Episcopal Church investigates bishop

The Episcopal Church has launched an investigation of Bishop Mark J. Lawrence a year after the Diocese of South Carolina voted to distance itself from the national church because of disagreements stemming from the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop.

Two years ago, the diocese, under the leadership of Lawrence, voted to strengthen its autonomy and "begin withdrawing" from the church. In February, it changed its constitution, asserting the authority of the local diocese over the national church. The national church's accusation of abandonment sets the stage for disciplinary action.

On Wednesday, the diocese published a letter from Lawrence and the Very Rev. Paul C. Fuener, president of the Standing Committee, informing local Episcopalians of the "serious charges" made by the national church and publicizing 63 pages of materials the church is using to support its claim.

A Sept. 30 letter from a church attorney requested of the diocese that it submit documents concerning Lawrence's ordination, meeting minutes and other correspondence. Various letters, reports, articles and other material are under review by the General Convention's Disciplinary Board for Bishops, whose president is the Rt. Rev. Dorsey Henderson, retired bishop of Upper South Carolina.

In a statement, Henderson said that information was obtained from "communicants within the Diocese of South Carolina" and "not brought forward by the Presiding Bishop's office, or by the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church."

Lawrence has called an emergency meeting of diocese officials for Tuesday.

To be part of The Episcopal Church, parishes and dioceses must accede to its constitution and canons, church officials assert. In 2007, they passed a resolution that required "unqualified accession" and rendered null and void previous attempts to weaken or eliminate this requirement by the dioceses of San Joaquin, Fort Worth, Quincy and Pittsburgh.

Lawrence said he was reserving comment until after he met with diocese officials.

"I really need to tell the clergy of the diocese the implications," he said. "They need to hear it from me first before they read it in the press. I want to speak with the leaders of the family, the ordained clergy who have charge of the flock. I'd like them to be able to meet with their bishop and be apprised of these allegations if they should go forward as charges."

If the allegations of abandonment trigger legal action, the national church feasibly could depose Lawrence as bishop, and if diocese officials opt to sever ties with The Episcopal Church, the move could prompt property disputes.

In recent years, two parishes have disassociated from the diocese and national Episcopal Church. St. Andrew's Church-Mount Pleasant joined the Anglican Church in North America in March 2010, and All Saints Church on Pawleys Island decided in 2004 to realign with the Anglican Church of Rwanda.

Barbara Mann, chairwoman for the Episcopal Forum of South Carolina, a group that is "working for unity and inclusion within the diocese," said the recent flurry of correspondence was meant to inform the parties of one another's position, not instigate legal action.

"I think there are still opportunities, there are always opportunities for discussion," Mann said.

The trouble began -- or at least became acute -- in 2003, when the Diocese of New Hampshire made the Most Rev. V. Gene Robinson bishop. It was the first time an openly gay man was elevated to that post, and it provoked a backlash among many Anglicans around the world who objected to what they perceived as The Episcopal Church's compromise of Scripture and tradition in favor of politically correct inclusiveness.

The Episcopal Church generally is considered a hierarchical organization with limited jurisdiction over its 110 dioceses. Court decisions over disputed property ownership in other parts of the country have typically favored the national church. The most recent was the Sept. 30 ruling by the Connecticut Supreme Court upholding The Episcopal Church's assertion that parish property is held in trust for the denomination.

In Sept. 2009, however, the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected that same assertion, codified in the church's Dennis Canon, and granted All Saint's Church ownership of its property.

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