Reorganization Underway in Pittsburgh

From The Living Church:

Posted on: October 16, 2008

Following the Oct. 4 vote by convention deputies in the Diocese of Pittsburgh to realign with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, one standing committee member, the Rev. James B. Simons, rector of St. Michael’s, Ligonier, was removed by the majority.

Fr. Simons and two new members he appointed were subsequently recognized by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as the ecclesiastical authority and charged with reorganizing a diocese of The Episcopal Church in that region. (The constitution and canons of the diocese permits the standing committee to appoint new members to fill vacancies.)

Bishop Jefferts Schori also wrote the other seven members of the standing committee on Oct. 9. Citing Title 1, Canon 17, Section 8, she said that she no longer “recognize[d]” them as the ecclesiastical authority.

“Any person accepting any office in this Church shall well and faithfully perform the duties of that office in accordance with the constitution and canons of this church and of the diocese in which the office is being exercised,” the passage states. It does not identify who decides whether a person has failed in that capacity, or specify a procedure for determining whether a breach of fiduciary duty has occurred. This point was raised by the Rev. David Wilson, president of the standing committee of the continuing Diocese of Pittsburgh and rector of St. Paul’s, Kittanning. Fr. Wilson responded to Bishop Jefferts Schori on Oct. 16.

“The only reason we are the ecclesiastical authority for the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is because of your illegal ‘deposition’ of Bishop Robert W. Duncan,” Fr. Wilson said. “Your effort to take advantage of this illegal action by following it with a subsequent illegal action (i.e., seeking to ‘recognize’ members of a diocesan standing committee despite the fact that you have no jurisdiction or authority to do so) is wholly improper.”

The leadership of the continuing Diocese of Pittsburgh has been the defendant in a lawsuit first brought by the rector and wardens of Calvary Church, Pittsburgh in 2003. The matter was settled by a stipulation order of the court in 2005. The stipulation order noted that diocesan property, such as endowment accounts, but not necessarily parish property, would continue to be held by the “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America” whether or not any parishes or diocesan leaders vote to leave.

After the diocesan convention took a preliminary vote to realign last year, Calvary went back to court claiming the leadership had violated the stipulation order. The two sides agreed in June to an independent, court-appointed “special master,” who will review all diocesan financial records and make recommendations to the judge overseeing the case as to what property is covered by the stipulation order.

Unlike the Diocese of San Joaquin, whose convention voted to remove all reference to The Episcopal Church and join the Southern Cone last December, the Diocese of Pittsburgh successfully filed for incorporation with the state of Pennsylvania last June as the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. Both the continuing diocese and the reorganizing diocese (which lists 17 of the diocese’s 74 congregations) now claim that name.