Bishop Lawrence Out of the TEC

[rhartsc]

See below for a link to information from the new transitional diocese formed by the Presiding Bishop, since the Diocese of South Carolina has left TEC. Note that Bishop Lawrence had been implored to return by the Bishop of Springfield (one of his allies in the Hoise of Bishops) and by the Presiding Bishop.

The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina - Home

The Bishop Lawrence convention will take place tomorrow. I would note that the newspaper ad asking everyone to attend was signed by less than half of the rectors of the diocese.

If I attend church this weekend (likely), I will travel to a South Carolina TEC church.

I'll be down in the Hilton Head area in about 5 weeks to visit family. Who knows we may end up worshiping together.

 

[mark46]

AFTER THE TEC CLERGY MEETING AND THE BISHOP LAWRENCE CONVENTION
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slightly fewer that 50 parishes to go with Bishop Lawrence
18 to stay in TEC
7-10 unsure
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Obviously, there will be many parishioners moving from their parishes to other parishes, or other churches, or simply dropping out of church for awhile.

Also, there will priests who wish to do something different than their parishes, in which case they will need to move to another parish.

Another nagging problem is that some parishes will lose enough members as to endanger the viability of the parish. I would suspect that both the Presiding Bishop and Bishop Lawrence will try to keep this from happening.

SC Episcopalians
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As for my family, we will attend a new parish tomorrow.

 

[mark46]

The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina - Home

It is now official. Bishop Lawrence has said so many times that he is not part of the Episcopal Church. The presiding Bishop has completed the process.

I guess that there are now 7 Anglican/Episcopal bishops in coastal South Carolina.

In the end, I understand what the Bishop has done. He could no longer be a bishop in the Episcopal Church. Many of the parishes were leaving.

In any case, without the leadership of Bishop Lawrence, there would be months of parishes choosing which bishop to follow. Bishop Lawrence made it easy for them, especially the Anglo-Catholics among us. The bishop IS the Church. Bishop Lawrence STRONGLY believes in the Anglican Communion, but there were relatively few parishes that would have stayed. In any case, these parishes will have a new bishop, perhaps even the BTEC Bishop of South Carolina.

The Anglican Communion has reached out to the Presiding Bishop and to Bishop Lawrence. There is no near term solution. After the Communion has failed in its reconciliation efforts, as likely they will, Bishop Lawrence will decide the next step for the diocese, likely joining his very close friends in ACNA. However, this could be a couple of years off. The ball is clearly in the court of the Anglican Communion.

Perhaps the Communion will eventually be forced to accept the reality of two provinces in the US. I see no other long term solution. The only other solution is to kick TEC out of the Communion over the sole issue of the definition of the sacrament of marriage. I don't see that happening for several reasons. After all, if the liberal majority in the US is kicked out, what of the Church of England. The unspoken issue is the amount of funds contributed by the liberal churches to the Communion and its provinces. GAFCON has boycotted meetings but remains conveniently cooperative in social and humanitarian efforts.

 

[MKJ]

The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina - Home

It is now official. Bishop Lawrence has said so many times that he is not part of the Episcopal Church. The presiding Bishop has completed the process.

I guess that there are now 7 Anglican/Episcopal bishops in coastal South Carolina.

In the end, I understand what the Bishop has done. He could no longer be a bishop in the Episcopal Church. Many of the parishes were leaving.

In any case, without the leadership of Bishop Lawrence, there would be months of parishes choosing which bishop to follow. Bishop Lawrence made it easy for them, especially the Anglo-Catholics among us. The bishop IS the Church. Bishop Lawrence STRONGLY believes in the Anglican Communion, but there were relatively few parishes that would have stayed. In any case, these parishes will have a new bishop, perhaps even the BTEC Bishop of South Carolina.

The Anglican Communion has reached out to the Presiding Bishop and to Bishop Lawrence. There is no near term solution. After the Communion has failed in its reconciliation efforts, as likely they will, Bishop Lawrence will decide the next step for the diocese, likely joining his very close friends in ACNA. However, this could be a couple of years off. The ball is clearly in the court of the Anglican Communion.

Perhaps the Communion will eventually be forced to accept the reality of two provinces in the US. I see no other long term solution. The only other solution is to kick TEC out of the Communion over the sole issue of the definition of the sacrament of marriage. I don't see that happening for several reasons. After all, if the liberal majority in the US is kicked out, what of the Church of England. The unspoken issue is the amount of funds contributed by the liberal churches to the Communion and its provinces. GAFCON has boycotted meetings but remains conveniently cooperative in social and humanitarian efforts.

I don't see how two provinces could be a long-term solution. That is, in the short term, impaired communion. If it lasts in the long term, it is a schism. You can call it what you want, but that is the meaning of a schism however we want to try and convince ourselves otherwise.

I think if a long-term solution exists, it will lie in another direction entirely.

 

[ebia]

Perhaps the Communion will eventually be forced to accept the reality of two provinces in the US. I see no other long term solution.

I suspect most the rest of the Communion is arriving at the conclusion that its neither its job nor competency to sort out the mess in N America and will get on with business usual, leaving things unresolved indefinitely.