Whereas, by a vote taken on March 12, 2008, members of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church purported to take action deposing the Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield and the Rt. Rev. William J. Cox from the ministry of this Church, on the charge that, by affiliating with another Province of the Anglican Communion, they had “abandoned” the communion of this Church; and
Whereas, the process of deposition of a Bishop is an extraordinary one that must be approached in a prayerful manner with full cognizance of and respect for the procedural safeguards created to prevent the abuse of such a process; and
Whereas, the Canons mandate, as one safeguard, that such an action may only be taken by an extraordinary vote, that being “a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote” (Canon IV.9 (b)); and
Whereas, even if all Bishops registered at the March 2008 meeting had voted in favor of the depositions, that number would not have constituted “a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote”, as that number is defined in the first sentence of Article I.1.2 of the Constitution of the General Convention; and
Whereas, the members of the House gathered failed even to take a record of those voting in the affirmative on the issue of these depositions; and
Whereas, no reasoned explanation has been offered for the clearly non-canonical process that was followed; and
Whereas, prior failure to follow appropriate canonical procedure, as has been asserted, is not sufficient justification for these non-canonical actions; therefore
Be it resolved that the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Springfield joins the Dioceses of South Carolina and Western Louisiana in rejecting the purported depositions of Bishops Schofield and Cox; and further
Be it resolved that the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Springfield calls upon the Presiding Bishop, her staff and the House of Bishops to acknowledge publicly that the depositions of Bishops Schofield and Cox were not validly procured, and, should it be their desire to continue to seek depositions in these questionable circumstances, to revisit this issue at a future meeting of House of Bishops, conducting any further proceedings in accordance with the clear language of Canon.
–Approved and adopted, May 22, 2008
–Officially endorsed by The Rt. Rev Peter H. Beckwith, May 23, 2008
–Officially endorsed by Diocesan Council, May 23, 2008
The Springfield resolution says:
[blockquote]
Whereas, the Canons mandate, as one safeguard, that such an action may only be taken by an extraordinary vote, that being “a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote” (Canon IV.9 (b)); and Whereas, even if all Bishops registered at the March 2008 meeting had voted in favor of the depositions, that number would not have constituted “a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote”, as that number is defined in the first sentence of Article I.1.2 of the Constitution of the General Convention; …
[/blockquote]
I hate to be pharisaic, but there is no (b) part of Canon IV.9,
and there is no Article I.1.2 of the Constitution. Perhaps these
segments should be re-drafted to read “Canon IV.9.2” and “Article I.2”.
Correcting this error still won’t lead to my agreement with this interpretation of the C & C since:
1. Canon IV.9 requires that the vote be taken at a meeting of the HoB.
2. In order to be eligible to vote at a meeting of the HoB a bishop who “has vote” under Article I.2 of the Constitution must be present at the meeting.
Stabill-
Article I.2 does not say [blockquote] In order to be eligible to vote at a meeting of the HoB a bishop who “has vote†under Article I.2 of the Constitution must be present at the meeting [/blockquote] although, since Canon IV.9 requires the vote to be taken at a meeting, this is undoubtedly true.
Rather, Article I.2 requires a majority of all Bishops with vote to be present to constitute a quorum. It follows, therefore, that for depsition, if there were a bare quorum present, the vote of those present would need to be unanimous.
Schori and Company won’t pay the slightest bit of attention to what Pittsburgh says.