All but one of the 19 diocesan bishops resident in Province 4 of The Episcopal Church have signed a letter chastising Joan Dalrymple, president of the Daughters of the King (DOK).
 
“The apparent inability or unwillingness of the churchwide leadership to produce a full financial accounting and a regular audit of all funds, made freely available to the whole membership, is a matter that concerns us greatly,” said the Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander, Bishop of Atlanta, in a letter dated Dec. 6. “We are further concerned to hear that amendments to the constitution and bylaws and other governing documents of the Daughters of the King have been made without the full consent of the membership gathered in the appropriate assembly empowered to make those changes.”
 
Bishop Alexander concludes the letter with an exhortation for President Dalrymple to “address these concerns, not with us alone, but especially with the leaders of the Daughters at the diocesan and parish levels … as quickly as possible.”
 
The Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, Bishop of Central Florida and chaplain to the DOK, said he was not present for the Province 4 bishops’ meeting at which the letter was discussed, but he would not have signed even if he had been present both because of his position as chaplain of the order and also because he believes it to be inaccurate.
 
“As far as I can tell, the finances are transparent,” Bishop Howe said. He added that the results of the 2006 independent audit are  published on the DOK website and that the 2007 results will be published there shortly.
 
“This is a direct reflection of the chaos in the wider church,” Bishop Howe said. “The Daughters were the only Episcopal Church organization experiencing growth.”
 
At its triennial meeting July 5-9, 2006, in Orlando, Fla., some 80 percent of the 238 delegates agreed to seat with full voice and vote the DOK representatives from the ecumenical chapters, which include Lutheran, Roman Catholic and Anglicans in the U.S. affiliated with overseas provinces. Bishop Howe said he was not invited to become chaplain until the conclusion of the 2006 triennial meeting, but he understood that the parliamentarian had been consulted and ruled before the decision was put to a vote that it was permissible under the DOK bylaws to vote on whether to seat the ecumenical chapters.
 
“My understanding is that a few former members of the national council are deeply unhappy with that outcome,” Bishop Howe said. “If they are unhappy with the outcome, they are welcome to revisit it at the next triennium.”
 
Steve Waring
 
We invite your response to this article through a Letter to the Editor. Email your letter to tlc@livingchurch.org. Please include your name, city and state.
 
To find more news, feature articles, and commentary about the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion not available online, read The Living Church magazine each week. Click here to start your subscription.