Week Ending 8/15/22

 Lutheran Synod Makes Familiar Moves

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, which is in full communion with The Episcopal Church held its National Synod, i.e. their version of General Convention.Many of the actions they took will sound familiar to those who have followed Episcopal General Conventions.  Like the TEC, the Lutherans elected a racial precedent shattering vice president of the denomination (in their case a lay South Asian Muslim convert).  Like, TEC, the Lutherans are trying acknowledge and repair the damage they have done to indigenous people.  The Lutheran Synod voted to create a committee to study structural reorganization of the denomination, something Episcopalians did several General Conventions ago.  You can read more about the synod here. 

Continuing Stories.

Election of Florida Bishop Ruled Irregular

At the end of May, Update carried a story on protest/complaint challenging the procedures used to elect the Rev. Charles Holt as the next bishop of the Diocese of Florida.  The Presiding bishop sent the complaint to the Court of Review for such matters, and that body has now issued findings confirming the election was held without a legal quorum, and that there were numerous other irregularities in the way the diocese tried to institute a last minute on-line option for clergy only.  The report  (full report available here) will be sent to all Bishops and Standing Committees who are now able to vote on whether to approve the election. The challenge delayed the date of consecration, and has made the approval uncertain.

More Lambeth Fallout

Comments, reflections and attempts by the Global South leadership to redefine the Anglican communion, continue in the aftermath of the Lambeth Conference.  The web site Thinking Anglicans has a good collection of retrospective comments from English bishops and some others.  Most were grateful for a time to be with other bishops from around the world and learn about their challenges.  Most also noted that the conference was not focused on sexuality, but rather on a whole range of challenges from evangelism to climate change. All were relieved that the conference did not try to create some definitive statements. The Episcopal News Service did its own collective overview by using comments from a variety of social media posts by Episcopal Church bishops. Blogger Mark Harris has some good thoughts about the attempts of the Global South to redefine the Anglican Communion.  Update has listed many other reactions to the meeting in last week's post. 

Scottish Bishop Gets Reprieve from Suspension

The first woman to serve as a bishop in the Scottish Episcopal Church, Anne Dyer,  has been the subject of complaints that she has been rude and bullied members of her flock.  This week in quick order the Scots bishops suspended her, and she appealed, an action that immediately lifted the suspension until the appeal has been heard and decided. Update has carried several notices on this controversy, the most recent previous one is here.

More on the South Carolina Property Transitions 

Both the ACNA diocese and the Episcopal Church now have materials on their web sites covering the property transitions for the 7 parishes where there is no further legal action.  The ACNA group has a listing where they are showing potential (or completed) transition dates and giving the location for worship of that part of the congregation that has chosen to stay in ACNA.  The Episcopal News Service has an article covering the transitions from the Episcopal Church side.  The South Carolina Episcopal Diocese is just putting up individual news stories announcing the name of the clergy person who is working with the parish and inviting people to the service.  There is going to be a fair amount of confusion as both ACNA and Episcopal congregations are using the historic parish name and ACNA groups are trying to find sites to use close by. (see the St. David's Cheraw sites as examples here and here.   It will be interesting to see how things shake out over time.  There are another 7 parishes who have asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to reconsider their decision that the property belongs to the Episcopalians, and it is not clear how long the court will let things drag out.   Update has covered the transitions that are already under way, most recently here.