BREAKING NEWS,

PRESIDING BISHOP 
PARTIALLY RESTRICTS
BISHOP LOVE

News broke today that Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has placed a partial restriction on the Bishop of Albany, the Rt. Rev. William Love, and has referred him for possible disciplinary action. Last month Love informed his diocese that he was keeping in place his ban on same-sex marriage rites in the diocese of Albany in defiance of the 2018 General Convention's Resolution B012.

Curry announced today that he has taken three actions concerning Love (find Curry's document here ):

1-[Love] "is forbidden from participating in any manner in the Church's disciplinary process in the Diocese of Albany in any manner regarding any member of the clergy that involves the issue of same-sex marriage."

2-"Nor shall he [Love] participate in any other matter that has or may have the effect of penalizing in any way any member of the clergy or laity or worshipping congregation of his Diocese for their participation in the arrangements for or participation in a same-sex marriage in his Diocese or elsewhere."

3-"Bishop Love's conduct in this regard may constitute a canonical offense" (under the canons of the church) "and that conduct has been referred to the Rt. Rev. Todd Ousley, Bishop for Pastoral Development and Intake Officer for disciplinary matters involving bishops."

What this means in a nutshell is that Curry has trumped Love's rejection of B012 in the diocese of Albany, has opened up Albany to B012, and has referred Love to the proper officer for possible discipline.

Mary Frances Schjonberg of Episcopal News Service issued today a detailed and informative article about all of this, so I will not repeat what she says. Read her excellent report here .

The big question now is how the diocesan authorities in the diocese of Albany will react to Curry's actions of today. In the schism of South Carolina, the diocesan authorities (bishop, chancellor, standing committee) prepared ahead of time a secret plan to "disassociate" the diocese from the Episcopal Church if the national church took any action of any kind against Bishop Lawrence (who had recently flagrantly disregarded the Dennis Canon). Thus, when Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori telephoned Lawrence at noon on Monday, Oct. 15, 2012, and told him she was placing a restriction on him as per the canons of the church, Lawrence did not protest. He knew what this meant. Jefferts Schori did not know. As soon as he hung up the phone, he called the chancellor and standing committee and all agreed their secret plan of schism had been triggered. Two days later, on Oct. 17, the diocesan spokespersons announced to the world that the diocese had "disassociated" from the Episcopal Church.

Thus, the next few days will be crucial in the affairs of the diocese of Albany. If there is a secret plan there, as in SC, it will appear. Of course, they may be some other variety of work going on in preparation of a schism; or, there could be no preparation at all. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, this is a stunning development in Episcopal Church history. Times have changed since the case of SC in 2012. One may ask, what did not the national church take stronger action against Lawrence before the schism? I do not know of any documentary evidence that addresses this issue specifically. The reluctance, though, was, and remains, entirely obvious. We can only surmise from the events that the church gave the diocese of South Carolina great leeway in a vain attempt to prevent a fifth schism. It was appeasement; and like all appeasements was bound to fail. Appeasement only emboldens the aggressor. The SC diocesan authorities set a trap for the presiding bishop who blindly walked right into it. By the time she knew what hit her, the schism was an accomplished fact. So, perhaps Curry has learned a lesson. Instead of appeasing Love, he is snapping the trap on him first.

Stay tuned. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what happens next in the diocese of Albany. Will Love submit to the discipline of the church, or will he lead a march out of the church?