IN THE CROSSHAIRS

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

Wherever he and his family live in Charleston, I sincerely hope that South Carolina Episcopal Bishop Mark Lawrence is renting. Because his Episcopal episcopal career can now officially be measured in months and not too many of those:

Before I conclude these remarks I must inform you of one further development that has happened this week. One of the tasks of leadership is to make available as best as one is able not only the opportunities but also the challenges, and with both, the risks involved. I have spoken of many of the opportunities we have seized in just the last six months. I turn now to a real challenge and a grievous risk. On Tuesday evening of this week as Allison and I were driving home from Sewanee I received a phone call from a fellow bishop. He said that he and five other bishops had received an email earlier that evening from the Presiding Bishop. She was encouraging each of them to speak with me as “the apparent focus of this diocesan gathering does not bode well for [Mark’s] status as a bishop who has sworn to uphold the doctrine, discipline, and worship of this Church.” Perhaps she has forgotten it has not boded well for my status as a bishop since the first election. But frankly for me it has never been about my status— since that September morning in 2006 when Bishop Salmon called while I sat in a Board of Examining Chaplains meeting in Fresno, California to tell me I had been elected as the XIV Bishop of South Carolina it has been unswervingly about this diocese. It remains that to this day.

Well upon hearing of her email to these bishops I wrote directly to the Presiding Bishop on Wednesday morning addressing many of my concerns and reminding her of the concerns of this Convention; that she had been informed by certified mail of the resolution which expressed our expectation that she remove the attorney unconstitutionally retained within this diocese. I then wrote that after six months we had still not heard from her. While her email in response failed once again to address this concern, she did write of her fear about the havoc that she believes is likely to ensue if I keep on my present course. What she fails to address or I suppose to understand is the havoc that is likely to ensue if we depart from our present course. Thus while there is no absence of opportunities that come to us they come replete with a church filled with challenges. Several of those bishops who received the email have called me or sent me emails since that email was sent to them. More than a few of them said, “Mark, we need your voice in the house of bishops. We need the voice of South Carolina.” I said, “This is my voice. You need to understand. This is my voice.” So the question is, “Is there a place for a vigorously stated minority opinion in this church?” I believe it is also the voice of many of the people here in this Diocese of South Carolina. If you want our voice, then we’re giving it to you.

As always, Kendall Harmon is the go-to guy for details of the recently-reconvened diocesan convention and the resolutions it passed. But this is how Piskie Pravda covered the event.

Participants in the Diocese of South Carolina’s re-convened convention on Oct. 15 approved six resolutions that the diocese said represent “an essential element of how we protect the diocese from any attempt at unconstitutional intrusions into our corporate life in South Carolina.”

But not all the resolutions passed without dissension.

“It’s clear that these resolutions are an implicit intent to separate from the Episcopal Church, although the diocesan leadership all state that they have no such intention,” Rob Wendt, senior warden of Grace Church, Charleston, and a lay member of the diocesan convention, told ENS following the vote.

Asked what these resolutions will mean for loyal Episcopalians in the diocese, Wendt said: “It’s a wait-and-see approach. We’ve seen this coming, we’ve watched it develop … The split has occurred, but when will it become a de facto split? We’re just waiting so that we can move on.”

South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence reiterated to the convention that it was not his intention for the diocese to leave the Episcopal Church.

Lawrence said that he had been contacted by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to “warn him about taking these actions,” said Wendt, a North Charleston-based attorney. “That seemed to make a lot of members of the clergy more determined to vote defiantly on these resolutions.”

Jefferts Schori, in a statement e-mailed to ENS, said: “I grieve these actions, but I especially grieve Bishop Lawrence’s perception of my heartfelt concern for him and for the people of South Carolina as aggression. I don’t seek to change his faithfully held positions on human sexuality, nor do I seek to control the inner workings of the diocese. I do seek to repair damaged relationships and ensure that this church is broad enough to include many different sorts and conditions of people. South Carolina and its bishop continue in my prayers.”

And at the Jimi Naughton Experience, they’ve already trotted out the Civil War imagery both here (note the flag flying over Sumter; not a bad job, actually) and in this pseudo-historical laugher from San Diego Episco-douche Jim Mathes.

Here’s an idea, Jim. Nut up, find a good Confederate flag graphic and just run with it, okay? If the Naval Jack makes you uncomfortable, you can always use this flag. It’s from Missouri which means that it’s better than the other one is anyway.

What’s going to happen when Mrs. Schori drops the hammer? Don’t know. From all I’ve read and from what people have commented here from time to time, TEO might find a much frostier legal reception in the Palmetto State than they’ve been used to.