The Presiding Bishop

In 1943 the presiding bishop in office at that time [Henry St.G  Tucker] informed General Convention that he could not combine the  offices of diocesan bishop and presiding bishop.  It was immediately  arranged that he should resign from his diocese, but continue in  office as presiding bishop.  This is an arrangement without precedent,  and must be judged to be a very bad one.  Under the present system,  the presiding bishop of the Church is without jurisdiction and without  pastoral responsibility.  He [those were the good old days!] is almost  completely excluded from exercising any part of the episcopal office  except the consecration of other bishops.  It is to be hoped that the  American Church will recognize this anomalous situation is  undesirable, and will arrange the the presiding bishop should have, in  at least a limited form, genuinely episcopal responsibilities. -- The  Rt. Rev'd Stephen Neill. Anglicanism, Forth ed. (New York, Oxford  University Press, 1978), 286-287.

Hat Tip: The Rev. Drew Collins