According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s figures, Arkansas has grown in population from 2,673,400 in 2000 to 2,889,450 in 2009. This represents a population growth of approximately 8.08%.

According to Episcopal Church statistics, the Diocese of Arkansas went from Average Sunday Attendance (or ASA) of 5,349 in 1998 to 4,684 in 2008. This represents an ASA decline of about 12% over this ten year period.

In order to generate a pictorial chart of some Arkansas diocesan statistics, please go [url=http://www.episcopalchurch.org/growth_60791_ENG_HTM.htm?menupage=50929]here[/url] and enter “Arkansas” in the second line down under “Diocese” and then click on “View Diocese Chart” under the third line to the left.

The Diocese of Arkansas’ website may be found here.

“Self-denial.” wrote Cardinal John Henry Newman, “is a subject never out of place in Christian teaching.” It is never out of place because it is a way of putting the cross, the pattern of Christ’s sacrifice, at the very center of our daily lives. It is especially appropriate during the forty days of Lent. “If anyone would come after me,” said Jesus, “let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Let him deny himself–this is not just refraining from sin; nor practicing what earlier Christians called mortification, that action through the Holy Spirit of putting to death sin in the Christian’s life (Rom. 8:13; Col. 3:5): though certainly it includes this. Rather it is walking in the way of sacrificial obedience to Christ’s call. This includes at times giving up what one might rightly and legitimately use. As St. Paul writes “‘All things are lawful’ but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful but I will not be enslaved by anything.” (I Cor. 6:12-14; see also I Cor.10:23)

The Ash Wednesday liturgy includes self-denial, along with self-examination, prayer and fasting, as one of the disciplines for the observance of a holy Lent. Yet self-denial is rarely even mentioned these days within the Church. Is it any wonder in this increasingly indulgent society that it is not at the top of most lists or dimensions in Christian discipleship? To be sure this discipline, like the other spiritual disciplines can fall prey to a form of perfectionism which denies the grace and freedom we have in Christ; yet, nevertheless, when employed from grace and through God’s grace there is godly freedom, even delight, in these disciplines, especially the discipline of self-denial.

What is self-denial?Self-denial or the discipline of abstinence is refraining in some degree and for some time from what we generally regard as normal and legitimate desires. While fasting from food or drink can be subsumed under self-denial, it is usually treated as a distinct spiritual discipline. Often, self-denial can include refraining from TV, radio, IPod, Face book, one’s over fascination with news; practicing frugality in spending; simplicity (such as set aside a day to walk or ride the bus, use fewer gadgets); practicing silence (such as going a day or part of a day without speaking, not using the telephone/cell phone during certain hours, or checking emails, etc.); sacrifice (taking the farthest parking place and praying while you walk to the store, the Church or restaurant).

Why practice self-denial? Certainly not to achieve some spiritual one-upmanship, or supposed works-righteousness. There are two helpful reasons for practicing this discipline-one, is a negative movement, akin to mortification; the other a positive movement, and is for cultivation. The “negative” purpose is stated well by Dr. Dallas Willard. “The Christian denies himself in things lawful (or legitimate) because he is aware of his own weakness and liability to sin: he keeps himself from walking on the edge of a precipice.” He therein practices temperance. St. Paul writes, “Everyone that strives for mastery is temperate in all things.” It teaches the soul discipline; thereby we enable ourselves to be better able to stand in the time of testing or temptation. A positive reason for such self-denial, is described well by a Bishop of the Isle of Man, “those who deny themselves will be sure to find their strength increased, their affections raised, and their inward peace continually augmented.” I prefer to say it more simply, it enkindles love. For instance, the lover who makes some sacrifice for his sweetheart, or the parent who gives up some personal time for his son or daughter’s performance at the school concert does not find his love lessened by this self-denial or sacrifice. Quite the contrary, one’s affections are enkindled by such personal sacrifice. So it is with our self-denial for our Lord; it increases our affection for Him.

Self-denial is a discipline that God can use for strengthening your life with him. If you haven’t already embraced some Lenten discipline ask him to guide you in this. What normal or legitimate practice might you refrain from during this season? What divine-human cooperation might He lead you to embrace that his grace might prevail more fully? Many disciples have found that self-denial can be a delightful and godly refrain.

–(The Rt. Rev.) Mark Lawrence Is Bishop of South Carolina

The Cathedral of St. James will host a Eucharist and reception to honor the Bishop for this special occasion tonight at 7 p.m. Congratulations to him and the diocese.

I found an invitation to the event here.

Read it carefully and read it all.

The Diocese of Missouri’s standing committee granted consent, and president Jane Klieve offered brief thoughts on that decision in a message to the diocese released on March 2. The standing committee began discussing the matter in January, but postponed its decision until Feb. 23, she wrote.

“As a body, we consider both the importance of supporting/ratifying decisions made by our brothers and sisters in other dioceses and the impact of these decisions on The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion,” Klieve wrote. “While the vote was not easy, quickly taken, or unanimous, we voted to grant our consent to the election of the Rev. Mary Glasspool.”

The standing committee of Northern Indiana declined consent. In a Jan. 28 letter [PDF] to the Rt. Rev. Jon Bruno, Bishop of Los Angeles, the standing committee said it was not of one mind on sexuality questions, and explained its decision to deny consent…

Read it all.

An L.A. diocesan press release is here and an ENS article is there.

From here:

“In God the Lord whose word I praise,
In God I trust and will not be afraid.” (Ps. 56:10)

Dear Church family,

I received a call at 7am this morning from Eric Sohlgren, our attorney, notifying me that our petition to the US Supreme Court has been denied. The court does not give reasons for its denials.

This is well and truly the end of the legal road for us and I know some of you are disappointed that we will never recover our property and that this kind of injustice will continue in other legal battles across the country. We especially think of our sister churches, St. David’s, All Saints and St. James and the road before them. Do keep them and other sister churches further afield in your prayers.
I know others of you are relieved that the legal wrangling is over and we can be about the work of the Gospel unhindered. Or you may be feeling a mixture of both disappointment and relief, as am I. Where ever you are, know that we will continue to walk forward together and that our Lord is with us.

The other question that rises is what was that all about? I am not sure that is a helpful question. Rather, we need to remember why we did what we did as we continue to trust God with the outcome. So let me remind everyone the main reason we felt compelled to appeal. It was for the sake of our sister churches so that they wouldn’t have to experience the pain and loss of being evicted from dear and memory filled houses of worship. So that they would not suffer the same injustice that we have suffered at the hands of false shepherds in the leadership of the Episcopal Church. By the way, I say that without bitterness or anger. It is simply a fact. May the Lord have mercy upon them.

So remembering why we did what we did, and remembering that the vast majority of our legal costs have been funded as though manna from heaven, we are to rest in God’s good purposes for us. He will continue to prove himself to be utterly faithful.

Finally, I want to leave you with the psalm verse that spoke peace to me in my evening devotions last night:

“In God the Lord whose word I praise,
In God I trust and will not be afraid.” (Ps. 56:10)

You may find it helpful to continue to pray this until is settles deeply in your heart.

So ”˜forgetting what lies behind”¦ [let us] press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:13-14

–(The Rev.) Rob Holman is rector, St. Luke’s Anglican Church La Crescenta, California

The Rt. Rev. Gary R. Lillibridge, Bishop of West Texas, concentrated on the Anglican Covenant during his address to the diocese’s annual council. The council met Feb. 18-21 in Corpus Christi.

The bishop cited the 76th General Convention’s Resolution D020, which encouraged dioceses to the consider the Covenant “as a document to inform their understanding of and commitment to our common life in the Anglican Communion.”

“The Covenant will not, and indeed cannot, solve all of our problems. Nor was it designed to do so. We should not look at the Covenant in terms of a political victory or a political defeat,” the bishop said. “Many times in the world, particularly in political systems, if you can win the debate and get the votes, you claim victory. Of course in politics this may be true, but it’s usually only true until the next election. But this approach certainly does not serve the church well. Just think for a moment where all the lobbying, posturing, scheming, planning, debating and voting in the church has taken us up to now. I said a few years ago in my address that I’m not interested in winning. I’m interested in healing. I think this is what Jesus is interested in, and it continues to be my focus.”

Read it all.

We know what it means to be in a fragile and vulnerable vessel, caught in the storm. That is our Church out there, miles from shore, harassed by the wind and beaten by the waves. There is so much that is against us: a growing secularism that is indifferent, skeptical or hostile to all religious claims; the injustices and exclusions and daily disrespect directed at our brothers and sisters of color, at the disabled and at our gay brothers and lesbian sisters and other sexual minorities; those whose lives have been devastated by the ongoing economic turbulence, having lost jobs and homes; those caught up in violent conflicts and those cast down by earthquakes and other disasters; the poor and homeless and hungry and the least of those whom our Lord called members of his family (Matthew 25:31-46).

The institutional life and financial future of our congregations are also facing high seas and strong winds. Smaller and poorer churches are awash with life-threatening challenges of declining attendance, deteriorating buildings and diminished resources. The combination of clergy compensation and the expense of maintaining physical plants leaves little funding for education and outreach. In too many cases, even in more comfortable communities, vestries have found it necessary to reduce clergy compensation to part-time. Retrenchment is all around us and it is dispiriting, to say the least.

And here is another wave: we are two dioceses in decline, in the midst of a denomination in decline. A recent report noted that, of 110 dioceses in The Episcopal Church, only four are growing; none of them in our Province. Our losses in membership and in attendance are less precipitous than those in other parts of the Church, but that’s not a great rallying cry to mission, is it? Our work is to feed the sheep, not count them; but let us not live in denial that such losses are haunting. As Charles Fulton has written, “Resurrection follows death ”“ it does not follow denial.”

Read it all.

Asked at a press conference held on Feb 22, what prayers should be offered for South Carolina, Bishop Jefferts Schori said she “would hope that Episcopalians in South Carolina have a clear understanding” of the church’s polity and “not rely upon erroneous information.”

The focus on South Carolina arose from pleas to her office from distressed members of the diocese. “My understanding is that Episcopalians in South Carolina are concerned about those who have departed and are attempting to keep the Episcopal Church’s property,” she said.

Asked by CEN whether she was referring to the Anglican Communion Institute (ACI) as the source of this “erroneous information” the presiding bishop said that “Episcopalians, like many others, often seek information from the internet. They are looking at sources that are not peer reviewed, or rely on opinions. The representations on the theology of the church as a whole are inaccurate.”

The President of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church, Mrs. Bonnie Anderson added that there was an “influx of information coming from sources outside the official bodies” of the Episcopal Church.

Read it all.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s figures, Nevada has grown in population from 1,998,257 in 2000 to 2,643,085 in 2009. This represents a population growth of approximately 32.7%.

According to Episcopal Church statistics, the Diocese of Nevada went from Average Sunday Attendance (or ASA) of 2,338 in 1998 to 2,127 in 2008. This represents an ASA decline of about 9% over this ten year period.

In order to generate a pictorial chart of some Nevada diocesan statistics, please go [url=http://www.episcopalchurch.org/growth_60791_ENG_HTM.htm?menupage=50929]here[/url] and enter “Nevada” in the second line down under “Diocese” and then click on “View Diocese Chart” under the third line to the left.

Bishop Lawrence did raise questions about the appropriateness of a hostile legal probe occurring within his diocese, and noted that he has not heard from the Presiding Bishop regarding this probe.

But he also explained the deeper motivation of his decision to delay the diocese’s convention for three weeks: “This is not a time for precipitous action; nor is it a time for congregations or members to strike out in unilateral directions destructive to the common life and witness God has called us to make in the world and the Church.”

If this is a bishop willfully disregarding the rights of Episcopalians within his diocese, he has a strange way of showing it. No: What Bishop Lawrence is disregarding is the Presiding Bishop’s lawsuit-happy response to any congregation that votes itself out of affiliation with the Episcopal Church.

Read it all.

From here:

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Los Angeles reported Feb. 24 that within the last 50 days it has received 51 of the majority of 56 consents needed to the Dec. 5 election of the Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool as a bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Los Angeles.

Please note that this is ONLY the vote of the Standing Committees, not the vote of Bishops with jurisdiction. As I have said in numerous settings the first is a foregone conclusion, the only interesting thing is the second vote where it will be more interesting–KSH.

In 2010, I will also be putting together a special task force to review the issues that may arise from General Convention in 2012 and to create a strategy with a means of leading into the following Convention as opposed to reacting to it.

Such a strategy will help us navigate what is already a turbulent time, with a steady course. This will help us to live within a relationship of mutual affection for both the structures of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. Moreover, we must discover how we in the Diocese of Texas are going to move through these next few years together for the sake of the Gospel, Christ, all of God’s people, for justice and for peace, and for the mission of the Church. Let me be clear, we have got to learn to live together, how we discern the outward and visible signs of that life together, and the daily living out of Church, as our common work ”“ not only the work of your bishop.

We will be tempted by cynicism to say this work can’t be done; but the scripture reminds us of God’s desire to gather us all under his wing. We will be tempted by our ego to say we cannot work with the enemy; but the scripture tells us go with a friend to our brother and sister and be reconciled one to another before offering a sacrifice at the Lord’s Table.We will be tempted to say I have tried to speak but they will not hear, but we must be reminded of Christ’s model of listening first to the other. We will be tempted by our fear to say it’s just better if we don’t talk about it at all; but we know “to you all our hearts are open, all desires known, and no secrets are hid.”

Read it all.

You may find the links here from the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham this week.

In the mainline churches, which is what I know best, the political views leaders express are generally those of what could be called the ”˜foundation left’ ”” emotionally grounded in concern for the poor and development, historically linked to the ”˜new left’ mix of economic and social concerns as developed in the 1960’s, shaped by an atmosphere of privilege and entitlement that reflects the upper middle class background of the educated professionals who run these institutions. The social sins they deplore are those of the right: excessive focus on capitalism, too robust and unheeding a promotion of the American national and security interest abroad, insufficient care for the environment, failure to help the poor through government welfare programs, failure to support affirmative action, failure to celebrate and protect the unrestricted right of women to abort. I am of course speaking very generally here and there are lots of individual exceptions, but many of these folks are generally tolerant of theological differences and rigidly intolerant when it comes to political differences: they care nothing at all about doctrines like predestination but get very angry with people who disagree with them about issues like global warming or immigration reform. Theological heresy is a matter for courtesy and silence, but political heretics fill them with bile….

Let me nail some cyber-theses to the virtual door.

1. Nobody cares what you think while your tiny church is falling apart.

In a diocese not a thousand miles from my home in glamorous Queens, there once was a bishop whose long and public battle with alcoholism rendered him unable to carry out his duties. For years and years this diocese suffered under grievous mismanagement and its rotten condition was an open scandal widely discussed and lamented throughout the national church. Yet in the general shipwreck of his episcopacy, this bishop (or what remained of the diocesan machinery) somehow managed to get ”˜prophetic’ statements out on political causes of various kinds. So far as I know, none of these statements ever had any impact on anyone’s thinking anywhere on Planet Earth.

This poor bishop, now thankfully retired, was an extreme case, but why, exactly, would any sane person today pay attention to the political pronouncements of an Episcopal bishop? Episcopalians are a tiny minority of the population and the church long ago lost its social power and cachet. The Episcopal church today is in the worst condition it has been since the aftermath of the Revolution; its clergy has visibly failed to keep the church together or prevent its ongoing decline. I’m afraid that the penchant to make political pronouncements proceeds less from a true prophetic vocation than from a nostalgia for a time when it mattered what Episcopal bishops thought. In any case, there is nothing more ridiculous than a proprietor of a failing concern who officiously lectures everyone else on how to manage their affairs. Please, for the sake of what remains of the dignity of your office, give it a rest….

Read it all.

In [Peter] Beckwith’s absence, the diocese’s standing committee, made up of four clergy members and four lay people, will carry on day-to-day activities, according to the Venerable Shawn Denney, the diocesan archdeacon. The standing committee has also begun the election process, with guidelines and nomination forms going out last week.

A nominating synod will whittle the list to four or five candidates, who will meet with clergy and church members at several locales in the diocese. An electing synod, made up of clergy and lay delegates from the various congregations, is scheduled to convene in mid-September to finalize the choice.

The candidate is then put on the national stage, to the bishops and dioceses’ standing committees.

Carlinville’s Bettman said he hopes the diocese doesn’t get a re-play of what happened in the Diocese of South Carolina in 2007. The electing synod’s first vote to name the Right Rev. Mark Lawrence, a conservative, was declared void. Lawrence was subsequently re-elected, approved and consecrated bishop in 2008.

“It’s hard to come up with a majority sometimes,” said Bettman. “It’s not necessarily an easy thing to do. “People have deep-held beliefs (about their candidates.)”

Denney said the timeline is realistic and that the process is not being rushed.

“We have everything lined up,” he said. “There’s no reason the selection of the bishop can’t take place.”

Read it all.

The diocese revoked the affiliation because the school’s board of trustees includes some of St. Paul’s major financial backers who have influence in the school’s direction.

The switch to what the diocese calls a patron-controlled model “disregards generally accepted practices for a school of this kind.”

Ten of 17 board members resigned over the issue, including Craig Anderson, bishop and representative of the diocese, and Jonathan Weldon, priest-in-charge of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

“Because this new direction is inconsistent with the identity, heritage and core values of the current school and because opposing the financial backers presents unacceptable financial risks to the school, we must resign our trusteeship,” stated a resignation letter signed by all 10 members.

Sadler disagrees with their view, saying the board will still be independent and include parent and teacher representatives, as well as others. There will be a change to the board’s bylaws, however, removing the bishop designee and priest.

Read it all.

Matthew Syed’s recent reflection on the extent to which Britain should exploit home advantage for the 2012 Olympics to maximize Team GB’s medal haul, made me wonder what Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic movement, would have thought about it all.

In a strategy called “Own the Podium” Canada made all the Olympic venues freely available to the Canadian team for practice but restricted access by other countries. The aim, of course, is to exploit home advantage to the max and so increase their medal tally.

The book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclestiastes 1:9). There was accusation of home bias in the 1908 Olympics in London, being manifested in a string of protests by American team against rulings by the British officials.

Read the whole article.

[Presiding Bishop Katharine] Jefferts Schori concluded her remarks by telling council members that “things are heating up in South Carolina.”

She noted that Diocese of South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence has delayed the diocese’s annual convention and attributed the delay “supposedly to my incursions in South Carolina.”

“He’s telling the world that he is offended that I think it’s important that people who want to stay Episcopalians there have some representation on behalf of the larger church,” she said, asking for the council’s prayers for the people of the diocese.

In a Feb. 9 letter to the diocese Lawrence said that the convention would be delayed from March 4-5 to March 26 in order for him, the diocesan standing committee and the diocese “to adequately consider a response” to what he called an “unjust intrusion into the spiritual and jurisdictional affairs of this sovereign diocese of the Episcopal Church.”

Read it all.

You and I are no strangers to fear, frustration, confusion or embarrassment. We know that fear can leave us unable to move, that frustration and confusion can blind us and make us lose our way, and that shame will eat us up. It’s hard for us to make progress when we feel like the wind’s been taken out of our sails, when it seems like we don’t know who we are anymore, when all we want to do is hide.

Yes, I am talking about the Church; thank you for wondering. Yes, I am talking about our beloved Episcopal Church, embroiled in and paralyzed by the Great Controversy of the Day. Most of us are confused, all of us are frustrated, many of us are afraid, some are even embarrassed. How can we sing the Lord’s song, how can we share the great Good News of the love of God in Jesus Christ, when we are confused, frustrated, fearful or ashamed? Nobody likes to be embarrassed.

Maybe one place to find an answer is in the story of Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, and then found that it wasn’t about what he had to lose, but what he had to gain. Our hope, the hope we share with one another in a wide variety of theological assumptions and preferences, is that we are most fully who we are when we come together in God’s call to us in Christ.

We are not called to uncomplicated certainty; we are not called to hold opinions because they are shared by all or because they protect the status quo. You and I are called to truth, even when it’s complicated, even when it’s inconvenient, even when our neighbors don’t understand or approve. Because what Nicodemus saw and heard in Jesus is also offered to us and through us: love without conditions, redemption beyond our deserving, the invitation to put ourselves aside in His love and service ”“ Amazing Grace.

Read it all.

The Rev. Canon Diane Jardine Bruce has received the necessary consents to her election as seventh bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Los Angeles, officials have confirmed.

Meanwhile, Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction continue to provide their consents to the election of the Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool as the diocese’s eighth bishop suffragan.

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Los Angeles — offering its weekly update of consents received from counterpart Standing Committees in 109 other dioceses of the Episcopal Church — said on Feb. 17 that in the past 43 days, of the 56 total votes needed, Bruce has received 56, and Glasspool, 45.

Read it all.

Meanwhile, the Diocese of South Carolina’s former chancellor, Thomas T. Tisdale, has sent a series of letters to its current chancellor, Wade H. Logan III, regarding four other parishes, some of which have distanced themselves from the Episcopal Church.

In the letters, which he began sending on Jan. 25, Tisdale identified himself as “South Carolina counsel for the Episcopal Church.” Bishop Lawrence challenged this description in an open letter to the diocese on Feb. 9 [PDF].

“He may be an attorney retained by the Chancellor for the Presiding Bishop, but it is hardly accurate in regards to the polity of this Church to claim to be an attorney of The Episcopal Church, as if the parishes, Standing Committee, and Bishop of South Carolina are somehow something other than The Episcopal Church,” the bishop wrote.

Read it all.

A time to reflect, to make personal sacrifices, to add discipline to life and to help others in need ”¦ all are goals of the Lenten season, which gets under way today.

Lent is a 40-day period in the Christian religion that leads from Ash Wednesday to Easter, which this year is on April 4. Local religious leaders will encourage followers in the next few weeks to practice self-discipline and engage in prayerful thought.

“We’re in a time of an economic crisis, two wars and much stress,” said Bishop Christopher Epting of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Davenport. “I’ll remind the congregation of their own spiritual basics, alms-giving responsibilities, and the need to fast to remind themselves of people in need.”

Read it all.

While the CoE debate was in some ways a proxy fight between TEC and AC-NA, conservatives still within the denomination received a jarring message when Lawrence announced an emergency postponement of the diocese’s annual convention, stating that “the Presiding Bishop’s Chancellor, if not the Presiding Bishop herself, is seeking to build a case against the Ecclesiastical Authorities of the Diocese (Bishop and Standing Committee) and some of our parishes.”

According to Lawrence, the Chancellor of the diocese was informed in December of 2009 that a local attorney had been retained by the Chancellor of the Presiding Bishop to represent The Episcopal Church in some “local matters.”

The following month, a series of letters requesting documents from diocesan records were sent to the South Carolina chancellor. Requested records included lists of all persons ordained since October 24, 2009, all parish bylaws and amendments since 2006; all Standing Committee Minutes since the episcopacy of former South Carolina Bishop Salmon; parish charters, parish founding documents, parish deeds, parish mortgages, documents evidencing parish participation in diocesan programs and others.

Lawrence indicated the collection of information by the Presiding Bishop’s office was unprecedented, and vigorously asserted that he was the only bishop with canonical jurisdiction. In the Episcopal Church, the Presiding Bishop acts as a “first among equals,” not unlike the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Outside of actions by the General Convention, she does not hold authority over diocesan bishops as an Archbishop would.

Read it all.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s figures, Nebraska has grown in population from 1,711,263 in 2000 to 1,796,619 in 2009. This represents a population growth of approximately 4.75%.

According to Episcopal Church statistics, the Diocese of Nebraska went from Average Sunday Attendance (or ASA) of 4,078 in 1998 to 3,153 in 2008. This represents an ASA decline of about 23% over this ten year period.

A pictorial chart of some Nebraska diocesan statistics may be found here.

[Brian] Prior says he is impressed with the diversity of Minnesota congregations.

“Part of the beauty of this diocese is that inclusive nature of it whether you are talking about the ethnic diversity, the sexual orientation diversity or age diversity,” he said.

He’s looking forward to hearing from congregations around the state about how they can work together to help the church grow.

Read it all.

…[You]should appreciate the following points:

1. There is currently a decision by South Carolina’s highest court which holds that the Dennis Canon is not self-executing (i.e., no trust was created on any parish property in South Carolina when it was enacted — if indeed it ever was — in 1979).

2. The Episcopal Church (USA) did not see fit to request a review of that decision by the United States Supreme Court. Instead, its Presiding Bishop and her chancellor have left that function to the dissident parish members who lost their claim in that case to be the true vestry of All Saints Waccamaw.

3. Notwithstanding its failure to seek review of the adverse South Carolina decision, the Episcopal Church (USA) is apparently asking the Diocese for proof that it intends to enforce the Dennis Canon against certain parishes in the event that they try to leave.

4. The unspoken threat — which has caused Bishop Lawrence to postpone his diocesan convention while he plans a response to ECUSA’s provocations — is that if Bishop Lawrence fails to sue any departing parish under the Dennis Canon, he could be charged with “abandonment” in the same manner as was Bishop Duncan.

If this is a correct representation of what is going on in South Carolina, then I have to say that it boggles the mind….

Read it very carefully and read it all.

In a volley reminiscent of the firing of cannon at Fort Sumter in reverse, a Charleston lawyer under the direction of the Episcopal Church headquarters in New York City has fired a series of accusations of secession at the Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina and his flock. As a result the bishop has announced a three-week postponement of the 219th annual diocesan convention until March 26 to give him and his allies time to gather their forces.

Read it all.

I am writing to share with you my decision to give my consent for the consecration of the Rev. Mary Glasspool, bishop suffragan elect, in the Diocese of Los Angeles. What follows address both the considerations of my decision and also my interpretation of related Resolutions of The Episcopal Church, including C056 and D025 of the 2009 General Convention. In the consent process of an Episcopal election, the Church asks all bishops with jurisdiction and all Standing Committees to review the election process and discern the candidate’s suitability as a bishop for the entire Church. Only in a few cases are there questions about the suitability of a candidate or the election process. On such occasions, it has been my custom to inform the diocese of my conclusions.

Throughout her 30 years of ordained ministry, the Rev. Mary Glasspool has been faithful and consistent to the ministry, doctrine and teaching of the Episcopal Church. This includes her current ministry (since 2001) as Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of Maryland. In the one area where there is controversy, she has been unquestionably faithful to the spirit of the Church. I have known her for many years, and I have known her to be an excellent priest, pastor, administrator and servant of the church. What I have read of her writings, her preaching, her guidance of parishes in discernment for either deployment or congregational development of their mission has deeply impressed me. Her efforts in formal theological continuing education have reflected a desire to grow theologically as a leader in the Church. Her commitment to Jesus Christ has always been clearly expressed in her ministry. As I have been in discernment about consent for consecration, I have had extended conversation with bishops with whom she has served. It is their experience that she has been effective and well received by all clergy and parishes of her diocese, including those of decidedly conservative convictions. Canon Glasspool has been invited to lead vestry retreats and mutual ministry reviews in all parishes of the diocese. She has gained a common and mutual respect with all church leaders in her diocese.

Read it all.