Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence told his diocese Oct. 5 that “serious charges” have been made that he has abandoned the Episcopal Church.
The allegations are being investigated by the church’s Disciplinary Board for Bishops. Communicants in the Diocese of South Carolina filed the information with the board, according to the Rt. Rev. Dorsey Henderson, board president. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the House of Bishops were not involved in making the claims, Henderson said in a fact sheet.
The ENS story states that:
“[i]Under Title IV, Canon 16, a bishop is deemed to have abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church by an open renunciation of the doctrine, discipline or worship of the church; by formal admission into any religious body not in communion with the church; or by exercising episcopal acts in and for a religious body other than the church or another church in communion with the church[/i].”
I am having a very hard time trying to fit the allegations listed in the Rt. Rev. Henderson’s letter to Bishop Lawrence into any of the categories enumerated in the Canon.
Can someone help me?
Moheb, It can’t be done as Bishop Lawrence has not abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church by any of these means. These allegations are just a formality. Under the new Title IV canons, the process works very differently and deposing a bishop can happen very quickly which it probably will. Sadly a process with due process and other protections of civil rights has been replaced by a process in which very few people get to meet and decide very quickly the consequences of the “allegations”. Can you say inquisition? witch hunt?