LOOKING FOR XV
The Diocese of South Carolina is about to start looking for bishop # 15. Today, 23 January, 2020, the diocese issued a news release providing a letter from the diocesan Standing Committee. Find it here .
There are several interesting points in the letter:
---There will be no provisional bishop. "As we began preparations for this effort, we were also tasked with securing a Provisional Bishop for the period of transition between Bishop Adams and our Diocesan Bishop. A few candidates were considered for this position but none of them, in the end, was called by the Standing Committee to become a Provisional Bishop for us."
This leaves us with a lot of questions about what happened in the search for a provisional bishop none of which the letter addresses, probably rightly so. Nevertheless, this seems to imply that the diocese will skip over having a provisional bishop and go straight to search for a diocesan, that is, regular, or permanent, bishop. Provisional bishops usually serve for a couple of years as "substitute bishops."
---The search for a new bishop is a long and arduous process easily taking between one and two years from start to enthronement of the new bishop. Bishop Henry Parsley, now living in retirement, has agreed to serve as "visiting" bishop to fill in when a bishop is needed. One can only wonder at long long Bishop Parsley might be willing to do this.
---The chair of the search committee is announced. It is the Rev. Dr. Philip C. Linder, priest at St. Mark's of Charleston. He is working with a consultant, the Rev. Richard Callaway. The other members of the search committee will be announced soon, perhaps in a couple of weeks.
---The search will be conducted from February to November of this year, 2020. By November, the search and standing committees will present a slate of candidates to the annual meeting of the diocese which will also sit as the election convention to elect the new bishop. There will be a chance for the public to nominate "petition" candidates.
(In the recent election in Alabama, there were several dozen candidates. The search committee selected three to advance. One was nominated by "petition" giving a final total of four candidates. All four participated in a "Walk About" where they spoke and answered questions before an audience of the diocese. A few weeks later, clergy and lay delegates gathered for the election and one of the four candidates won a majority on the second ballot. After election, there is a 120-day period for the dioceses of the Episcopal Church to give "consent" to the election. A majority is required for the bishop-elect to proceed to ordination and consecration. Alabama expects to have its new bishop in place by June after a year and a half from the start of the search.)
If a bishop is elected for SC in November of 2020, the earliest he or she could be enthroned would be 120 days later, that is April of 2012. So, the earliest a bishop could be in place in SC is fifteen months from now. These will be very busy fifteen or so months.
It is appropriate for the Diocese of South Carolina to be planning for its long term future. The last diocesan bishop, that is, Bishop XIV, Mark Lawrence, was officially Released and Removed as bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina on December 5, 2012. In the seven years since, the diocese has had two provisional bishops, Charles vonRosenberg and Skip Adams. In the meantime, the diocese has won in both state and federal courts. It has regained the legal entity of the historic diocese in the federal court; and the state supreme court has recognized the Church's ownership of 29 of the 36 local parishes involved in the lawsuit. Although these have not been finally put into effect, it is just a matter of time before they are. The federal court is all but certain to deny the disassociated organization's appeal on the ruling about the diocese. In the state court, the diocese is simply waiting on the judge to order an implementation of the supreme court decision. The judge has been tasked with implementing the decision.
To be sure, the next year and a half will be a difficult time for the Diocese of South Carolina, but then, a difficult time would be nothing new for the intrepid Episcopalians of lower South Carolina. They have seen worse, much worse. And yet they survived the darkest days any diocese could see, even thrived. Theirs is is a strong and steadily growing diocese of the Episcopal Church. As this heroic community of God proceeds confidently and faithfully into the future, it is time for it to find bishop number XV. It is time to rejoice.
It is appropriate for the Diocese of South Carolina to be planning for its long term future. The last diocesan bishop, that is, Bishop XIV, Mark Lawrence, was officially Released and Removed as bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina on December 5, 2012. In the seven years since, the diocese has had two provisional bishops, Charles vonRosenberg and Skip Adams. In the meantime, the diocese has won in both state and federal courts. It has regained the legal entity of the historic diocese in the federal court; and the state supreme court has recognized the Church's ownership of 29 of the 36 local parishes involved in the lawsuit. Although these have not been finally put into effect, it is just a matter of time before they are. The federal court is all but certain to deny the disassociated organization's appeal on the ruling about the diocese. In the state court, the diocese is simply waiting on the judge to order an implementation of the supreme court decision. The judge has been tasked with implementing the decision.
To be sure, the next year and a half will be a difficult time for the Diocese of South Carolina, but then, a difficult time would be nothing new for the intrepid Episcopalians of lower South Carolina. They have seen worse, much worse. And yet they survived the darkest days any diocese could see, even thrived. Theirs is is a strong and steadily growing diocese of the Episcopal Church. As this heroic community of God proceeds confidently and faithfully into the future, it is time for it to find bishop number XV. It is time to rejoice.
