Bishop Lawrence Cancels Services for Entire Diocese of SC. UPDATED

Again, I hesitate to be critical of churches who decide to cancel services for a time.  And some, such as large churches in highly infected cities, probably should.

For example, Pusey House has with sadness shut down for a time, likely the rest of term at least.  But they have little choice given government directives and given that Oxford, a very international and mobile community, is especially vulnerable to the coronavirus. Please join me in praying for Pusey House and Oxford.

But the decision of Bishop Mark Lawrence to cancel services for at least two Sundays for the entire Anglican Diocese of South Carolina has me scratching my head.   The Carolinas have a low infection rate at this time.  Some of the parishes in the diocese are small and in small towns.  Their risk is low, and people going to those churches likely interact with each other anyway.  

Besides do not the parishes have enough wisdom to decide for themselves?

And people need the church now more than ever even if they do not see that although many do.  Comprehensively cancelling Sunday services gives the false impression that it’s all just optional.  It tells people that they do not really need us all that much.  And at least in some cases, it is a disservice to those who know their need of the comfort and strengthening of corporate Sunday worship.

Yes, I may be a bit harsh there, and I probably just angered some people.  I respect that.  But Bishop Lawrence’s decision seems overreaching at best to me.

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UPDATE:

Bishop Lawrence has posted an open letter about this decision.

South Carolina Justice Kaye Hearn Must Be Disciplined and Removed

I’ve been quiet about the awful Diocese of South Carolina ruling; others were covering it far better than I can.

But what galls me the most about the ruling is the blatant bias and conflict of interest of Justice Kaye Hearn.  Being a member (at least in the past) of the anti-Mark Lawrence Episcopal Forum of South Carolina was grounds enough for her to recuse herself.  But there is more.  Her husband is linked to the lawsuit she ruled on!  And she let her bias hang all out during oral arguments.  She might as well have worn a silly Schori mitre on the stand.

The Anglican Curmudgeon goes over her bias and role in detail.


Judicial behavior like Hearn’s makes me think there is one set of rules for corrupt judges and lawyers and quite another for the rest of us peons.  It too often seems the rule of law is for chumps.

Bishop Lawrence’s Address to the Diocese of South Carolina

The Special Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina has met and confirmed that said Diocese is no longer a part of The Episcopal Church.

I continue to pray for the Diocese of South Carolina as the brazen attacks from The Episcopal Church will also continue. (And I apologize that I have not been posting on those attacks on South Carolina.  I just have not had the energy or stomach to dive into the subject. I guess I have Schori-fatigue.)

A highlight of the convention was Bishop Mark Lawrence’s address.  It is perceptive, pastoral, and gracious.  I commend it to you.

GAFCON Primates Write in Support of Bishop Lawrence

Yet another indication that The Episcopal Church’s attack on the Diocese of South Carolina and on Bishop Lawrence is isolating TEC far more than the Diocese and its bishop comes with this letter from the GAFCON Primates:

Our Dear Brother:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

During our meeting last week in Dar es Salaam we took time to pray for you and the clergy and people of the Diocese of South Carolina. We are encouraged by your faithfulness to the Bible and rejoice in your clear stand for the Gospel.

We are grieved, however, by the attitude and actions of the leadership of The Episcopal Church and their efforts to demand canonical obedience through unjust means to their ungodly agenda. As we have made clear in the Jerusalem Declaration we reject their authority and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.

Please know that we continue to recognize you as a faithful Anglican bishop and the Diocese of South Carolina as part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

We stand with you in the battle and are confident that this time of trial will result in great blessing. Please do greet your people on our behalf and assure them of our love and prayers.

On behalf the FCA Primates Council

In Christ’s love and service,

The Most Reverend Eliud Wabukala

The Most Rev'd Eluid Wabukala

Chairman, GAFCON Primates Council

Anglican Church of Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya

The Most Rev'd Peter Jensen

General Secretary

Archbishop, Diocese of Sydney

Province of New South Wales, Australia

Episcopalian Double Jeopardy UPDATED

A. S. Haley, aka the Anglican Curmudgeon, has posted painstaking analysis of the Episcopal Church’s attack on the Diocese of South Carolina.  What I find most disturbing is the use of double jeopardy as a modus operandi.

In 2011, the Disciplinary Board for Bishops looked at the charges against the Bishop of South Carolina, Mark Lawrence, and did not find him guilty of “abandonment.”   Yet in 2012 the Disciplinary Board did find him guilty.

So what changed? The board’s membership.  Presiding Heretic Schori was able to stack the board at the 2012 General Convention, and having done so, her people pushed the same charges against Lawrence and found him in “abandonment” this time.

Yes, this is double jeopardy. We see here “the tactic of bringing up the same charges over and over again until there is a majority in favor of them.”

Now this is legal.  The Episcopal Church may commit double jeopardy in its deliberations if it wishes.  The U. S. Constitution is not part of the Canons of The Episcopal Church.  But it is a sad commentary that not only does TEC not hold to Biblical standards, it cannot even bring itself to meet minimal secular standards of fair play anymore.

Meanwhile, those who filed the complaints against +Mark Lawrence have revealed themselves.  They claim to have acted independently, that “no one from elsewhere in the Episcopal Church encouraged or initiated the complaint.”  Yeah, right.

Their number is 14, twelve laypeople and only TWO priests.  That --Schori did not find more tools than that speaks volumes.

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UPDATE:

From the Diocese of South Carolina:

This action is a deplorable assault upon the Bishop of this Diocese. The attack came in the midst of negotiations whose stated intent was to find a peaceful solution to our differences with the Episcopal Church. It involved a process in which there was no prior notice of the proceedings, no notice of the charges against him nor any opportunity to face the local accusers (who remained anonymous until today).

Also deeply concerning is the fact that all of the stated reasons for “abandonment” were known nearly a year ago, when an earlier attempt to remove him failed. This second attempt is double jeopardy of the most egregious sort and is contrary to the very canons they have used. Worst of all, canons that were originally meant for the removal of clergy who had well and truly “left” the church are now being used to purge a Bishop who has diligently sought to keep his Diocese both intact and within the Episcopal Church.

From TEC Bishop Dan Martins:

. . . it strains every notion of common sense to apply the charge of "abandonment" in this case. This is a provision that is in canons to make it expeditious to deal with a priest or bishop who has openly decamped to another ecclesial body, or none; a cleric who stops showing up for meetings, stops worshiping as an Episcopalian, and disavows any association with the Episcopal Church. 



By contrast, since I became a bishop in March of last year, Mark Lawrence has attended every meeting of the House of Bishops except one, which a great many bishops also missed because it was held in Ecuador. He was present at General Convention. He has continued to lead a diocese that uses the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer in its worship. He has abandoned nothing, and to accuse him of doing so is ludicrous on its face.

On The Episcopal Church Attacking the Diocese of South Carolina

The new --Schori puppet Disciplinary Board for Bishops of The Episcopal “Church” (TEC) has declared that the Bishop of South Carolina has abandoned TEC.  This triggers provisions previously passed by the Diocese which now take it out of TEC.  So, in effect, Presiding “Bishop” Schori has kicked the Diocese of South Carolina out of her Unholy “Church” . . . and will now send in her lawyers to attempt to seize all the diocese’s assets, of course.

Given that the Bishop of SC, Mark Lawrence, has taken great pains to keep South Carolina in TEC while upholding the Faith and guarding the integrity of his diocese and parishes, I find this attack shocking.

But I probably should not be shocked.  As Sarah Hey points out, Schori and company are a vindictive bunch, “utterly amoral, bullying, and controlling.”  And, back in 2006, I asserted time and again that there is no safe place for the orthodox in The Episcopal Church.  Now I am proven right . . . again.

Christopher Johnson suspects the presenting issue was that +Lawrence acted to allow parishes to protect their property.  Given the sheer greed and vindictiveness of --Schori, that might be so.

Although I would have questioned trying to stay in The Episcopal Church as the Diocese of South Carolina has, they have done us the service of showing us just how implacable TEC has become.  Bow down to Great Whore of 815 and all her abominations, or else.

Stand Firm and the AnglicanCurmudgeon have followed this matter closely and surely will continue to do so, and I defer to them for more in-depth coverage.