22 OCTOBER - NOTES

It is Monday, October 22. Everyone is anxiously awaiting word from Judge Edgar Dickson of an imminent hearing, or conference, in his courtroom, in Orangeburg. In early September, he told the lawyers of the two sides that he expected to hold a courtroom meeting with them during the weeks of October 22 or 29. As of this moment, 8:30 a.m., Oct. 22, Dickson has not announced a date and time for the conference. As I understand it, Dickson will inform the lawyers first and the lawyers will inform the rest of us. I will relay the news on this blog as soon as I receive it.

The news from Dickson has been scant. We know very little about how he intends to proceed. The few hints he has dropped are mixed. On one hand, he pointed out that the state supreme court order of Remittitur (Nov. 17, 2017) was a simple sentence that gave no direction on how to implement the decision, something rather unusual. On the other hand, he said he wanted to wrap up this whole case expeditiously. To say the least, Dickson has big decisions to make. But then, that is his job.

The two sides are making radically different requests of him. The independent diocesan side (DSC) is asking him to set aside the state supreme court decision and decide the issues on his own. This primarily concerns control over the 29 parishes in question. The DSC lawyers said the SCSC decision was too conflicted and vague to be enforced. I think the chances Dickson will do this are the same as my winning the lottery. On the other hand, the Church side is asking Dickson to implement the SCSC decision, specifically by a Special Master and a financial accounting of the secessionist diocese. The other issue, the Betterments suit brought by DSC in November of 2017 is frivolous. I expect Dickson to discard this right away. In fact, DSC backed away from it from the start.

At this point, we are all left in the dark about what Dickson will do. We cannot even be sure he will hold a conference in the next two weeks. It is possible he will only announce a date for a conference at some future time. Likewise, we have no idea how he will approach the various motions on his desk. He has six in front of him, three from each side. He also has four subsequent sets of papers: 1-the "lists," 2-the responses to the lists, 3-the replies to the responses to the lists, and 4-the responses to the replies to the responses to the lists. He may choose to deal with all of this as one package, or he may choose to do it piecemeal.

Confused? You are not alone. If he is anything, Dickson is excruciatingly careful and deliberate. My theory is that he knows the importance and nature of this case and he is resolved to dispose of it very carefully. Everyone knows how the state supreme court treated Judge Diane Goodstein's handling of the matter. The justices ridiculed to death her conduct of the trial and her decision. Once it is all over, no one can say Dickson did not do his best as a judge.

So, all I can tell you at this point is to stay tuned. I will relay the news from Judge Dickson as soon as I receive it. It is a perfect day at my house, to be sunny, dry and 71 degrees. I am doing work in my garden (I need the garden and the garden needs me) but will check back often with my computer.



Meanwhile.....if you have not watched the video of TECSC's "Live Open Conversation" of Oct. 11, you should. At an hour and 5 minutes long, it answers questions about the reconciliation of the old diocese. Find it here .