The inhibition against the Rt. Rev. Edward H. MacBurney, retired Bishop of Quincy, has been temporarily lifted following an announcement on April 14 from the canon to the Presiding Bishop.
“In light of the personal tragedy that Bishop and Mrs. MacBurney are facing, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori wishes to offer the bishop the opportunity to function liturgically in any services for his son if he desires to do so,” said the Rev. Canon Charles Robertson in an e-mail message.
A disciplinary “Review Committee” recently issued a presentment, or ecclesiastical indictment, of Bishop MacBurney, and on April 2 Bishop Jefferts Schori prohibited Bishop MacBurney from sacramental ministry pending his trial. The 80-year-old bishop is accused of performing a service of confirmation in June 2007 at an Anglican church in San Diego. In 2006, the congregation of Holy Trinity voted overwhelmingly to leave The Episcopal Church. It is now affiliated with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone. Bishop James R. Mathes of San Diego filed the initial complaint against Bishop MacBurney.
Bishop MacBurney’s adopted son, Page Grubb, died of cancer April 4. Bishop MacBurney married Mr. Grubb’s mother, Anne, who had been widowed when her three children were still young. A memorial wake service for Mr. Grubb is scheduled at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Calamus, Iowa, on April 18 with the funeral the following day at St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church in Long Grove.
Bishop MacBurney said the Presiding Bishop telephoned him Sunday night to inform him of her decision, and to apologize for the timing of the inhibition.
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7 Comments
After reading this article and reviewing many other actions which the PB has taken personally or directed to be done ie. "New gun in town" it is time for her to resign and move onto other aspects of life. She is truly unfit for her position and is doing everything to drive Gospel believing members from the Church in order to create the new Episcopal Church. Which is afraid to say no to bad human behavior which she and the leadership are promoting. The conservative members are the backbone and they will triump in the end either as Episcopalians or Anglicans in the United States.
When will 815 realize they have and are making mistakes. Some of them bigger than others.
The Presiding Bishop is cruel for taking action against an 80 year old Bishop with an Ill son. It wasn't a question of timing; The PB knew exactly what she was doing. There is no excuse she can offer for such a rude crass act. It was so un-Christian and not becoming what should be the leadership of our Episcopal Church.
Repent or Perish
I wonder if the situation was a bit different whether there would be such outrage concerning this bishop's inhibition. For example, would anyone be outraged if the PB inhibited Bishop Spong, even though he is getting up there in age?
I wonder whether our outrage is conditional - no outrage concerning this kind of thing happening to someone we don't like or disagree with; outrage concerning someone we do like and agree with? Consistency would be a better personal trait, methinks.
Bob,
Outrage follows the punishment of the innocent not the guilty. Have you and TEC lost the ability to discriminate between the two?
I don't believe +Spong has ever had a presentment made against him by any of TEC's Bishops despite his clear"abandoning of communion." +Spong's own post pre-Lambeth 1998 should have triggered inhibition if vows at his consecration meant anything:
http://www.dioceseofnewark.org/vox20598.html
After the heartache of leaving the church that I once loved three years ago, it now occurs that that church was indeed a sow's ear masquerading as a silk purse. As the liberal wing of TEC continues to gain power, it appears that they have lost any semblance of just good taste. Deposing Bishop Cox and Bishop MacBurney as grave threats to 815 is simply laughable in its stupidity. My friend and sometimes mentor, Bishop Cox, possesses far more kindness and dignity than TEC's House of Bishops and Presiding Bishop combined.
Aside from arguments about theology and sexual practice, TEC just keeps looking more and more idiotic. It is a church that no longer deserves to exist.
Joseph Phillips
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Often I feel I have one foot out the door of the Episcopal Church. and the other is slowly slidiing that way. I knew and worked with Bishop MacBurney in Iowa when he was Dean of Trinity Cathedral in Davenport. My heart aches for him and his wife in this whole situation. Edward McBurney is a truly godly man and for Ms. Schori to do this to him is unconscionable in any circumstance, but it is beyond cruel when she well knew what was happening in his personal life. In this act, she has announced to the world what she truly is - and isn't. Joyce Brown, Des Moines, IA.