Bishop von Rosenberg should take the time to read his Church’s Constitution and remember how and in what form the Episcopal Church came into being. The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America was organized [i]from the bottom up, and NOT from the top down,[/i] as is currently alleged by Schori and Company. Bishops were the ecclesiastical authority, and they answered to no one but themselves. Therefore, every diocese was independent from every other diocese, with all of them entering into an agreement that they would comprise a sort of “national church’ by being associated with, but independent of, each other. Now, no doubt the wording of the present constitution may be different, but unless General Convention has voted to toss out the old constitution, the Episcopal Churcch is only hierarchical at the diocese level. A really good attorney well-versed in canonical law should be able to prove that.
Bishop von Rosenberg should take the time to read his Church’s Constitution and remember how and in what form the Episcopal Church came into being. The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America was organized [i]from the bottom up, and NOT from the top down,[/i] as is currently alleged by Schori and Company. Bishops were the ecclesiastical authority, and they answered to no one but themselves. Therefore, every diocese was independent from every other diocese, with all of them entering into an agreement that they would comprise a sort of “national church’ by being associated with, but independent of, each other. Now, no doubt the wording of the present constitution may be different, but unless General Convention has voted to toss out the old constitution, the Episcopal Churcch is only hierarchical at the diocese level. A really good attorney well-versed in canonical law should be able to prove that.