Battle Over Episcopal Bishop Looms in South Carolina

c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A large number of Episcopal dioceses are refusing to approve South Carolina’s conservative choice for bishop, throwing his consecration into doubt and aggravating tensions in the bitterly divided Episcopal Church. Gaining the required “consents” for a new bishop from a majority of the church’s dioceses is usually a formality. […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) A large number of Episcopal dioceses are refusing to approve South Carolina’s conservative choice for bishop, throwing his consecration into doubt and aggravating tensions in the bitterly divided Episcopal Church.

Gaining the required “consents” for a new bishop from a majority of the church’s dioceses is usually a formality.


But with a March 12 deadline looming, only 47 of 110 dioceses have approved South Carolina’s choice of the Rev. Mark Lawrence, a conservative priest from Bakersfield, Calif.

Under church laws, a majority of active bishops and diocesan standing committees each must approve Lawrence within 120 days of his Sept. 16 election. Lawrence received approval from the required number of bishops on March 1, but if he is not approved by the dioceses, his election is null and void.

Episcopal bishops haven’t rejected a candidate since 1957, and dioceses haven’t rejected a bishop-elect since the 1870s, according to Episcopalians who have studied the matter.

Those involved in the current consent process say it has taken on the charged atmosphere of a partisan political contest, with accusations of “smear campaigns,” mass mailings and long-distance phone calls to key constituents.

The church’s liberal majority, fresh from a battering by the international Anglican Communion over its support for gay rights, may be anxious to assert its sway in Episcopal politics.

“More than a few dioceses have asked things of me that have never been asked of candidates in the Episcopal Church’s history,” Lawrence, 56, said in an interview.

Lawrence is currently a priest in the Diocese of San Joaquin, Calif., which has taken preliminary steps to leave the U.S. church. Both the San Joaquin and South Carolina dioceses belong to a conservative breakaway group, and have rejected the authority of Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.


Lionel Deimel, a member of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, said he kick-started the campaign to deny Lawrence consent. Deimel, 60, said he’s concerned that under Lawrence, the diocese of South Carolina would secede from the church.

“Imagine a candidate running for the U.S. Senate who was on record as being opposed to maintaining the Constitution as the basis of our government,” Deimel wrote in an essay that Episcopal activists sent to every diocese and bishop.

Lawrence says his words have been taken out of context. In an essay published in an Episcopal magazine last summer, Lawrence advocated for the “surrender of the Episcopal Church’s autonomy” to outside Anglican archbishops, who have stepped in to provide guidance to the vocal minority of conservative Episcopalians.

Asked by Episcopal bishops in November what he would do if the diocese of South Carolina decided to leave the church, Lawrence said such questions are not “reasonable or helpful,” according to a transcript of the inquiry.

The bishops’ questions were “unfair,” Lawrence said Monday (March 5), because they asked about a hypothetical situation without providing details.

“If you’re going to ask me which way I’m going to steer the ship, then tell me a little more about the storm. … Then I’ll tell you the direction I’m going,” Lawrence said.


KRE/RB END BURKE Editors: To obtain a photo of Mark Lawrence, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

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