The Diocese of South Carolina announced on Wednesday (Oct. 17) that it has disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church, escalating a long-running skirmish and setting the stage to become the fifth diocese to secede from the denomination.
South Carolina said the split was triggered by disciplinary action taken against Bishop Mark Lawrence, its conservative leader. The diocese passed a resolution on Oct. 2 stating that it would immediately secede should the Episcopal Church “discipline, impair, restrict, place on administrative leave, charge, derecognize” or otherwise inhibit the diocese or its leaders.
The RNS story saves a significant punch line for the end, noting (correctly) that the most notable change between the first time +Lawrence was charged with abandoning TEC (and was rightly found not guilty then by the DBB or Disciplilnary Board of Bishops) and this time was that the bishop had issued the quitclaim deeds to all his churches in the meantime. That’s the new charge, that third supposed offense against the Discipline of TEC, i.e., that he broke the all-important, Dennis Canon, which is to the warped minds at 815 and in the HoB “[i]the canon within the canons,[/i]” or the supreme principle that trumps all else and must be protected or asserted at all costs.
At least, that’s what the stark ending of the RNS story implies. And it is a very telling point.
It reminds me of the old canard that the venerable CoE would rather give up 38 of its 39 Articles than 1/39th of its income.
But since the SC Supreme Court ruling in the All Saints, Pawley’s Island case makes it extremely unlikely that TEC will actually gain control of the property or other assets of the DSC, and in fact since TEC stands to lose a ton of money by throwing it away on a doomed court case they can’t win, I think it is really blatantly obvious that this whole charade is not actually about the money after all. The truth is, it’s all about INTIMIDATION and CONTROL. There are none so illiberal as liberal social activists once they gain power in any institution, including the Church. Since TEC can’t win in the secular courts in SC, it seems abundantly clear to me that this whole Kangaroo Court affair is just a very thinly-veiled attempt to forestall other conservative bishops and dioceses from the example of DSC.
And I’m sure that this is not lost on the few faithful, godly, orthodox bishops still left in TEC, including my old bishop, +Love in Albany, or +Stanton in Dallas, or +Bauerschmidt in Nashville (TN), or Dan Martins in Springfield, or Greg Brewer in Orlando (CFL), etc. Come to think of it, the implied threat isn’t “thinly-veiled.” There really is no veil at all.
David Handy+