ELECTION OF A BISHOP COADJUTOR,

ANGLICAN DIOCESE

OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

OCTOBER 16, 2021

_______________

CHARLES 'CHIP' EDGAR, III ELECTED BISHOP COADJUTOR, WILL BE II BISHOP OF ADSC

Oct. 16, 2021, 9:00 a.m. 

The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina is set to elect a bishop coadjutor today. He will succeed Bishop Mark Lawrence as the II bishop of the ADSC. 

The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina was created in 2012 when the majority of the clergy and laity of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina left the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of South Carolina. The new contingent declared itself to be a diocese and recognized Mark Lawrence as the bishop. It entered a lawsuit against the Episcopal Church for possession of the old diocese. It also joined the Anglican Church in North America, a new denomination set up in 2009 to keep non-celibate gays and women from full equality and inclusion in the life of the church. The ACNA, and the ADSC, are not in the Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury has said more than once he is not in communion with the ACNA.

The ACNA has a process of selecting new bishops different than that of the Episcopal Church. In TEC, women are allowed to be bishops; and bishops-elect must get majority approval of the bishops and the standing committees of the dioceses. The ACNA is a closed patriarchy. Only [heterosexual] men can be bishops. Moreover, a bishop-elect from a diocese must procure a two-thirds approval of the ACNA House of Bishops to be consecrated as a bishop. One-third plus one of the ACNA bishops can veto any bishop-elect. The laity of the ACNA have no input in affirming new bishops. At present, the bishops of ACNA number around 52.

For the rules of the voting in today's meeting, see here .

According to the rules, a parish may have 4 delegates but casts only 1 vote. A majority of the 4 will decide which candidate will get their one vote. If the delegation splits 2-2, there is no vote. As for a mission, it may have 2 delegates. They decide on their 1/2 vote. If they split 1-1, there will be no vote. For a candidate to win, he must get a concurrent majority in the Order of the Clergy (all clergy get one vote) and the Order of the Laity (parish=1 vote, mission=1/2 vote). 

The three candidates:

1---Edgar, Charles "Chip". Dean of the Cathedral Church of the Apostles, Columbia SC.

2---Sturdy, Robert "Rob." Anglican chaplain at the Citadel, Charleston.

3---Warner, Christopher "Chris." Rector, Holy Cross, Sullivans Island.

Edgar is in the ACNA Diocese of the Carolinas. Steve Wood, rector of St. Andrew's in Mt. Pleasant SC, is the bishop of that diocese. Sturdy and Warner are internal candidates.

The Livestream is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Find the link to the livestream here .

I shall return at 10:00 to make running commentary during the election process.

10:05 a.m.  Livestream on. Chatroom disabled.

Bishop Lawrence opens convention by thumbing his nose at the federal court. At the start he refers to the 2009 diocesan convention "as bishop in this diocese." He knows as well as anyone the federal court has a standing injunction against the ADSC from claiming to be in any way the pre-schism diocese. The ADSC did not exist before 2012.

Assembly is overwhelmingly white men (mostly older). Women in distinct minority. Few blacks (I count three). Clergy at altar all white men.

Hymn, "The Church's One Foundation." Really? How about the part "from schisms rent asunder...."? Are these people completely devoid of irony?

11:05 a.m. Livestream interrupted.

11:25 a.m. Livestream resumes.

Voting to begin soon. 87% of the local congregations present; 74 % of the clergy present. More than 2/3 necessary for quorum.

Chancellor announced the clergy would vote first and this will be announced to convention; then, laity will vote and this will be reported. Thus, the two orders will not vote at the same time.

Bishop from ACNA addresses convention. Repeatedly calls ACNA a "province" and says it is part of the Anglican Communion. It is unworthy of a Christian denomination to deliberately misinform and mislead its followers. ACNA is not a province of anything and not in the AC. It is an independent Christian denomination.

11:55 a.m. Voting about to begin. Clergy will vote first.

100 clergy present. Laity vote is total of 42.5.

FIRST BALLOT. CLERGY

Edgar-46

Sturdy-40

Warner-14

LAITY:

Edgar-15

Sturdy-17

Warner-8.5

Edgar is the leading choice among clergy and Sturdy is the leading choice among laity. Warner is far behind in both orders.

Break. Voting to resume at 12:36 p.m. It will be interesting to see if Warner withdraws.

A majority vote in Clergy Order is 51. Edgar needs 5 votes. A majority vote in Laity Order is 22. Sturdy needs 5 votes to reach this. There must be a concurrent majority in both houses. With different front runners, one order will have to bend to the other. 

The second ballot will show shifts, probably from Warner to the top two. 

SECOND BALLOT. CLERGY

Edgar-49

Sturdy-42

Warner-9

LAITY

Edgar-19.5

Sturdy-17

Warner-4

(Split=2)

No election  on 2nd Ballot. Most movement to Edgar. He now needs 2 more votes in Clergy Order and 2.5 in Laity Order to win election. 

WARNER WITHDRAWS.

Third Ballot to be between Edgar and Sturdy. Edgar in lead in both houses on 2nd Ballot.

Interesting to note Sturdy picked up no new votes on 2nd Ballot among the laity. The Laity Order moved to reflect the Clergy Order choices, choosing Edgar first. Edgar likely on cusp of election.

THIRD BALLOT. CLERGY

Edgar-55

Sturdy-44

LAITY

Edgar-23.5

Sturdy-18

EDGAR ELECTED BISHOP COADJUTOR!

Comments:

The clergy and lay delegates of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina have chosen an outsider to be their next bishop. They rejected the two internal candidates.

However, the diocese was split. At first, the majority of both clergy and laity did not choose the outsider. The majority voted for the insiders.

Edgar was the leading choice of the clergy but not the laity. The laity then moved to follow the lead of the clergy.

Choosing the dean of the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of the Carolinas may well foreshadow the union of the two dioceses, both in the ACNA. Steve Wood is bishop of the Diocese of the Carolinas. When Lawrence leaves, the ADSC may well merge into the Diocese of the Carolinas. 

Making Edgar the next bishop indicates both a dissatisfaction with the old diocesan leadership and a willingness to give up the identity as the old diocese of South Carolina. This makes sense if the ADSC loses in the state supreme court and winds up with just 6 local parishes. It will almost certainly lose its appeal in the federal court and lose forever its claim to be the historic diocese of South Carolina. If ADSC loses in both the SCSC and the federal court, it would be wise to merge with another body. Today's election suggests that. This would be an indictment of the choices the diocesan leaders made in 2012 when they broke up the old diocese and went to legal war. It did not turn out well for them.  

It is too soon to jump to conclusions about these possibilities. But, today's election is a powerful sign that the resolution of the schism is closer than ever. 

Now, it is on to the SC Supreme Court for its decision on the local properties.