The Very Rev. Philip C. Linder, dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, was suspended today by the new bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, apparently over a leadership dispute between Linder and the vestry of the downtown Columbia church.
Bishop W. Andrew Waldo issued the suspension after Linder violated ground rules for the mediation process, according to a statement circulated to lay leaders of the church.
Ah, for the days when the relationship between a rector and parish was regarded as being nearly as inviolable as marriage.
Fr Linder is a liberal, whom conservatives at the cathedral won’t miss. Perhaps his successor will be even more liberal. Perhaps not. He ran against Bp Waldo.
See:
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/?/sf/page/25106
Is the “statement circulated to lay leaders of the church” available?
Erg. Violating Pastoral Directives is fatal. One ought never do that unless one has a firmly established place to land in another jurisdiction.
Title IV, Canon 1, Section 1 (h):
(h) Any act which involves a violation of Ordination vows.
(1) If a Charge against a Priest or Deacon alleges an act or acts
which involve a violation of ordination vows and specifies
as the act that the Priest or Deacon has disobeyed or
disregarded a Pastoral Direction of the Bishop having
authority over such person, the Charge must be made by
the Bishop giving the Pastoral Direction or by the
Ecclesiastical Authority of that Diocese or by another
Bishop if the Bishop who issued the Pastoral Direction has
resigned, retired, died or is unable to act and shall set out
the Pastoral Direction alleged to have been disregarded or
disobeyed and wherein the disregard or failure to obey
constitutes a violation of ordination vows. Unless the
Charge by the Bishop and the Presentment by the Diocesan
Review Committee comply with the foregoing provisions,
no finding of a violation based on an act of disregarding a
Pastoral Direction of or failing to obey the Bishop having
authority over the person charged may be made.
(2) In order for the disregard or disobedience of a Pastoral
Direction to constitute a violation of ordination vows the
Pastoral Direction must have been a solemn warning to the
Priest or Deacon; it must have been in writing and set forth
clearly the reasons for the Pastoral Direction; it must have
been given in the capacity of the pastor, teacher and
canonical overseer of the Priest or Deacon; it must have
been neither capricious nor arbitrary in nature nor in any
way contrary to the Constitution and Canons of the
Church, both national and diocesan; and it must have been
directed to some matter which concerns the Doctrine,
Discipline or Worship of this Church or the manner of life
and behavior of the Priest or Deacon concerned. Upon
Trial under any such Presentment, the question of whether
the disregard or disobedience of the Pastoral Direction
specified constitutes a violation of ordination vows is a
matter of ultimate fact upon which testimony may be
offered.
I’ll be interested to learn how violation of “ground rules for the mediation process” conforms to the canonical restrictions listed above. To say that this is “directed to some matter which concerns the Doctrine, Discipline or Worship of this Church or the manner of life and behavior of the Priest or Deacon concerned” seems to me to stretch the meaning of these words beyond reasonable limits.
But we’ll see what the letter says and what the Dean’s response is.
subscribe