In a letter last December, Lawrence said he had no plans to take the local diocese out of The Episcopal Church. On March 8, Lawrence reiterated his position to the Standing Committees of the Episcopal Church to assure the diocese’s continued membership in The Episcopal Church.
“I will heartily make the vows conforming ‘…to the doctrine, discipline, and worship’ of the Episcopal Church, as well as the trustworthiness of the Holy Scriptures. So to put it as clearly as I can, my intention is to remain in The Episcopal Church,” he wrote in the March letter.
The Very Rev. William McKeachie, dean of South Carolina, had called the decision to invalidate Lawrence’s election “the latest outrage from the national church.”