ACNA BISHOPS APPROVE EDGAR AS BISHOP OF ADSC
The bishops of the Anglican Church in North America, meeting on January 12, 2022, in Melbourne, Florida, approved the election of Chip Edgar as the bishop coadjutor of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina. The vote totals were not revealed, but the ACNA rules require a 2/3 vote of the bishops to approve an election of a new bishop. The ACNA is an authoritarian institution in which power is controlled by the (all male) bishops. As opposed to the Episcopal Church, the diocesan standing committees have no say in approving a new bishop. In TEC a simple majority vote of bishops and standing committees approves new bishops.
Edgar was elected by an election convention of the ADSC on October 16, 2021, at Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant SC. He was the dean of the cathedral church of the ACNA Diocese of the Carolinas, in Columbia SC. Edgar had never been a clergyman in the ADSC. He was chosen over two internal candidates.
He is to be ordained and consecrated bishop coadjutor of the ADSC on March 12, 2022, at the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul, in Charleston.
Find the ACNA article about yesterday's action here .
Mark Lawrence is expected to retire as diocesan bishop of ADSC at the end of this year. With that, Edgar will become the diocesan bishop.
Lawrence was released and removed as bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina by the Presiding Bishop on Dec. 5, 2012 after he had publicly announced his departure from the Episcopal Church. Meanwhile he was recognized as bishop by the people of the new diocese which later took the name Anglican Diocese of South Carolina. The new diocese joined the Anglican Church in North America. Edgar will become the II bishop of the ADSC.
A federal court injunction forbids the breakaway contingent from claiming to be in any way the historic Diocese of South Carolina. All of the historic titles and emblems are reserved for the ongoing Diocese of South Carolina which is part of the Episcopal Church.
There has been some speculation that Edgar's election may well signal the union of two ACNA dioceses in the lowcountry, the Diocese of the Carolinas, led by Steve Wood, and the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina.
