News for Week Ending 2/23/2009

Quincy gets consulting bishop; plans synod

The Living Church reported February 19, 2009, that the Rt. Rev. Keith Whitmore, an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Atlanta and former Bishop of Eau Claire, will consult with the reorganizing Diocese of Quincy. Whitmore will lead a clergy event on March 4. A reorganizing synod (convention) is to be held on April 4 in Peoria, Illinois. At that synod, the Episcopal diocese will elect a provisional bishop. The Diocese of Quincy synod voted November 7, 2008, to leave The Episcopal Church. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.)

Pittsburgh diocese writes leaders about dispute

The Standing Committee of The Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Pittsburgh wrote to “Clergy and Lay Leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (TEC)” on February 18, 2009. (The letter can be read here.) The Standing Committee noted that its claim to diocesan property is based on an agreement reached in October 2005 in the Calvary lawsuit against Bishop Robert Duncan and other diocesan leaders. The letter disclosed that Duncan’s group, which claims to be part of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, recently proposed a “fair division” of diocesan property. The Standing Committee’s letter describes its response to that overture.