TWO BISHOPS TALKING
The two bishops are continuing conversations. Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, and Bishop "Chip" Edgar, of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, have confirmed that they are engaged in open ended conversations. That, however, is all we know about this at the moment. We do not know how many times they have met. We do not know what they discussed. We do not know what they have in mind about meeting in the future.
On May 14, the Anglican Ink website posted an article about the meetings. Find it HERE . However, the article was misleading when it stated the two "have begun to settle the property issues..." No evidence for this assertion was offered. Neither side has said they talked about property. In fact, they have not revealed anything they discussed. For all we know they talked about their kids and the traffic in Charleston. The Canon to the Ordinary at ADSC reported in the article that discussions between the two were "developing." That is all he would say about it. The EDSC office has confirmed to me that the bishops are still in conversation. That is all they would say. So, we should not jump to conclusions about what the two bishops are discussing. We simply do not know.
I, for one, had hoped that the 20 April 2022 SCSC decision would bring closure to the long legal war between the two sets of former friends. Alas, this has not been the case. On the Episcopal side, there seemed to be acceptance, or at least resignation, of the decision, as disappointing as it was. However, over on the Anglican side, the diocese split apart. The diocesan Standing Committee and Trustees unanimously agreed to accept the decision. Eight of the 14 parishes slated to be returned to TEC refused to accept it and filed for a rehearing before the high court. Six of the 14 did not file. So, the legal war goes on even though it is all but certain the SCSC will deny the requests for rehearing.
The issues between the two dioceses are highly difficult, complicated and complex. The ownership of the properties is virtually settled: EDSC gets the entity of the historic diocese and all its assets and properties, e.g. Camp St. Christopher, plus 14 of the 36 parishes in the original lawsuit. ADSC gets 22 of the 36 parishes. This includes all the large parishes except one.
There are other issues that have not been settled and one should suppose could be subject to negotiations. There are about 12 local churches (mostly small missions) that were not in the lawsuit and adhered to the new Anglican diocese. TEC could go after these churches on the basis of their having adopted the Dennis Canon. The issue of betterments has also been raised. This is the idea that TEC would owe repayment to any of the 14 local churches that had spent money on improving the properties after the schism. This could also be applied to improvements made on the diocesan properties.
Bottom line---in my view, actual property ownership as per the orders of the court should not be open to negotiation. However, peripheral issues connected to this might be open.
I am sure everyone would agree that it is good for the two bishops to be in conversation, even if it is only about the kids and the traffic. However, I expect we should all tamp down our expectations and hopes about what these conversations could bring. After all, each bishop has to deal with numerous lawyers offering their advice. They would also have to deal with formal diocesan bodies as the Standing Committee and the Trustees. The bishops are not exactly free to make settlements tête-à-tête even if they wanted to do so.
Everyone wants closure. Everyone (except perhaps the lawyers) wants an end to the ugly civil war that has be raging for a decade now. So, we cannot help but long for the talks between the two bishops to continue.
