Episcopal Press and News
SOUTH CAROLINA: Standing Committee announces plan to re-elect Lawrence
Episcopal News Service. April 18, 2007 [041807-03]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina decided April 17 to begin a process it hopes will lead to the re-election of the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence as its next bishop.
Lawrence, 56, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Parish, in Bakersfield, California, in the Diocese of San Joaquin, was elected on the first ballot September 16.
On March 15, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori declared Lawrence's election "null and void" due to problems with the form in which consents were submitted from several dioceses.
The Standing Committee's action April 17 will mean that the 216th annual meeting of the diocese, which had been recessed, will reconvene on June 9. At that time, the Standing Committee said it will ask the convention to "take the necessary steps to allow the calling of a special convention later in the summer for the purpose of again electing" Lawrence, according to a statement posted on the diocese's website.
"We are fully persuaded that the Holy Spirit spoke in [the September] election and we were reassured that a majority of both bishops and standing committee's intended to consent to this election," the Standing Committee's statement said. "We are determined to carry forward our diocesan mission within the context of the canons which give order to our common life."
"The law is the law and a rule is a rule so we will go at it again," the Rev. J. Haden McCormick, president of the Standing Committee, told the Associated Press (AP).
The diocese will take steps to make sure the consents are in on time and in proper form, McCormick told AP.
The canons of the Episcopal Church (III.11.4(a)) require that a majority of the bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees respond within 120 days of receiving notice of his or her election, consenting to the bishop-elect's ordination. In Lawrence's case, the requests were mailed November 9, making the 120-day period end on March 9. Consents were accepted until March 12 to take into account the movement of mail.
A majority of bishops with jurisdiction consented to Lawrence's election and canonically adequate ballots were received by South Carolina from 50 diocesan standing committees. Several other standing committees were reported to have consented, but no signatures were attached to their ballots, or the ballot itself was missing from South Carolina's records, Jefferts Schori reported. Any committee that did not respond is considered to have voted no.
"In the past, when consents to episcopal elections have been so closely contested, the diocese has been diligent in seeking to have canonically adequate ballots submitted, asking Standing Committees to resubmit their ballots when necessary," Jefferts Schori said. "It is certainly my hope that in future any diocese seeking consent to an election will use all possible effort to ensure that ballots are received in an appropriate form and in a timely manner."
At the time of Jefferts Schori's declaration, McCormick issued a statement saying "several dioceses, both on and off American soil, thought that electronic permission was sufficient as had been their past accepted practice. The canons which apply are III.11.4(b), pp. 101-102, in the newly published 2006 Constitutions and Canons that require the prescribed testimonial to the consent be signed by a majority of each standing committee."
In the weeks following Lawrence's election, questions arose about his intentions concerning the diocese's continuing membership in the Episcopal Church. Two affiliated groups issued statements of advice to the bishops and standing committees, and other individuals expressed concern either privately to Lawrence and the diocese or through postings on web sites.
Some diocesan standing committees announced their intention not to consent, and some publicized their decisions, including Bethlehem, Eastern Michigan, and Kansas.
Lawrence's consecration, previously scheduled for February 24, was postponed in January because of a delay in sending out the consent requests.
In early February, a letter, signed by McCormick, addressed questions about Lawrence's and the diocese's intentions to remain part of the Episcopal Church, the participation of Jefferts Schori in the South Carolina consecration, and concerns about the diocese's request for "alternative primatial oversight."
Lawrence twice clarified his positions after the election. In December, Lawrence sent a letter to standing committees and bishops in response to several inquiries about his stance on certain issues.
On March 8, toward the end of the consent process, Lawrence again wrote to the church's standing committees to clarify his position.
"I have been told that some diocesan Standing Committees have graciously offered to reconsider their denial of consent to my election as the XIV Bishop of South Carolina, if they only have assurance of my intention to remain in The Episcopal Church," he wrote. "Although I previously provided assurance of my intention, this has not been sufficient for some Standing Committees, which are earnestly seeking to make a godly discernment."
"As I stated at the walkabout in Charleston on September 9, 2006, and again in a statement written on 6 November 2006, I will make the vows of conformity as written in the Book of Common Prayer and the Constitution & Canons, (III.11.8). I will heartily make the vows conforming '…to the doctrine, discipline, and worship' of the Episcopal Church, as well as the trustworthiness of the Holy Scriptures. So to put it as clearly as I can, my intention is to remain in The Episcopal Church."
The 13th Bishop of South Carolina, Edward Salmon, turned 72 on January 30, 2006 and was required by the Episcopal Church's constitution Article II, Section 9 to resign. He has been serving as acting bishop.
The Diocese of South Carolina consists of about 29,630 Episcopalians worshipping in 75 congregations.