From Mark Harris at Preludium:
The Living Church has posted the letter from Bishop Henderson concerning the charges against Bishop Lawrence. The letter is dated November 22nd. Read it HERE.The headline on my post is mine, not Mark's. I agree the charges were not sufficient for the Disciplinary Board to conclude that Bp. Lawrence abandoned the Episcopal Church, Although, at times, the bishop seems to long to be a martyr, I'd rather the church did not make him one.
I am glad the specifics of those charges were not found sufficient. I too felt they fell short of the abandonment canon.
They did not include the matter of the quitclaim deeds, as those were issued only on November 15th and were not part of the charges first brought.
The quitclaim deeds which the bishop issued to the parishes in the diocese are another matter about which we shall wait and see what develops. Mark Harris' previous post to the announcement by the Disciplinary Board concerns the quitclaims.
PERFECT headline, Mimi. 1000 extra points for being absolutely on point.
ReplyDeleteYour headline cracked me up, Mimi.
ReplyDeleteWe are trying so diligently to be fair to the good Bishop. Meanwhile, he hands out quitclaims like they were candy bars. Soon there will be no "Episcopal Church" in SC for him to abandon.
I sure it will be a great comfort to the faithful Episcopalians in SC that we bent over backwards to be fair to Mark Lawrence--as they watch their parishes handed over to ACNA, AMiA, and God-only-knows-what-other-forms-of-alphabet-soup. (Or just plain, ol' congregational fundamentalism...)
Or maybe not. But the rest of us can pat ourselves on the back, sigh, and exclaim "But we did our best to give him the benefit of the doubt!"
Feh.
Doxy
I too, like the spot on headline! I laughed out loud.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for the quit claim to hit the fan. perhaps the good bishop will be standing directly in the air stream.
Thank you, my friends; I must tell you that I'm rather proud of the headline myself. Those were the first words that popped into my head when I read Mark Harris' post. What else could I think of the long-suffering and long-whining bishop?
ReplyDeleteMy heart aches for the faithful Episcopalians in the diocese, and no one can offer them more than cold comfort at the moment. Still, I believe that whenever the committee must decide, once again, (and I believe the time will come) whether Mark Lawrence has been true to the vows he made when he was consecrated bishop, the task must be done by the book so that the outcome will be just, with the bishop seen to be given every fair chance.
susan s., I laughed at your quitclaim-hit-the fan quip. It's gonna be smelly.
I sure it will be a great comfort to the faithful Episcopalians in SC that we bent over backwards to be fair to Mark Lawrence . . .
ReplyDeleteOh, Doxy! I'm trying soooo hard not to get started about being the white hats at others' expense.
To Be Continued...
ReplyDeleteMark--you and I share a deep frustration with liberals who believe in turning a blind eye to lies and schemes in an attempt to "keep everyone in the church."
ReplyDeleteBecause A) It never works, and B) It leaves people stranded in dioceses like SC, Albany, etc. twisting in the wind. I have a great deal of empathy for those in SC who brought their complaint to the Disciplinary Board. Their lives must be hell. THEY are the ones I worry about.
And the truth is that we are probably going to lose ALL of them, in the end. The fundagelicals will run headlong into the alphabet soup as soon as the ink on their quitclaim deeds is dry--and the outliers will probably just give up. I know all too well that constant battling is not good for one's spiritual health--at some point, you just decide to put down the burden and sleep in on Sunday.
And WE will be the ones responsible for that--because we worried more about looking "fair" to a bunch of people who will never, ever see us that way (and who will always take advantage of our generous impulses) than we did about faithful Episcopalians who needed our support.
The whole thing is a tragedy.
Yes, we will, and yes, it is.
ReplyDeleteBeing of a less pacifistic bent, I think of it as playing politics with an enemy for the cameras while abandoning your men in the field.
Sometimes, if you actually believe in something, you have to be willing to look like a bad guy. It makes me wonder what the leadership of our denomination actually believe in.
Mark and Doxy, I so understand where you're coming from. Maybe I'm getting old and tired of the fight.
ReplyDeletePart of it is that I'm on a mission to make it clear that Mark Lawrence is nothing more than a faux martyr, and maybe I'm on the wrong mission. Sometimes we are blinded by our biases.
And, whatever the powers decide, I don't see a good outcome for the diocese. Certain people will be satisfied with nothing less than the destruction of the Episcopal Church. That is their goal. Perhaps God has a better plan that is not yet revealed.