As a final vote approaches on whether the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh should secede from the national church, local Episcopalians who want to remain part of the New York-based denomination are meeting to plan for their future.
“A Hopeful Future for the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh: An Alternative Solution” will present reasons for opting to stay in the Episcopal Church.
It will also present what may happen with property, a new diocesan government and other issues if Bishop Robert Duncan and most local Episcopalians change their allegiance to the theologically conservative Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, which covers six nations in southernmost South America. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
“A Hopeful Future” will take place at 1 p.m. Sept. 13 in St. Paul Episcopal Church, Mt. Lebanon.
On Oct. 4, the diocesan convention is expected to take the second of two votes required to attempt to secede from the Episcopal Church. In the first, taken in November, laity voted 118-58 and clergy voted 109-24 to leave the Episcopal Church.
The momentous vote in Pittsburgh will take place one month from today, on October 4th, so we won’t have to wait long to find out if the vote to withdraw from General Convention passes. Everyone, even among the oppostion, seems to expect it will. I certainly hope it does.
But I’m also glad that those who wish to remain in TEC are going about trying to organize themselves in as amicable and non-hostile a way as possible. Likewise the diocesan leaders, as typified by the quote from Peter Frank in this article, are also trying hard to make sure that the whole process is as healthy and gracious and non-coercive as it can be.
This is all admirable and commendable. I hope it proves contagious. I note that the organizer of the “Across the Aisle” gathering on Sept. 13th claims that at least some members in 29 of the 72 congregations in the diocese have shown interest in remaining in TEC and participating in this broad group. It’s significant that it includes clergy and laity who range from liberal to quite conservative. One of the latter is Fr. Jim Simons, widely respected by many of us because of his faithful leadership in the AAC from its beginnings in the mid 1990s.
I appreciated the reminder in the article of how the voting went last year. The breakdown went like this:
Among clergy, 118 favored leaving TEC, to 58 in favor of staying.
Among the laity, the ratio was an overwhelming 109 to 24 in favor of leaving. Among clergy that was a 2 to 1 margin; among laity, 4 to 1. Of course, now that the gravity of the situation is more clear, the vote may well be close a month from now, but I too expect it will pass handily, though not as overwhelmingly as in San Joaquin (or Ft. Worth).
But how the PB, +KJS will respond in this case remains to be seen. Since more conservative clergy and churches are staying behind, it will be much harder for her to try to create some phony rump diocese, as she is attempting in central CA. But time will tell.
Personally, I never count on the PB to do anything noble or honorable. In fact, I assume the opposite. I think she has no integrity whatsoever. She certainly seems often to act as if “the end justifies the means” (witness the notorious and scandalous attempts to depose bishops Cox and Schofield in March). But many of the leaders in Pittsburgh do have integrity (with the significant exception of Harold Lewis+, the infamous rector of influential Calvary Church in downtown Pittsburgh). And they will need all of that integrity and character in the future. The sterling virtues of local leaders like Jim Simons+ are probably going to be sorely tested in the travails of the difficult weeks and months to come. But this sort of amicable development is promising.
David Handy+
David,
Two minor corrections:
It was clergy who were 109 to 24, laity 118 to 58. A majority is required in each order.
Also: Calvary Church is in East Liberty, a tad over five miles as the crow flies from “downtown Pittsburgh.”
I very much agree with, and appreciate, your sentiments here, that we would pray for a spirit of charity and a gracious generosity in the difficult days ahead.
Bruce Robison
Bruce (#2),
Thanks for setting the record straight. I stand corrected, on both counts. I welcome the courteous tone of your corrections.
David Handy+