ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF SC 

REJECTS OLD LEADERSHIP

The new breakaway "Anglican Diocese of South Carolina" has shunned its old leaders. On 2 August, the bishop coadjutor search committee announced the three finalists for election as bishop coadjutor and successor of Mark Lawrence as II bishop of the diocese. The three are all young(ish) clergy (straight white males to be sure) who had little, if anything, to do with leading the schism. Not one prominent figure of the diocese before, during, or after the schism of 2012 made it to the final list.

Find the names and biographical info on the three here . The candidates:

Charles "Chip" Edgar III. Dean of Holy Apostles Anglican Cathedral in Columbia SC. This is in the Diocese of the Carolinas, in the Anglican Church in North America. Steve Wood, rector of St. Andrew's, in Mt. Pleasant SC, is the bishop of this diocese. Edgar is the only candidate presently outside of the ADSC. He has served at Holy Apostles since 2004, so was not part of the schism. 

Robert "Rob" Sturdy. Chaplain at the Citadel since 2017. Served as curate and rector of Holy Trinity, Myrtle Beach SC, from 2006 to 2012. Holy Trinity was one of the parishes that participated in the break from the Episcopal Church in 2012.

Christopher "Chris" Warner. Rector of Holy Cross, Sullivans Island SC where he has served 2001-2007 and 2011 to present. He has also served as director of Camp St. Christopher. 

So, one of the three is from outside the diocese while two are internal candidates. The one from outside is interesting because of the possibility that the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina could combine with the Diocese of the Carolinas which are overlapping dioceses affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America. Presently, Steve Wood is bishop of DC while Mark Lawrence is bishop of the ADSC.

This slate is a surprise to me as I was almost certain one of the old guard power brokers would gain the nomination and election to follow Mark Lawrence. My bet was on Jeff Miller, now at St. Philip's, and once at St. Helena's, and friend of Alan Runyan, who was a search committee member. In fact, Miller and all the other prominent leaders of the schism were passed over by the search committee. I must point out, however, that the names of all of the nominees considered by the search committee were not released, so one cannot know for sure that Miller and other prominent clergy from the schism period were nominated. Only the names of the three finalists were announced.

What does this slate of candidates tell us? It suggests to me a cry for new leadership, and that signals a disappointment with the old leadership. The simple data alone reveal the disastrous trajectory of the breakaway contingent under the old leadership. When Lawrence arrived in 2008, the Diocese of South Carolina listed 27,000 communicants (active members). At last count, in 2019, the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina listed fewer than 12,000 communicants. Since the schism of 2012, the ADSC has lost a third of its communicants and remains on a steady and relentless decline in membership and resources. It has lost in court twice. In federal court, it lost the legal rights to the pre-schism diocese. In the state supreme court, it lost the bulk of the local properties. While the SC Supreme Court has not ruled on the Church's appeal of the Dickson decision, chances are the high court will uphold its earlier order recognizing the Episcopal Church ownership of the properties. By every empirical measure, the schism of 2012 has been a disaster for the schismatics. It is no wonder that the people of the breakaway church want new leadership.

Who were the people who selected the three candidates? Find the members of the search committee here . There were seventeen members of the committee. Five were women. Eight were clergy. One member was Alan Runyan. For these seventeen to agree on this slate tells us that change was the order of the day, and it would be change from the established old order that had controlled the diocese for many years.

It seems to me that something similar happened in the Episcopal Diocese of SC. In the recent bishop's election, only one candidate was local (one other was a native but had not lived in SC in many years). She was the well-known archdeacon of the diocese. All of the other candidates were "from off." Yet, on the first ballot, the majority of clergy voted for one of the off candidates who won easily on the second ballot. This shunning of the only local candidate suggested a restlessness with the old internal leadership and a longing for new blood to lead the diocese in a new direction. Apparently, this is the same attitude now in the breakaway part of the schism. If so, neither of the two parts that came out of the schism of 2012 came out as strong and successful as they might have been. If so, this is the sad legacy of the schism.