From Religious Intelligence:
Bishop of Pittsburgh deposed by House of Bishops
Friday, 19th September 2008. 7:57am
By George Conger
The US House of Bishops has voted to depose the Bishop of Pittsburgh for “abandoning the Communion” of the Episcopal Church.
At a special session of the House of Bishops called to discuss the Lambeth Conference, the bishops voted 87 to 35, with four abstentions to defrock the Rt Rev Robert W Duncan, removing him from the ordained ministry for propounding the view that a diocese may withdraw from the Episcopal Church.
It is unclear, however, whether the Sept 18 vote will affect Bishop Duncan’s ministry in Pittsburgh, as the Province of the Southern Cone has received him into its House of Bishops and is prepared to welcome the diocese also, should it vote on Oct 4 at its annual convention to quit the Episcopal Church.
The deposition vote has been denounced by conservatives as an “ecclesiastical lynching,” while leaders of the moderate wing of the church have endorsed the “courageous” stand of the those bishops who voted to acquit, putting the rule of law above party political considerations.
However, US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori stated the bishops had worked “carefully and prayerfully to consider the weighty matter of Bishop Duncan. The conversation was holy, acknowledging the pain of our deliberations as well as the gratitude many have felt over the years for their relationships with, and the ministry of, Robert Duncan.”
Yet, the bishops believed that “his actions over recent months and years constitute ‘abandonment of ‘the communion of this church” and that he should be deposed,” the Presiding Bishop said after the vote.
Bishop James Mathes of San Diego noted that “today’s decision was difficult and emotional but a necessary action to care for the order of the Church, the people of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, and the collegiality of the House of Bishops.”
Western North Carolina Bishop Porter Taylor added that the decision had been “very difficult and came out of our deep love for our Church, a commitment to honour our ordination vows, and a desire to strengthen the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.”
However, the Rev Philip Ashey, president of the American Anglican Council, denounced the vote, saying Bishop Duncan’s “only crime” was to have “taught what the church has taught for 2,000 years.” He said the vote was “illegal, unjust” and an “ecclesiastical lynching.”
The business session devoted to the Duncan affair opened at 10:00 local time on the second day of the House of Bishops’ special session in Salt Lake City.
Meeting as a committee of the whole, the Rt Rev Stacy Sauls, Bishop of Lexington (Kentucky) and head of the Bishops ad hoc task force on property litigation laid out the charges against Bishop Duncan. On Sept 12 --- the day Bishop Schori announced she would try Bishop Duncan --- Bishop Sauls mailed each of the bishops a spiral-bound booklet detailing the charges and the evidence in support of the accusations.
Two separate groups of bishops, one composed of “centrist” bishops led by Peter Lee of Virginia the other by conservative bishops led by Peter Beckwith of Springfield (Illinois), submitted motions asking that a roll call vote be taken, placing the vote of each bishop on record.
Bishop Beckwith reported that South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence led the “floor fight” against the Presiding Bishop’s motion to depose Bishop Duncan, arguing that it violated canon law and due process, stating that giving five days notice of the hearing violated the House of Bishops rules of order.
Drawing on arguments raised by lawyer Mark McCall affiliated with the Anglican Communion Institute as well as by Bishop Duncan’s lawyer, John H Lewis, Jr, Bishop Lawrence argued the proceedings did not pass legal muster. The charges lacked specificity and were contradictory—asserting that the Pittsburgh bishop had left the church in one place, while claiming he was about to leave in another.
The canons required Bishop Duncan to be inhibited, or suspended from office, pending the hearing, but Bishop Schori was unable to convince the three senior bishops of the church, who must approve the suspension, to support her. Even though she was unable to achieve this necessary canonical step, she proceeded with the prosecution, interpreting the canons to resolve all ambiguities in her favour.
The canonical requirement for a majority of bishops — a threshold of 148 votes — to depose a bishop could not be met as less than that number were registered for the meeting, it was argued.
However, the majority of bishops did not find the arguments of Bishop Lawrence and the other supporters of Bishop Duncan persuasive, and by a voice vote, turned aside the objections.
A majority of bishops believed the materials presented by Bishop Sauls and the Presiding Bishop were persuasive. Bethlehem Bishop Paul Marshall wrote his diocese after the vote defending the vote’s legality and affirming his belief in Bishop Duncan’s guilt.
He argued that it was not possible to afford Bishop Duncan a trial on the charges, as those bringing the charges proceeded under the canons governing abandonment of communion. “We could act only on what the complainants in Pittsburgh laid before us,” he said.
Bishop Duncan had been invited to clear his name at the meeting. “He could have easily purged himself of his abandonment of communion, but chose not to,” he said, adding that Bishop Schori’s handling of the hearing had been “flawless. She allowed no space for anything vindictive or self-pitying, and kept us focused on our task,” Bishop Marshall said.
Breaking for noonday prayers and lunch at 11:30 the bishops returned to session at 2:00 and following closing remarks proceeded to take a roll call vote. According to Bishop Beckwith, 88 bishops voted to convict, 35 to acquit and four abstained.
After the vote was tallied, the Bishop of Upper South Carolina, the Rt Rev Dorsey Henderson — who chaired the Title IV committee that certified last year that Bishop Duncan had abandoned the Communion --- asked to change his vote and was marked in favour of acquittal.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Pittsburgh said the clergy were “sober” and in “somewhat of a sad mood” upon hearing the news. Bishop Duncan, who had been leading the diocese’s clergy retreat at the time of the vote, had the support of the people and clergy of the diocese, the Rev Peter Frank said.
“This is not the end,” he said. Pittsburgh will “carry forward under the authority of its Standing Committee.”
“This is of course a very painful moment for Pittsburgh Episcopalians. The leadership of the Episcopal Church has inserted itself in a most violent manner into the affairs and governance of our diocese. While we await the decision of the diocesan convention on realignment to a different province of the Anglican Communion, we will stand firm against any further attempts by those outside our boundaries intimidate us,” Standing Committee president the Rev David Wilson said.
Following the vote, the diocese released a statement saying Bishop Duncan had been received by the House of Bishops of the Province of the Southern Cone. “As was resolved by resolution made at the Provincial Synod in Valparaiso last November 2007, we are happy to welcome Bishop Duncan into the Province of the Southern Cone as a member of our House of Bishops, effective immediately,” Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina said, adding that “neither the Presiding Bishop nor the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church has any further jurisdiction over his ministry.”
Mr. Frank stated Bishop Duncan would not challenge the Sept 18 decision, though he continues to believe it to be unlawful. On Oct 4 the diocese will vote on seceding from the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church has “thrown out a godly leader,” Mr Frank said. “It is not making an attractive case for itself” for Pittsburgh to remain Episcopalian.
“With the passage of that constitutional change, the diocese will be free to welcome Bishop Duncan back as its bishop,” the diocese said in a statement released after the vote.
While the 2 to 1 vote to convict was decisive, the margin was less than many analysts predicted. Coupled with the expected international outrage --- the FCA primates council (formally known as the Gafcon primates council) will issue a statement of support for Bishop Duncan in the near future a spokesman told Religious Intelligence.com --- the 35 no votes may indicate trouble ahead for the presiding bishop.
The influential Anglican Communion Institute stated that it welcomed the “news that some 35 Bishops opposed the irregular proceedings undertaken by the Presiding Bishop in the recent House of Bishops meeting.”
“We reiterate our concern that The Episcopal Church remain faithful to its constitution and canons, and not isolate itself from the wider Anglican Communion,” Prof Christopher Seitz said.
The Communion Partner Plan (CPP) group --- a coalition of senior rectors and bishops working with a number of overseas primates who wish to remain within the Episcopal Church while conforming to the mind of the wider Anglican Communion, said it also welcomed the “news of a growing number of bishops who are leading the Episcopal Church toward a greater faithfulness to the constitutions and canons of the Church.”
CCP leader Dr Russell J Levenson, Jr, rector of St Martin’s Church in Houston --- one of the Episcopal Church’s largest parishes with a membership of over 7,000 --- said the 35 bishops who voted for acquittal had strengthened “our ties and relationship with the greater Anglican Communion,” and had kept the “great faith and witness of our forbears" amidst trying circumstances.
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