The Standing Commission on Constitution and Canons met recently in San Diego, agreeing to review the current consent process for episcopal elections and to update an annotated commentary on national church bylaws. It was the second time the interim body had met since the 75th General Convention adjourned last June.

During the meeting a commission member from the Diocese of Eau Claire reported that the diocese’s consent to the election of the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence as Bishop of South Carolina had been ruled invalid.

“For us to do a full standing committee meeting requires a full day,” said the Rev. Ward Simpson, rector of St. Andrew’s Church, Ashland, Wis., and a member of the Eau Claire standing committee. “For us to be able to hold some meetings by telephone would be helpful.”

The language by which standing committees give notice of consent is spelled out in Title III, Canon 11. The language to be used in granting consent has remained essentially the same since it was adopted in 1904, according to the most recent edition of White and Dykman’s annotated commentary on the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church. In recent years, the office of the canon to the Presiding Bishop has interpreted the consent language to require individual signatures from all of the standing committee members voting in the affirmative. Electronic reproductions of individual signatures have been ruled valid, but the language, which was adopted in the infancy of the telephone, does not specifically permit them.

Fr. Simpson said that during discussion of the consent procedure, the commission realized the current canons also do not make any provision for consent when a bishop is transferred from one jurisdiction to another. Historically, the same procedure has been followed as if the bishop was being elected to the episcopacy for the first time.

A number of commission members decided that the entire consent process should be reviewed. The Standing Commission on Constitution and Canons has no power to enact policy changes or amend the canons, according to Matthew Livingood, chair of that commission. It can propose changes for consideration by General Convention.

The committee publishes its recommendations in the so-called Blue Book, which is typically published between three and six months before General Convention meets, Mr. Livingood noted.

The standing commission also will undertake a feasibility study on updating White and Dykman, which was last revised in 1982. The two-volume reference work traces the evolution of the Church’s bylaws from the first General Convention in 1789 through the 66th General Convention in 1979.