The standing committee of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania has laid off three of the four full-time employees in the diocesan office. Members of the clergy and lay members of diocesan council were notified of the personnel changes in an email message dated May 22.

The standing committee has been functioning as the ecclesiastical authority since the Rt. Rev. Robert D. Rowley, Jr., began a terminal sabbatical last summer. At a special convention May 19, clergy and lay delegates elected a local priest, the Rev. Sean W. Rowe, rector of St. John’s Church, Franklin, Pa., on the first ballot from a field of four nominees. Pending consents, Fr. Rowe will be consecrated bishop Sept. 8.

Fr. Rowe and the other two candidates nominated by the episcopal search committee were informed earlier this month that the staff lay offs were pending, but they were not consulted before the decision was made, according to the Rev. Dennis Blauser, standing committee president and rector of Trinity Church, Newcastle, Pa. Fr. Blauser said the standing committee approved the lay offs at a meeting on April 17, but decided not to announce it until after the election.

The decision allows “greater flexibility in moving forward during this time of transition,” the brief message to clergy and council stated. The letter also commended the three for their faithful years of service to the diocese and noted that they will receive severance payments through July 31.

Let go were the Rev. Canon C. David Evans, canon to the bishop, Patricia Hathaway, social missioner, and Karen L. Pettit, executive assistant to the bishop and deployment. Mary E. Bowers, assistant for finance and administration, was the only full-time diocesan employee retained.

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