Massachusetts Bishop Ask Trump to Reconsider EPA Head
Five Episcopal Bishops from Massachusetts, including the current diocesans of the Dioceses of Western Massachusetts and Massachusetts, and the current and two retired suffragan bishops of the Diocese of Massachusetts have all signed a letter to President-elect Donald Trump requesting that he rethink his appointment of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. They also stated that they would write their representatives in Congress urging them to block Pruitt's appointment. Both dioceses currently feature the letter on the home page of their diocesan web site.South Carolina Episcopalians Back in Federal Court
Episcopalians in South Carolina made oral arguments in their second appeal to the Federal Appeals Court in Richmond Virginia. They are hoping to get the appeals court to tell the retired federal judge in S.C. he can no longer delay in hearing the suit brought originally by Bishop von Rosenberg against Mark Lawrence for fraudulently claiming he is an Episcopal bishop. The local judge had originally stayed the case until the State law suits over property had been settled. SC Episcopalians appealed the stay and the court sent the case back to the retired judge to hold the trial. He again issued a stay.You can find a summary of the arguments on the December 9, 2016 blog posting on scepiscopalians.com. The actual oral arguments are available from the diocese. . Pittsburgh Update covered the filing of the second appeal here.