Monday, September 17, 2018





OLD SAINT ANDREW'S ACCEDED 
TO THE DENNIS CANON




St. Andrew's parish, of Charleston, also known as Old Saint Andrew's, acceded to the Dennis Canon. Here is the proof. Click on the image for an enlargement:




This is page one of five, of the Constitution and Canons of St. Andrew's parish as adopted by the vestry on December 5, 2010, more than two years before the purported separation from the Episcopal Church.

Note Article 1.  The first phrase states, "Saint Andrew's Parish Church in the Diocese of South Carolina accedes to and adopts the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America..." The Dennis Canon was one of the canons of the Episcopal Church having been adopted in 1979.

Thus, St. Andrew's parish explicitly acceded to the Dennis Canon. The document above is part of the public record. 

In spite of this clear proof, some people in the breakaway diocese have claimed for months that Old Saint Andrew's had not acceded to the Dennis Canon and was not one of the parishes to be returned to the Episcopal Church. Some have speculated that former chief justice Jean Toal made a mistake when she listed the seven parishes outside of TEC trust control and meant St. Andrew's of Mt. Pleasant to be OSA. 

I do not understand why anyone would make any claim that OSA did not accede to the Dennis Canon. The proof is clear and public. Moreover, the majority of justices agreed that once a parish gave accession to the Dennis Canon, it could not revoke that accession. 

At any rate, this is all probably a moot issue now since the one year time limit for a petition to the state supreme court for a change has expired. According to the SC Code of Laws, Rule 60, a party has one year to ask the court for a correction of an error. I know of no evidence that OSA petitioned the court for a correction of its decision of August 2, 2017.

It seems to me that Toal did not make an error and actually meant to leave OSA in the group of parishes to be returned to TEC.

It is disappointing that anyone in DSC would be telling the 500 communicants of OSA that their parish will not be returned to the authority of the Episcopal Church bishop. It is cruel to mislead the parishioners this way.

It seems to me that St. Andrew's parish, of West Ashley, Charleston, is now and has been a part of the Episcopal Church diocese. This is because the parish itself acceded to the canons of the Episcopal Church. It is just a matter of time before OSA returns the Episcopal Church flag to its rightful place in the church building.