News for Week Ending 11/19/2012

CoE votes 11/20/2012 on women bishops

The General Synod of the Church of England votes on the compromise women bishops legislation on November 20, 2012. The outcome is decidedly in doubt. The BBC has published a story that offers a good perspective on the coming vote. For the legislation to move forward, two-thirds majorities are needed among bishop, clergy, and laity. The laity vote is the most uncertain. Thinking Anglicans offers a roundup of last-minute news and comment on this week’s vote.

South Carolina schism formalized

The breakup of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina became formal this past week. Inhibited Episcopal bishop Mark Lawrence held a convention November 17, 2012, to ratify the alleged departure from The Episcopal Church earlier declared by the Standing Committee. (See Pittsburgh Update story here. The most recent story on the South Carolina schism can be found here.) Episcopal News Service has provided a detailed explanation of what was done at the convention to separate from The Episcopal Church. The Web site South Carolina Episcopalians has also provided an account. (The resolutions presented at the convention are here; Lawrence’s address to the convention is here. Video of the Lawrence address is available on YouTube.) Not all parishes are following Lawrence out of The Episcopal Church, and not all parishes were represented at the convention. Lawrence and his supporters apparently have no immediate plans to associate with a large church group either in or out of the Anglican Communion.

 Two days earlier, Episcopal Church supporters held a clergy day in Charleston at which the guest speaker was the retired Bishop Charles vonRosenberg. According to Episcopal Forum of South Carolina (EFSC), “60–70” South Carolina clergy attended the event. The homily given by vonRosenberg can be found here. Additional information can be found in the EFSC newsletter whose link is given above.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori addressed a pastoral letter to the Diocese of South Carolina November 15. In it, she noted that the diocese cannot, of its own accord, secede from the wider church, and she urged reconciliation.

Former Pittsburgh priest consecrated bishop in Rhode Island

The Very Rev. William Nicholas Knisely Jr. was consecrated bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island November 17, 2012. Knisely was rector of St. Barnabas, Brackinridge, before leaving to become rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He was dean of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix, Arizona, at the time of his election. Additional details are available from Episcopal News Service.

Bishop McConnell radio interview available on Web

Pittsburgh’s new bishop, the Rt. Rev. Dorsey McConnell, was a guest on WESA-FM’s local interview show, Essential Pittsburgh, on November 14, 2012. The interview can be streamed from the diocese’s Web site here.