A LETTER TO THIS EDITOR,

3 JANUARY 2020

Dr. Caldwell,

Along with most of your other readers, I am wholly vexed by the South Carolina courts system's handling of the EDSC case. I dutifully check your blog daily and feel the same frustration that so little progress is being made. I let my imagination run wild and ponder the various "what ifs"...

What if...all the exiled members of one of the twenty-eight parishes were to show up on a Sunday morning, take to the pews, and refuse to leave? Don't they have the SCSC order to show that the property is by law theirs? What possibly could the squatters do? Call the sheriff and have them arrested? Would that fight lead to a court decision upholding the SCSC ruling?

What if...the Episcopal bishop and his legal team approach the SC Secretary of State who is responsible for all chartered corporations in the state, including the 1973-chartered "Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina, Inc. (non-profit)" which the courts (SCSC and Federal District) have ruled was improperly modified in 2012 by Lawrence and his followers? What would the Secretary of State's office do with the corporation in light of these rulings?

What if...the marketing team at the Episcopal diocese began a massive media campaign along the lines of "Don't be fooled, be authentic. Join a church as old as your state and in communion with millions of true Anglicans worldwide." Billboards, radio spots, online ads, paid television spots - all clarifying who EDSC really is and calling out the imposters as schismatics worth avoiding?

What if...good old fashioned protesters bearing signs stood outside any of the twenty-eight parishes, raising awareness for folks in passing vehicles and drawing media attention?

What if...with approval and guidance from the EDSC, exiled parishioners reform their vestries by electing new trustees and vestry members loyal to the Episcopal bishop? Being recognized by the bishop as the authentic leaders of the parishes now held by schismatics, couldn't they assert their power over their parish corporations and trusts?

What if...legislators - especially those in the low country facing re-election in such contentious times - compelled by the living witness of displaced Episcopalians exiled from their spiritual homes, were to bring resolutions to the floor of their respective houses addressing the impasse and reasserting through legislation the prior judicial rulings?

What if...loyal Episcopalians displaced by the continuing court battles spoke to their state legislators about the dire need for judicial reform, or even perhaps to state senators about the need to remove judges who fail to carry out the orders of the state Supreme Court?

If any of these ideas or ones like them were viable and authorized, then proactive Episcopalians could make a direct effort to implement and enforce the rulings that we believe have become the law of the land through the various court rulings. Wouldn't they also put the district judge on notice that Episcopalians are tired of waiting?

Peace and joy,

Israel J. Pattison

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First, a "thank you" to Mr. Pattison for this thoughtful letter. I am sure everyone will be spurred on to think of ways this sorry mess can be brought to a conclusion. Second, everyone on the Church side is exhausted and frustrated by the glacial pace of the legal war. The Episcopal Church has won a near total victory in the courtroom yet nothing has changed on the street. The schismatics are still in complete occupation of the historic diocesan and local properties with no sign of budging. This is not right. What to do about it is the problem.

There are two avenues of the litigation. On the federal front, the Episcopal Church has won a total victory. Yet, nothing has been done to put this into effect. I do not know what the Church lawyers are going to do about this. Right now, we have to wait for ADSC's appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals to play out. It is reasonable to assume the Court will finally deny the appeal within six months. After that, I see no reason why the Church side cannot take direct action to regain physical possession of the diocesan properties and other assets.

The state front is a bit more complicated. There the circuit court judge who was assigned the Remititur by the SCSC has refused to apply it. He has done nothing for two years and still shows no sign of implementing the decision. At this moment, he is supposed to be reacting to the two proposed orders on ADSC's Motion for Clarification of Jurisdiction. In my opinion, if he does not implement the SCSC decision within the next few months, the EDSC lawyers should go back to the SCSC for a writ of mandamus ordering him to carry out the remit. But once again, as in the federal aspect, we have to wait for several months for this to play out before the Church side should take action.

The original goal of the American Episcopalian reactionaries in the 1990's was to destroy or severely diminish the Episcopal Church in revenge for its radical liberation of women and gays. They have not destroyed the Church. They will not. However, they have done, and continue to do, a great deal of damage in  numerous ways to the Episcopal Church and nowhere is this more evident than in lower South Carolina, arguably, along with Virginia, the ancient heart of Anglicanism in America. The intolerant rebels tried to drive a stake in the heart of the historic Church. They missed, but wounded the body nevertheless. They cannot kill the historic faith but they can do damage to it. This they have done. In a way, they must feel a certain amount of dark success. They lost in court, but, in a way, won on the street, even at great cost to themselves.  

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