BROTHERS CALL A BROTHER TO A MEETING

From Episcopal News Service:

The bishops of the Episcopal Church’s Province IV have asked their colleague, Diocese of South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence, to meet with them “to have a clarifying conversation” about his decision to issue property deeds to each diocesan congregation.

Diocese of East Carolina Bishop Clifton Daniels, provincial vice president, requested the meeting with Lawrence. He said in a letter to him that that bishops had “determined that it is our duty as bishops of this province to address these concerns in direct communication with you, as Jesus exhorts his followers in Matthew’s Gospel (18:15-20), and in accord with our ordination vows regarding the unity and governance of the church.”

He noted that “we have had no direct communication from you regarding these reported actions.”

Collegiality! It seems only right.

Daniels said that Lawrence’s fellow bishops discussed his action “with some concern” at the Nov. 29 – Dec. 1 meeting of the provincial House of Bishops. He told Lawrence that the other bishops want to know under what canonical authority he proceeded, whether he involved the diocesan Standing Committee, and whether the members of the Standing Committee were in accord with his action. Daniels also asked who signed the quitclaim deeds.

Daniels asked Lawrence to provide a sample copy of a deed and the letter of explanation that accompanied it.

The provincial bishops “respectfully request,” Daniels wrote, that Lawrence meet with several of them in Charleston, the seat of the South Carolina diocese, “or elsewhere if you desire.”

Bp. Lawrence said that the day after he issued the quitclaims to the parish properties was the first time that he felt like the bishop of the diocese, which seems rather strange to me. You'd think it would happen at his consecration. What has Mark Lawrence been all this time if not bishop of the diocese? Is issuing quitclaims to parish property now part of the process of becoming a bishop in the Episcopal Church?

If you don't like the rules, then make them up as you go along.

Matthew 18:15-20

‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’

H/T to Jim Naughton at The Lead.

MARTYRDOM POSTPONED FOR BISHOP MARK LAWRENCE

 

Click on the letter for the larger view.

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.

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 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.

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.