A decision to leave the Province 3 regional ministry jurisdiction of The Episcopal Church cannot be made unilaterally, according to the Rt. Rev. Robert Ihloff, retired Bishop of Maryland and president of Province 3. Bishop Ihloff wrote all ordained clergy canonically resident in the Diocese of Pittsburgh on June 22.

“We need you,” he wrote. “We need your voices, insights, your convictions, and your Christian fellowship. If the officers or ministry coordinators of Province 3 can assist you, answer questions, or simply be in dialogue with you, we welcome that opportunity. Meanwhile we remain in contact with a number of leaders in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and remember you all daily in prayer.”

Last November delegates to Pittsburgh’s diocesan convention voted to withdraw from active life in Province 3 ministry. Article VII of the constitution states that “no diocese shall be included in a province without its own consent.” But the Rev. Barbara J. Seras, province coordinator, said the provincial leadership has received a definitive ruling from David Booth Beers, the Presiding Bishop’s chancellor, that General Convention must approve any changes in provincial membership.

In one of the few business items during the annual provincial synod in Martinsburg, W.Va., on May 22, delegates debated, without coming to any conclusions, how to respond to the withdrawal from the province by Pittsburgh’s leadership.

Approximately half of the 100 active ordained clergy in the diocese who received a copy of Bishop Ihloff’s letter have signed a response asking the bishop and other members of the Province 3 leadership to respect the results of the diocesan convention vote.

“We were perplexed by your statement ‘that we remain in contact with a number of leaders in the Diocese of Pittsburgh,” the clergy wrote. “To our knowledge none of the present elected leadership of our diocese (standing committee, board of trustees, diocesan council, 2006 General Convention deputies) have been contacted by you or any of the other officials of Province 3. We are curious to know to which ‘leaders’ you are referring.”

As far as the Province 3 leadership is concerned, Ms. Seras said Pittsburgh remains a member in good standing. It is one of three dioceses, along with Southwestern Virginia and Washington, in which the appointment of a representative to provincial council is pending. The province has never received formal notification about the decision at the Pittsburgh diocesan convention, and provincial ministry initiatives continue within the diocese.

On April 28 the province sponsored “Resurrection Moments,” a spiritual retreat conceived and promoted by members of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh (PEP). Several members of PEP, including the Rev. Harold Lewis, rector of Calvary Church, Pittsburgh, have sued the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh, and other diocesan leaders over the decision to withdraw from the province.

Currently the bylaws of the province leave the manner in which delegates to synod and representatives to council are chosen. The provincial leadership is in the process of revising its bylaws.

“Bishop Ihloff's letter is a veiled attempt to bring the Diocese of Pittsburgh on board with The Episcopal Church’s agenda of minimizing the importance of doctrinal orthodoxy,” said the Rev. David Wilson, rector of St. Paul’s, Kittanning, Pa., a member of the Pittsburgh standing committee and the author of the letter signed by 42 members of the Pittsburgh clericus. “He says Province 3 needs us, but in the past 10 years not one conservative delegate from Pittsburgh to Province 3 has been elected or appointed to any provincial post. The only need Province 3 has for us is a need to legitimize their notion that we are one, big, happy family on mission together.

"It’s time to break through the denial," he continued. "The Presiding Bishop believes we are a minute bunch of dissidents; if that be so, why won’t they let us go in peace and with their blessing? If Province 3 wants to amend the provincial by-laws to appoint delegates of their own choosing, let them do it. It just reinforces everything I have just said.”

Bishop Ihloff retired as Bishop of Maryland last May. Before he sought re-election to a three-year term as president of the province in March 2006, he consulted widely as to whether his pending retirement would be a bar to holding office, according to Ms. Seras. As the senior bishop holding office in the province, Bishop Ihloff becomes a member of the Presiding Bishop’s council of advice and typically the chief consecrator of bishops within the region when the Presiding Bishop delegates that responsibility. Bishop Ihloff was traveling in Africa when contacted.

Steve Waring

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