The members of the standing committee of the Diocese of Pittsburgh voted June 28 to join with other dioceses in appealing to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the primates of the Anglican Communion, and the Panel of Reference for “immediate alternative primatial oversight and pastoral care.”

The standing committee also published its intent, pending ratification by the diocesan convention to be held in November, to “withdraw its consent, pursuant to Article VII of the Constitution of the Episcopal Church, to be included in the Third Province of the Episcopal Church,” envisioning the creation of a “new Windsor-compliant Tenth Province in the Episcopal Church.”

“These decisions are simply in character with those made by our own convention year after year,” said the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh. “We are and will remain the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. We are living within the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church. But as the presiding bishop-elect, Katharine Jefferts Schori, herself so helpfully stated during the recently completed General Convention, there are really two bodies within our church, each with its own heart and mind.

“The decisions made today don’t change who we are in the least, but they do make clear here in Pittsburgh and to the rest of the Communion with which body in the Episcopal Church we stand,” Bishop Duncan said.

Pittsburgh is the second diocese to make public its intention to seek alternative primatial oversight. Following a meeting of the bishop and standing committee, the Diocese of Fort Worth announced at the start of the legislative day in both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies its intention to seek alternative oversight June 19, the day after the election of the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori as the 26th Presiding Bishop. Following the announcement in the House of Deputies, the Rev. Canon D. Lorne Coyle, chair of the deputation from the Diocese of Central Florida, rose on a point of personal privilege to state that although Central Florida did not share Fort Worth's theological understanding of women in ordained orders, it stood in solidarity with the decision.

It is likely that other dioceses will also seek alternative primatial oversight. The bishop and standing committee of the Diocese of Springfield met to consider a similar request June 26. A pastoral letter on the subject is expected to be released on Friday.

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