By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
9/18/2008
At precisely 3:15 pm today in Salt Lake City the Episcopal House of
Bishops voted to recommend to the Presiding Bishop that the godly Bishop
of Pittsburgh, The Rt. Rev. Bishop Duncan, be deposed under Canon IV.9
for "abandoning the Communion of the church".
The vote was more than two to one (87 to 36) in favor of his deposition.
A total of 128 bishops were present, 150 failed to appear. It will now
be up to Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori to announce the date of his
ecclesiastical execution.
The canons, however, require that 148 vote in favor. This did not
happen. The rules were violated to make sure that, one way or another,
Bishop Duncan would be found guilty.
"In spite of the sham deposition of Bishop Robert Duncan by the House of
Bishops, he remains the formidable leader of traditional Episcopalians
and loyal Anglicans in North America. Bishop Duncan continues to have
the respect of a majority of the primates and bishops of the entire
Anglican Communion, including the Archbishop of Canterbury," wrote
Network and Common Cause leaders.
It was an execution, a lynching, said a spokesman for the American
Anglican Council.
Ironically, Bishop Dorsey Henderson, president of the Title IV Review
Committee voted to depose Duncan and then later, after the vote,
reversed himself and voted no. Was it an attack of conscience?
One of the strongest statements came from the Bishop of Albany, the Rt.
Rev. William Love and his Standing Committee. They objected to the
misuse of the canon and the fact that all the bishops would not be there
and said a vote would be invalid. "There was no mention of deposition
proceedings referenced in the draft agenda for the September HOB Meeting
sent out on August 20, 2008," they said. The bishop then blasted Mrs.
Jefferts Schori and her litiginous ways.
"With each new attack, more fuel is thrown on the fire. The depositions
and lawsuits must stop. What type of example are we setting for our
children and the rest of the world? What are we saying about how
Episcopalians treat one another? Jesus commands us to love our enemy; to
love our neighbor as we love ourselves; to love one another as He loves
us. Clearly many in the Episcopal Church have not heard or listened to
His command, when it comes to the way we relate to one another within
TEC and the wider Anglican Communion."
Peter Frank, Pittsburgh Communications spokesman said the church has
thrown out a godly leader and it is not making an attractive case for
itself for a diocese to stay in TEC. If the bishops wanted to make
realignment a reality, they were going about it the right way. He
described the charges as "absurd."
Asked what the mood of the diocese was like, Frank said the mood was
sober and sad. "He (Duncan) has served The Episcopal Church for 30
years. We are hopeful for the future... it is not the end. The Diocese
will carry forward under the Standing Committee between now and until
Diocesan Convention. At convention we will vote on whether or not on
realignment and coming under another ecclesiastical authority."
WHO VOTED NO TO DEPOSITION
The following is a list of those who voted against the motion to depose
Bishop Duncan: Albany, Dallas, Western Kansas, Central Florida, SC,
Suffragan Bishop of Alabama, Tennessee, Southwest Florida, Easton, MD,
Montana, NJ, Milwaukee, Nthn. Indiana, OK, VA, RI, NW Texas, Eastern TN,
Mississippi. Louisiana and Western LA.
There is no appeal allowed but there may be civil litigation.
South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence challenged the use of Canon IV.9 on
substantive and procedural grounds saying that in regards to the
chair's ruling there was no need for inhibition prior to deposition.
There was no need to have three senior bishops certify the
facts for inhibition and no need for a majority vote of the HOB as
stated in the canons, he said.
The reason the HOB used Canon 4.9 is because there is no appeal. It is
an expedited process originally intended to go after those bishops who
openly renounce the doctrine and discipline of the TEC or abandon the
Anglican Communion altogether and those no longer in communion with the
Anglican Communion. That was not the case here.
Since 2004, over 100 clergy and bishops have been inhibited by The
Episcopal Church. Every time they have done so, The Episcopal Church has
torn the fabric of the Anglican Communion even deeper by effectively
saying they are not in communion with those Anglican provinces they have
fled to for protection.
Today’s illegal and unjust deposition of the Bishop of Pittsburgh
is one more tear, one more declaration of independence from the rest of
the Anglican Communion.
By this action today, TEC has ignored the American context of due
process and fair play. Justice is always resolved in favor of the
accused.
Instead, they used a disciplinary canon with no appeal and removed every
procedural safeguard and due process in order to justify their rush to
judgment.
Practically, it is easier to depose a bishop in the HOB than it is to
receive their resignation, said another bishop.
The PB can convene 68 bishops with jurisdiction and depose any sitting
bishop for any reason she wants. They have shredded the rule of law in
the Episcopal Church and made the HOB utterly lawless.
By brushing aside procedural challenges, the HOB rushed to judgment, and
performed an ecclesiastical lynching that will resound around the
Anglican Communion, giving the Global South Primates even more
ammunition in the armory as they approach the next Primates meeting.
The so-called "deposition of Bishop Duncan is illegal, unfair, and
unchristian, Said John H. Lewis, Jr. Duncan’s attorney.
"It is illegal because it violates numerous Canons of The Episcopal
Church because the Canons require that any vote to depose must have the
vote of the majority of Bishops entitled to vote. Here, the vote was
only by a majority of those present."
"It is unfair because Bishop Duncan was denied his fundamental right -
the right to a church trial. He has been denied that right because the
Presiding Bishop believes that his "deposition" will assist her in her
desire to seize the property of the Diocese of Pittsburgh."
Immediately after his deposition from the House of Bishops of The
Episcopal Church, Bishop Duncan was welcomed into the House of Bishops
of the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, according to Presiding
Bishop Gregory Venables.
"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 Venables said. "Neither the
Presiding Bishop nor the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church has
any further jurisdiction over his ministry. We pray for all Anglicans in
Pittsburgh as they consider their own relationship with The Episcopal
Church in the coming weeks."
"This is of course a very painful moment for Pittsburgh Episcopalians,"
said the Rev. David Wilson, president of the standing committee. "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 to intimidate us."
END
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