From The Living Church via the American Anglican Council:
Posted on: March 12, 2009
After a long and fruitless search for an opportunity to continue active ministry within The Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. David C. Bane, Bishop of Southern Virginia from 1998-2006, has “joyfully and gratefully” accepted an invitation from Archbishop Gregory Venables to be received as a bishop in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. He will serve in the Anglican Church of North America as an assisting bishop in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Long-simmering divisions in the Diocese of Southern Virginia culminated in Bishop Bane’s decision to resign in 2006. In a March 9 letter to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Bane said he believed that his “remaining as bishop would prevent the diocese from healing and moving forward as so much of the blame and animosity continued to be focused on me personally.” He said his decision to resign also was predicated on assurances that there would still be opportunities for him to exercise his vocation within The Episcopal Church. The Living Church received a copy of Bishop Bane’s letter.
Before he and his wife, Alice, relocated to the Diocese of East Carolina and joined an Episcopal parish near their new residence, Bishop Bane said he contacted that diocese’s bishop, the Rt. Rev. Clifton Daniel. He said he had to contact Bishop Daniel three times before he was able to arrange a meeting and that since then, Bishop Daniel has initiated no contact, nor has he returned his phone calls or letters. Bishop Daniel also has refused to include him on the clergy mailing list. Bishop Bane said he learned second hand that Bishop Daniel had intervened to remove his name from consideration as an interim at a nearby parish.
“I assume that Bishop Daniel does not trust me nor see me as a helpful colleague, but that is a guess at this point as I have not heard from him,” Bishop Bane wrote. Bishop Daniel was en route to the House of Bishops’ spring retreat and was unavailable to comment, according to a member of the diocese’s staff.
Bishop Bane also said that he wrote 35 bishops he considered to be friends and colleagues. “Once again, I indicated my interest in doing some kind of ministry to support them,” he said. “I received one response thanking me for the letter and wishing me well.
“While I realize that this could be seen as a list of complaints, I want to be clear that I am not angry and have no sense of being a ‘victim’,” he wrote to the Presiding Bishop. “All of the people I have mentioned have the perfect right to decide for themselves what they wish to do and not do and with whom they want to work. I accept that, and harbor no animosity toward any of them, although I do regret the lack of honest and direct communication which I have found to be so prevalent in The Episcopal Church.
“I will say that Alice and I have been completely baffled by the total lack of care or support of any kind from anyone in the church we have served in for 25 years,” he noted.
Bishop Bane said that he tried to accept the fact that his active service in the ordained ministry might be over, but still felt called to proclaim the gospel and celebrate Holy Eucharist. He continued to hope that an opportunity for him to continue his ordained ministry within The Episcopal Church would emerge until he participated in the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith IV as Bishop of Southern Virginia last month. Bishop Bane said that he felt like a “pariah” and that people he had considered long-time friends and colleagues “refused even to look me in the eye.”
Bishop Bane said he is at peace with his decision to leave and he accepts that he is no longer welcome to serve as a bishop in The Episcopal Church, “but [I] cannot accept that this also means God’s call to me to serve the gospel is therefore null and void.”
Steve Waring
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