in Word and Deed to a needy world, as well as ourselves. We need to experience afresh its power to set us free from sin, death, guilt, shame and judgment and to transform our lives to be like Christ’s from one degree of glory to another. As the Apostle has written: “The Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

I am heartened by the support of the vast majority of those within this Diocese as well as that of the majority of Anglicans around the world and that of many in North America who have expressed in so many ways that they consider me to be an Anglican Bishop in good standing and that this Diocese of South Carolina is part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

My prayers for a wakeful and watchful Advent,

The Right Reverend Mark Joseph Lawrence
XIV Bishop of South Carolina

For background see also:
A.S. Haley””The Presiding Bishop Flouts the Canons Again
Presiding Bishop Says Mark Lawrence Says what he did not Say, right out of George Orwell
South Carolina Links

[This post is ‘Sticky’ – new entries below]
Bishop Lawrence (a) did not address any writing to the Presiding Bishop; (b) did not renounce his ordained Ministry; and (c) did not request to be removed from that Ministry. The elaborately crafted press release from the Public Affairs Office is simply a poor attempt to cover over a huge, public lie.

That huge, public lie has been told simply for the sake of the Presiding Bishop’s and ECUSA’s own convenience. It is convenient for them to be rid of Bishop Lawrence now, rather than wait until next March’s meeting of the House of Bishops — that way, they avoid the necessity of taking another illegal vote of “deposition” by less than the full majority of bishops that the Abandonment Canon requires; and they are now free to reorganize those in South Carolina wishing to remain with ECUSA into a pseudo-diocese with a puppet bishop whose immediate and most important mission will not be the welfare of his parishioners, but instead the filing of a lawsuit against Bishop Lawrence and the real Diocese’s corporate trustees, in an attempt to force them to turn over all of the Diocese’s property and assets.

Read it all.

[This post is ‘Sticky’ – new entries below]
Read it all.

So ECUSA, through its hopelessly conflicted Disciplinary Board for Bishops, blames the Bishop for the actions of the Diocese — even though he had no vote on them to begin with, and no Constitutional power to set aside the acts of the diocesan convention.

And then the Presiding Bishop, while trying with one hand to lure Bishop Lawrence into further mediation talks, uses her other hand to sign a certificate restricting his ministry — and then still wants to continue talks as scheduled while keeping his restriction “confidential.” (Oh, yes, that would certainly work.)

To top it off, she then claims that “her hands were tied,” and that once she received the certification that he personally had “abandoned” ECUSA by the actions the diocesan convention took, she had “no choice” but to restrict him.

Read it all

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This is a painful letter. It is painful because it concerns un-canonical (and perhaps even unlawful) actions on the part of our Presiding Bishop and her associates. These actions, detailed in the attached appendix and summarized in the bullet points below, have already undermined the good order and spiritual health of our church. We write to you our Bishops because of your responsibility for that good order. We write as Presbyters who have in one way or another faithfully served our church for over half a century. We pray that, despite the painful nature of the story we place before you, you will listen to what we have to say with a clear and open mind.

We urge you, therefore, to take careful note of the following points that are more fully spelled out in our appendix. We urge you further to take the necessary steps to restore the good order of our church.

– Three years ago, the Presiding Bishop began an extraordinary and unconstitutional intervention in the internal affairs of the Diocese of South Carolina….

Read it all and be sure to read the timeline attached. There is a printable pdf here

Read it all.

Joy Hunter, director of communications for the South Carolina Diocese, told The Christian Post that the pastoral letter will not change the course the Diocese… [has taken].

“The Diocese of South Carolina has already disassociated from that organization,” said Hunter, adding that Schori’s authority holds no jurisdiction.

“We disagree with her statement that a diocese cannot leave TEC. It is in error historically, canonically and under the civil laws of this state.”

Read it all.

Read it all.

As the Special Convention called for the Diocese of South Carolina nears, both the leader of the Diocese and the leader of the national Church have issued pastoral letters. They attempt, on the surface, to calm the waters, but underneath each are stiff messages which show the resolve with which each side of this dispute is facing the coming confrontation.

boilerplate for 815, and comes straight from Chancellor David Booth Beers. The mantra about dioceses needing the “consent” of General Convention to disaffiliate is based on no language in the Church’s Constitution or Canons whatsoever. During the Civil War, seven dioceses left the Church without asking or seeking any permission from the national Church to do so. Since then, a proposal to make General Convention the supreme authority in the Church failed to pass General Convention in 1895, and the subject has not been touched upon since.

Bishop Jefferts Schori’s letter also takes the occasion to discuss the charges brought against the Fort Worth Seven and the Quincy Three, but again it adds nothing new (except to express the extraordinary opinion that “all involved see [the process] as a positive endeavor”!!). It reiterates that the matter is going through the new procedures under the amended Title IV of the Canons, but it fails to acknowledge her own improper role in that process — improper, in that she is acting as a judge in her own cause. (The “offense” with which those bishops have been charged is, at bottom, their act of disagreeing with the Presiding Bishop — and she gets to direct and control the disciplinary process.)

But she also makes a false appeal to parishioners’ fear and misunderstanding about what is happening…

Read it all.

Read it all.

Lowcountry citizens of all spiritual stripes have been observing the drama related to the conflict between The Episcopal Church (TEC) and Bishop Mark Lawrence. To set the stage, we have seen TEC behaving in ways unimaginable to the faithful a decade ago and earlier. The way they have treated the Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina the last several years parallels the worst of power politics in the U.S. Congress. As all know TEC is using lawsuits around the country to grab the church properties of dioceses, even individual parishes.

The Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina has tried to negotiate a compromise by which the diocese can remain within TEC and yet continue its received communion with the gospel of Jesus Christ as the foundation. TEC not only opposes such a resolution, but it also undermined the most recent attempt at compromise by concluding against such a compromise weeks before the final discussion took place, as written evidence shows. The result is that the Diocese of South Carolina is disassociated with TEC and it continues to operate as it has since its founding and does so as The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina.

Read it all.

Dear Parish Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In these extraordinary days in the life of the Church, I continue to bid you to avail yourselves of helpful information from reliable sources. In today’s Post and Courier there is a Pastoral Letter to the Diocese from Bishop Lawrence. Recognizing that all of our diocesan households do not read the paper, the Bishop has asked that each congregation forward this Letter to our electronic mailing list. I am glad to do so.

Rectors of the Diocese were invited to add their names to the letter if they chose, and many did. Some could not be reached in time for publication, others declined. I was one who declined, and I want you to know why.

I have tried to make at least two things clear here at Christ Church.
First and foremost, my own deep convictions on a broad range of issues that I believe concern the very nature of God, Jesus Christ, humanity, and the Sacraments and theology and life of the Church. In short, I believe the Gospel as we have received it is at stake in all of these matters. For this, I am willing to stand, come what may. I believe that places me clearly and unequivocally with Bishop Lawrence, other diocesan leadership, and the majority of the diocese and of this parish church.

Second, my own heart’s ‘strange peace,’ as it were: I find in myself no desire to fight anyone, and so have worked hard to practice and encourage within the parish as non-partisan a tone as possible.

And so, my friends, we’re doing this – the Resolution of the Rector and Vestry presented at last Sunday’s parish meeting makes that clear; and here’s how we’re doing this – everyone go stand where they believe they are called, and there seek and serve Christ. In that, there is no call for fighting.

The Bishop, whom I love and pray for regularly, by virtue of his office, bears the brunt of others’ actions in a way that the rest of us do not. And so the burden uniquely falls to him to decide what corporate, public stands – and in what forums and in what words – the Diocese must take. It is his determination that others’ actions required a public answer by way of a letter in the newspaper. He is probably right in that choice! But it was just enough different from what I would have done, that just this once, on just this one matter of strategy, I declined to add my name. That’s all – no more, no less.

At this Saturday’s Special Diocesan Convention, my name will be on a Resolution that, in a fashion similar to our Vestry’s Resolution, makes clear the reality of our disaffiliation from TEC, and my continuing support of the Bishop, the Diocese of SC, and our call to follow the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as we have received them, and to share that with others.

I am always available to you for discussion and prayer, no matter where you are in your journey. May God bless you.

Faithfully,

(The Rev.) Ted Duvall is rector, Christ Church, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Read it all.

Read it all.

Part 1 of the ACI’s analysis can be found here

In the first part of this article we addressed questions of good faith and canonical integrity arising from TEC’s actions in South Carolina. We concluded that those actions raise troubling questions about the good faith of many church leaders in their dealing with Bishop Lawrence, including the Presiding Bishop, the Disciplinary Board, other TEC bishops and some diocesan clergy. We also concluded that TEC’s position is canonically incoherent: either its actions in South Carolina are in open contempt of its own canons or TEC has undermined the legal basis of its position by acknowledging that the Diocese has indeed left.

In Part Two we consider issues of ecclesiology and pastoral care. We are concerned that:

TEC is acting contrary to basic principles of Anglican ecclesiology and ancient norms of the universal church; and
It is sacrificing the genuine pastoral needs of its members to advance doubtful litigation goals.

Read it all.

NOTE: You can read Part 1 and the lively discussion in the comments here.

The episcopal defendants in the Fort Worth 7 case have been charged with fraud, financial misconduct and failing to inform on their fellow bishops who held opinions on church order contrary to those advocated by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

In an email dated 2 Oct 2012 seen by Anglican Ink the Fort Worth 7 were informed of the specific canonical violations they had committed by filing an amicus brief in the Fort Worth case before the Texas Supreme Court.

Read it all.

By now I hope that most are aware that a new TEC steering committee has announced a clergy day that it claims is for the Diocese of South Carolina on Thursday at St. Mark’s, Charleston. So that there is no doubt, this is not a legitimate gathering of the Diocese of South Carolina.

While the steering committee and its associates are certainly free to meet, what they are attempting to perpetrate is identity theft. They are not “the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina,” nor are they “the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina” or “The Diocese of South Carolina.” Those are legal names which belong to us. This group does not have any right to use these names or the Diocesan seal.
For now, I would give you the following advice for your parish:

1. If there is any doubt about the validity of any communication from the Diocese, feel free to contact us to confirm its reliability. The confusion is intentional and for now unavoidable. If you are not sure about the source of anything that presents itself as a diocesan communication, please contact us and ask.

2. As you become aware of fraudulent communications, you can send a return email asking them to discontinue sending fraudulent emails and then mark them as SPAM in your e-mail program for future screening. You can also notify your internet service provider (ISP). They can assist you in blocking future attempts at deceptive communications.

3. Finally, please help us keep your parishioners informed. There is a wealth of information available to you on the Diocesan Website (www.dioceseofsc.org). I would particularly commend several articles today on these recent activities of the steering committee. Their analysis is a valuable tool in helping your members understand these events.

http://anglicanink.com/article/presiding-bishop-backs-ecclesiastical-coup-south-carolina

http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/

http://www.anglicancommunioninstitute.com/2012/11/consumed-by-litigation-tec-in-south-carolina/

As we prepare for the next gathering of the Diocese of South Carolina, our Special Diocesan Convention this Saturday (November 17th @ St. Philip’s, Charleston), please feel free to let me know if there is other assistance I can provide you or your parish as we get ready.

In Christ’s service,

–(The Rev.) Jim Lewis is Canon to the Ordinary”¨ in the Diocese of South Carolina

Why in the world, then, would the “remain Episcopal” group, consisting of some twelve parishes in the Diocese, want to get off on such a wrong foot under South Carolina law? The answer is plain, no matter how much they may try to disavow it, and play the innocent: they are wholly subservient to their captain, and that captain is Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Chief Outlaw of the Episcopal Church (USA).

It is only with her recognition, aid and support that these others could go down such a lawless path of their own. Inspired by her example, they have impersonated the Diocesan office in two emails, misused the corporate seal, and pretended to be who they are not under South Carolina law. This is, of course, all pursuant to, and in order to further yet again, 815’s Grand Strategy for dealing with dissident dioceses, as spelled out by 815 itself and discussed in this earlier post.

As the ACI article carefully explains, the …[Presiding] Bishop’s outlaw strategy in South Carolina is not just invented from day to day; it is self-contradictory, and will result in embarrassment in the courts. On the one hand, 815 is acting as though the Diocese has not left, but has only had all of its positions suddenly become vacant — and it is going about the process of filling them with new people.

But on the other hand, the actions in South Carolina being taken by the Presiding Bishop are canonical only if there is no longer a Diocese there, but only patches of raw territory waiting to be organized as a new diocese. So which is it?

Read it all.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has declared the ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese of South Carolina vacant and has backed a faction within the diocese that is seeking to fill the “vacuum” created by the suspension of Bishop Mark Lawrence.

The loyalist “Transitional Committee” has also declared the South Carolina Standing Committee to be vacant and has formed a “steering committee” to act in its place….

Read it all.

The Steering Committee at the same time sought assistance and guidance from the Presiding Bishop’s Office.

On Thursday, October 25, representatives of the Presiding Bishop met in Charleston with a small group of lay and clergy persons…to outline steps that could be taken by such a Steering Committee. Such a group would, among other things, also be in close communication with the Presiding Bishop during the reorganization effort.

The Presiding Bishop’s Office expects this Steering Committee to announce its formation, its members, and the elements of a reorganization plan in cooperation with the Presiding Bishop within the next several days.

Read it all.

Q: While we’re at it, define the word “diocese.” My understanding is a diocese is, by definition, part of something larger; it’s a geographical designation and regional authority within a church. Is the PECDSC technically a “diocese”?

A: We believe that your understanding of the concept of a diocese is incorrect. The proper definition is that a diocese is a district or churches under the jurisdiction of a bishop. The Diocese of South Carolina, for example, predated the existence of The Episcopal Church. A diocese is a community of parishes, in freely chosen union with its Convention, and led by its bishop. No less an authority than Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has stated that “The organ of union with the wider church is the diocese and its bishop, rather than the provincial structure … rather than the abstract reality of the ”˜national church.’ ” In other words, the organ of union with the wider church is the Diocese, not The Episcopal Church.

Read it all.

This post is sticky, look for new entries below and see also the full South Carolina Links
There were ELEVEN new entries posted November 13 about the diocese of South Carolina. Make sure you start with Kendall’s explanatory note. Here are all the links

NEW:
A Message from Bishop Mark Lawrence to the Diocese of South Carolina, November 15
South Carolina’s Canon to the Ordinary”¨ Writes the Clergy of the Diocese

A note on Diocese of South Carolina Developments
South Carolina Developments (I)””Two Emails From a TEC Steering Committee Led Group to SC Clergy
South Carolina Developments (II)””Tennessee Bishop offers support to dissident South Carolina clergy
South Carolina Developments (III)””Local Newspaper article on the TEC-Diocese of SC Struggle
South Carolina Developments (IV)””A Priest at Holy Communion, Charleston, leaves and Heads to Rome
South Carolina Developments (V)””Local Newspaper Article on Holy Communion: “Group to leave church”
South Carolina Developments (VI)””Advertisement in the Local paper by the TEC Group
South Carolina Developments (VII)””Another Local newspaper Article, Q and A with the Diocese of SC
South Carolina Developments (VIII)””National Church releases “Fact sheet: The Diocese of South Car.”
South Carolina Developments (IX)””Presiding Bishop backs ecclesiastical coup in South Carolina
Don’t Miss: South Carolina Developments (X)””A.S. Haley’s Analysis of recent Events (apologies, this was mistakenly left off the list of links, thanks to the reader who alerted us!)

The breakup in the Episcopal diocese has led some members of one local parish, the Anglo-Catholic Church of the Holy Communion, to make a move of their own. Five families will follow the Rev. Patrick Allen, curate at Holy Communion, into the arms of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Rev. Dow Sanderson, rector of Holy Communion, will remain part of the Episcopal Church, along with most of the congregation, and strive to be neutral as the drama plays out, he said.

The fracture comes as no surprise; worshippers at this historic downtown parish at 218 Ashley Ave. have long preferred to uphold Catholic traditions.

Read it all.

With sadness I write to tell you that I will be leaving the Church of the Holy Communion at the end of this year; I will deeply miss being a regular part of this parish’s life and ministry, which I love. I also write with joy because I believe that I and my family are following what is “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” for us (Phil 3.14).

God willing, sometime in the next year I will enter in to full communion with and be ordained to the priesthood of the Catholic Church in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter ”“ this is the “Anglican Ordinariate” (essentially a non-geographic diocese) established by Pope Benedict XVI for Anglican Christians who desire to convert to the Catholic Church while maintaining important elements of the Anglican liturgical and pastoral patrimony.

This is a conversion I have desired to make for some years, and I have understood my ministry as an Anglo-Catholic priest in the Episcopal Church as a special vocation to witness to the Catholic faith in the hope (real and possible if not “sure and certain”) of a reunion in the Church larger than my individual conversion. When the establishment of the Ordinariate was announced, I believed (and continue to believe) that the time for that hoped for reunion had come….

Read it all.

Read it all.

A diocesan press statement released on 8 Nov further stated that the rector of the church that was to host the meeting said he had been “misled in offering to host this meeting, expecting it was for a small group of clergy who had already decided to reaffiliate with TEC. ”˜Neither I nor anyone at Holy Communion sent that email,’ said the Rector. ”˜I have notified the sender that we will not be hosts’.”

The diocesan statement further stated Bishop vonRosenberg had “no authority to convene or preside at any meeting in this diocese and to do so would put him in violation of TEC’s canons.”

Bishop von Rosenberg told Anglican Ink the diocesan statement misconstrued his role in the affair.

“A group of loyal Episcopal priests felt the need to gather, for mutual support. They asked me to offer a homily during the liturgy they will share. I had previously been licensed in this diocese by Bishop Lawrence. I certainly felt able to respond to the invitation affirmatively, and I look forward to being with that group,” the bishop said.

Read it all.

You can see the first there and you can see the second there. This second was necessary since the first was sent out without the knowledge or permission of the parish in question.

There have been many relevant articles and pieces of information related to the situation here in the diocese of South Carolina in recent days. I have waited until today to post them since I did not want them lost on Veterans/Remembrance Day yesterday. Please note that I post material here which is in circulation but which is, in some cases, factually false, and in others, embarrassingly biased against the diocese. I trust readers to read and sift things carefully and make their own judgments. If you have questions, ask–KSH.