FIRE IN THE HOLE!!
Did you think Mark Lawrence was free and clear? Silly you:
December 5, 2011
The Right Reverend Mark Lawrence
The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina
126 Coming Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29413
Dear Mark,
I write to you following the regular annual meeting of the bishops of Province 4, gathered this year in Memphis,Tennessee. We missed you and understood your need to stay at home and close to your diocese.
The meeting covered a variety of topics: the Denominational Health Plan; the beginning of a search process for a new dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee; the upcoming Provincial Synod in June and the GeneralConvention in July; ministry to retired clergy and their families; Daughters of the King; a prison ministry networkin our province; ongoing concerns about the sin of racism in our world and church; and immigration, among other topics.
We also considered, with some concern, recent publicly reported actions regarding quitclaim deeds given to parishes in the Diocese of South Carolina. Since we have had no direct communication from you regardingthese reported actions, we determined that it is our duty as bishops of this province to address these concerns in direct communication with you, as Jesus exhorts his followers in Matthew’s Gospel (18:15-20), and in accord with our ordination vows regarding the unity and governance of the church. What we seek in the coming weeks is a face-to-face meeting with you and and a representative group of your fellow Bishops Diocesan of Province 4 in order to have a clarifying conversation and to address the concerns raised among us:
A. We have heard and read reports that you have given a quitclaim deed to each congregation in yourdiocese. Is this true? If this report is true, under what canonical authority did you proceed? Did you involve the Standing Committee and are the members of the Standing Committee in accord? Who signed the deeds? Would you provide a sample copy of a deed and the letter of explanation that accompanied it?
B. In order to better understand your action, the Bishops of Province 4 gathered in Memphis respectfully request that you meet with several of your fellow Provincial Bishops Diocesan in Charleston, or elsewhere if you desire, to discuss what has been noted above. We make this request in a spirit of collegiality and fellowship as well as out of concern for the people of the Diocese of South Carolina and concern for the well-being of The Episcopal Church.
I have contacted you earlier today by telephone and shared with you the content of this letter, as well as seeking a date in the very near future for our proposed meeting. I will send you an email and hard copy of the letter. I am also releasing this letter to Episcopal news organizations today after our conversation.
Faithfully yours,
Dan
Clifton Daniel, 3rd
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina
Vice President of Province 4 of The Episcopal Church
If you believe that this salvo isn’t coming from New York City and that Cliff Daniel (a member of the Presiding Bishop’s Council of Advice last I checked) is just a concerned bishop and that’s all, then ask yourself two questions.
How does the fact that Mark Lawrence wishes to take a Christian attitude toward South Carolina parishes affect the “collegiality and fellowship” of other Episcopal bishops who aren’t bishops of South Carolina? What business is it of the Bishop of East Carolina or anybody else how the Diocese of South Carolina orders its affairs?
UPDATE: Kendall Harmon, of all people, is disgusted.
That didn’t take long. So much for the Episcopal Church giving space….
Two notes.
First, this is pastorally destructive. Bishop Lawrence is trying to hold the diocese together and they have encouraged BOTH the people that want the Bishop gone as soon as possible AND those who want to leave now (or sooner) in one fell swoop. Thanks. Really helpful—NOT.
Second, it is dripping with hypocrisy. Quoting the bible? Oh my. And Matthew 18 even? Hmm. So did they follow the steps in Matthew 18…well, ur, no. They met and had a discussion about Bishop Lawrence without him present (would any of them want the same treatment), oops, Jesus doesn’t talk about that [and what’s with the prooftexting anyway..oh, never mind].
There is no doubt the answers to these questions are knowable via the public record anyway—why ask them in this hostile way?
A very sad display and another self-destructive step.
December 5, 2011
The Right Reverend Mark Lawrence
The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina
126 Coming Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29413
Dear Mark,
I write to you following the regular annual meeting of the bishops of Province 4, gathered this year in Memphis,Tennessee. We missed you and understood your need to stay at home and close to your diocese.
The meeting covered a variety of topics: the Denominational Health Plan; the beginning of a search process for a new dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee; the upcoming Provincial Synod in June and the GeneralConvention in July; ministry to retired clergy and their families; Daughters of the King; a prison ministry networkin our province; ongoing concerns about the sin of racism in our world and church; and immigration, among other topics.
We also considered, with some concern, recent publicly reported actions regarding quitclaim deeds given to parishes in the Diocese of South Carolina. Since we have had no direct communication from you regardingthese reported actions, we determined that it is our duty as bishops of this province to address these concerns in direct communication with you, as Jesus exhorts his followers in Matthew’s Gospel (18:15-20), and in accord with our ordination vows regarding the unity and governance of the church. What we seek in the coming weeks is a face-to-face meeting with you and and a representative group of your fellow Bishops Diocesan of Province 4 in order to have a clarifying conversation and to address the concerns raised among us:
A. We have heard and read reports that you have given a quitclaim deed to each congregation in yourdiocese. Is this true? If this report is true, under what canonical authority did you proceed? Did you involve the Standing Committee and are the members of the Standing Committee in accord? Who signed the deeds? Would you provide a sample copy of a deed and the letter of explanation that accompanied it?
B. In order to better understand your action, the Bishops of Province 4 gathered in Memphis respectfully request that you meet with several of your fellow Provincial Bishops Diocesan in Charleston, or elsewhere if you desire, to discuss what has been noted above. We make this request in a spirit of collegiality and fellowship as well as out of concern for the people of the Diocese of South Carolina and concern for the well-being of The Episcopal Church.
I have contacted you earlier today by telephone and shared with you the content of this letter, as well as seeking a date in the very near future for our proposed meeting. I will send you an email and hard copy of the letter. I am also releasing this letter to Episcopal news organizations today after our conversation.
Faithfully yours,
Dan
Clifton Daniel, 3rd
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina
Vice President of Province 4 of The Episcopal Church
If you believe that this salvo isn’t coming from New York City and that Cliff Daniel (a member of the Presiding Bishop’s Council of Advice last I checked) is just a concerned bishop and that’s all, then ask yourself two questions.
How does the fact that Mark Lawrence wishes to take a Christian attitude toward South Carolina parishes affect the “collegiality and fellowship” of other Episcopal bishops who aren’t bishops of South Carolina? What business is it of the Bishop of East Carolina or anybody else how the Diocese of South Carolina orders its affairs?
UPDATE: Kendall Harmon, of all people, is disgusted.
That didn’t take long. So much for the Episcopal Church giving space….
Two notes.
First, this is pastorally destructive. Bishop Lawrence is trying to hold the diocese together and they have encouraged BOTH the people that want the Bishop gone as soon as possible AND those who want to leave now (or sooner) in one fell swoop. Thanks. Really helpful—NOT.
Second, it is dripping with hypocrisy. Quoting the bible? Oh my. And Matthew 18 even? Hmm. So did they follow the steps in Matthew 18…well, ur, no. They met and had a discussion about Bishop Lawrence without him present (would any of them want the same treatment), oops, Jesus doesn’t talk about that [and what’s with the prooftexting anyway..oh, never mind].
There is no doubt the answers to these questions are knowable via the public record anyway—why ask them in this hostile way?
A very sad display and another self-destructive step.
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