Episcopal Press and News
South Carolina Bishop-elect Mark Lawrence receives necessary consents
Episcopal News Service. October 29, 2007 [102907-02]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori announced October 29 that the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence had received the consents needed for him to become the next bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.
The consecration will be held January 26, 2008 at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke and St. Paul in Charleston, South Carolina.
Jefferts Schori has been invited to visit the diocese February 25-26, 2008. "This will give us an opportunity to state with clarity and charity the theological position of this diocese in a manner similar to when we met with [the] Most. Rev. Frank T. Griswold shortly after his installation as presiding bishop," the diocese says in a statement on its website.
The Rev. J. Haden McCormick, president of South Carolina's diocesan Standing Committee, said the diocese has received the news with much appreciation. "We're delighted and blessed, and look forward to pressing on with the mission of the church," he said. "The diocese is so convinced that Bishop-elect Mark is the man God is calling. He has his own unique gifts that he will bring to the diocese, which will become clear as God leads us forward."
Lawrence was re-elected as South Carolina's bishop on August 4 at a special electing convention held at St. James' Church on St. James Island, South Carolina. Lawrence was the only candidate in the election.
Under the canons the Episcopal Church (III.16.4 (a)), a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees had to consent to Lawrence's ordination as bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of the election.
Lawrence, 56, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Bakersfield, California, in the Diocese of San Joaquin, was first elected September 16, 2006 to be South Carolina's 14th bishop.
On March 15, Jefferts Schori declared that election "null and void," saying that a number of the consent responses did not adhere to canonical requirements and thus Lawrence's election did not receive the consent of the majority of diocesan standing committees.
Canonically adequate ballots were received by South Carolina from 50 diocesan standing committees of the 56 required. Lawrence's first election did receive the canonically required consent of the majority of Episcopal bishops with jurisdiction.
Episcopal Church canons, which govern the procedures for the election of bishops, call for consents to episcopal ordinations from standing committees to be "signed by a majority of all the members of the Committee. (III.11.4 (b))"
Further, the canon states (on pages 101-102) that standing committee members must sign in their own handwriting: "In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this (blank) day of (blank) in the year of our Lord (blank)."
Where the signature requirement had not been met by standing committees, the consent forms for Lawrence's first election were rejected for not complying with that part of the canon.
On June 9, clergy and lay delegates to the reconvened 2006 annual convention in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina overwhelmingly approved two measures to permit the diocese to suspend normal bylaws and convene a special electing convention.
South Carolina has been without a diocesan bishop since Salmon reached the mandatory retirement age of 72 (Article II, Section 9 of the Episcopal Church's Constitution) in January 2006. He has continued to serve as acting bishop at the invitation of the South Carolina Standing Committee.
In the weeks following Lawrence's September election, questions arose about his intentions concerning the diocese's continuing membership in the Episcopal Church. Some diocesan standing committees announced their intention not to consent, and some publicized their decisions.
During this consent round, at least one instance, a diocesan standing committee changed its mind. The Diocese of Kansas, which opposed Lawrence's consecration earlier, placed a statement on its website saying that it was now convinced "that it is his intention to remain in the Episcopal Church and has stated that he would heartily make the vows concerning the 'doctrine, discipline, and worship' of the Episcopal Church."
"We wish to thank Dean Lawrence for his willingness to discuss our concerns with him and for his responses to those concerns," the statement added.