Another resolution proposed by the standing committee would add a diocesan canon that says the bishop \u201d\u201d or, in a bishop\u2019s absence, the standing committee \u201d\u201d is \u201cthe sole and final authority with respect to any dispute concerning the interpretation of the Constitution and Canons of this Diocese.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
A canonical revision, also proposed by the standing committee, grants the diocese\u2019s bishop (or standing committee) the authority to \u201cprovide a generous pastoral response to parishes in conflict with the Diocese or Province, as the Ecclesiastical Authority judges necessary, to preserve the unity and integrity of the Diocese.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
An explanatory note on that resolution says: \u201cWe\u2019ve experienced now as a diocese, in the All Saints, Pawleys Island litigation, the destructive force of such litigation; how it has created animosities and divisions that are not easily healed. It has failed as a positive cohesive force for maintaining the unity of the church and has in fact had precisely the opposite effect. Christians are suing Christians (1 Cor. 6:1-8); the reputation of the church is marred, and vital resources are diverted from essential Kingdom work. None of this is honoring to our Savior.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n