Countering Episcopal Church allegations that Bishop Mark Lawrence engineered the Diocese of South Carolina\u2019s withdrawal from The Episcopal Church (TEC), a witness for the denomination on Tuesday acknowledged that the bishop was committed to remaining part of the denomination.<\/p>\n
The Rev. Marshall Dow Sanderson of Holy Communion, Charleston, was called by TEC during the trial to protect the property of the diocese and its parishes from seizure by the national denomination. However, on cross examination, Sanderson admitted that Bishop Lawrence consistently sought to keep the Diocese intact within the national church before TEC attempted to remove him. He testified that, during a meeting of the clergy in 2009, Lawrence went so far as to coin the phrase \u201cIntact and In TEC\u201d\u009d.<\/p>\n
TEC has repeatedly suggested that Lawrence had engineered the diocese\u2019s withdrawal from the denomination over several years, conspiring with members of the clergy to separate from the national church. However, the \u201cIntact and In TEC\u201d\u009d slogan was used by Lawrence until the national church tried to remove him in 2012 \u201d\u201c as he was still trying to work out differences between the Diocese and the denomination.<\/p>\n