Another resolution proposed by the standing committee would add a diocesan canon that says the bishop ”” or, in a bishop’s absence, the standing committee ”” is “the sole and final authority with respect to any dispute concerning the interpretation of the Constitution and Canons of this Diocese.”
A canonical revision, also proposed by the standing committee, grants the diocese’s bishop (or standing committee) the authority to “provide a generous pastoral response to parishes in conflict with the Diocese or Province, as the Ecclesiastical Authority judges necessary, to preserve the unity and integrity of the Diocese.”
An explanatory note on that resolution says: “We’ve experienced now as a diocese, in the All Saints, Pawleys Island litigation, the destructive force of such litigation; how it has created animosities and divisions that are not easily healed. It has failed as a positive cohesive force for maintaining the unity of the church and has in fact had precisely the opposite effect. Christians are suing Christians (1 Cor. 6:1-8); the reputation of the church is marred, and vital resources are diverted from essential Kingdom work. None of this is honoring to our Savior.”
Of course these are morally good, prudent and deeply Gospel-oriented efforts.
Of course Bp Jefferts-Schori and her henchmen must now come and destroy them.
Somewhere, in the recesses or dark corners of an office at 815 2nd Avenue in New York, a shadowy figure is muttering: Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?
Fr. Darin Lovelace+
St. John’s Anglican
Park City, UT
Fr Darin,
I suspect those at 815 would love to do away with more than just on troublesome bishop. I am thinking that they would love to do away most of our parishes just so they could own all our property!
These resolutions will surely put us in the spotlight again. Sigh. Prayer needed for the upcoming convention. TIA.
Jane Dixon vs Christ Church, Akokeek got a Federal Court to decide just what the SC Resolution says, “the bishop — or, in a bishop’s absence, the standing committee — is “the sole and final authority with respect to any dispute concerning the interpretation of the Constitution and Canons of this Diocese.†And the Court added in that the bishop of a diocese is the sole interpreter of the ECUSA canons in his diocese, as well. So Mrs Schori is up the creek on this one. Heh heh.
Senior Priest, Thanks. That is very interesting indeed! can’t wait to see her paddle her canoe up the creek without a paddle.
Great comments so far, but I especially like Fr. Darin’s grimly whimsical allusion to Henry II and the notorious murder of ++Thomas Beckett back in 1170. Alas, Fr. Darin doesn’t seem to post as often now as he did when he was back in Iowa, but it’s good to see him chiming in here once again.
Like Senior Priest (#4), I admire the practical wisdom displayed in laying down the foundation for a possible legal defense with these savvy precautionary resolutions.
But I especially like that fourth resolution that our host, Kendall Harmon, apparently helped draft. As an ardent advocate of what I like to call “3-D Christianity” (but is more commonly known in Anglican circles as a “three streams, one river” approach), I rejoice in the ringing affirmation of the evangelical, catholic, and charismatic nature of Anglicanism at its best in their stated determination to uphold SC’s tradition as [i]”a gospel diocese, called to proclaim an evangelical faith, embodied in a catholic order, and empowered and transformed through the Holy Spirit.”[/i]
Fantastic! That’s 3-D Christianity all right. Although I myself would prefer to speak of a faith that is both evangelical and catholic, and not limit the catholic element to upholding the classic catholic order in liturgy and polity. But it made my day to see that fine profession of the full Christian faith and life. BRAVO!!
David Handy+
The fourth resolution is indeed well formed. I would like to see something like it adopted in the Diocese of Virginia and in the national church.