In light of Thursday’s vote to depose Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh from the ordained ministry of The Episcopal Church, the proposed changes to the Title IV disciplinary canons appear even more likely to be approved when they are considered by General Convention in July 2009.
 
Two canonical challenges in Salt lake City failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority needed to overturn the Presiding Bishop’s interpretation under the canons:
 
  • That the canons specify that the three senior bishops with jurisdiction must consent to the inhibition of a bishop before deposition proceedings can begin; and
  • That a majority of all bishops entitled to vote is required for a deposition under the abandonment canon to pass.
 
Under the revised canons, inhibition occurs as soon as the Title IV [disciplinary] Review Committee certifies sufficient grounds to proceed with a hearing. Retired bishops, who by and large have not attended meetings of the House of Bishops in recent years, will lose their status as voting members of the House.
 
During a press conference sponsored by the American Anglican Council (AAC) shortly after the deposition vote on Sept. 18, the Rev. Philip Ashey, president of the AAC, observed that it was now easier to depose a bishop for abandonment than it is for a bishop to resign or for the House to approve a 10-minute recess during debate. The loosening of procedural safeguards for the accused greatly expands the Presiding Bishop’s curial powers over the church. From its inception right up through its recent submissions to the Covenant Design Group, a curial style of polity is something that most Episcopalians have strongly resisted.
 
The deposition of Bishop Duncan prior to his actually leaving The Episcopal Church may further future litigation interests against the current diocesan leadership in Pittsburgh, but is likely to “tear the fabric” of the Anglican Communion further. The ham-handed manner in which this deposition was advanced also may diminish the number of conservative delegates to the annual meeting in Pittsburgh who will vote to remain with The Episcopal Church on Oct. 4.
 
Assuming that a majority of delegates in Pittsburgh, Fort Worth and Quincy join the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin in leaving The Episcopal Church later this fall, it is almost inevitable that a second province will be created in North America, perhaps even before the next primates’ meeting early next year. While the new province is unlikely to win immediate unanimous endorsement from all four of the Instruments of Communion, a review of similar recent actions reveals that when new facts are created on the ground in the Anglican Communion, they are first condemned, but their novelty soon finds more who are willing to embrace the innovation. Eventually a majority accepts it as a revelation of the Holy Spirit, and in time it becomes part of canon law.
 
A case in point is the use of the abandonment canon in its current form. Bishop Charles Bennison, Jr., of Pennsylvania was the first to use it, in 2002, against the Rev. David Moyer, rector of Good Shepherd, Rosemont. Fr. Moyer’s deposition was not recognized by, among many others, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, nor Archbishop of Wales Rowan Williams, who had already been nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury. The latter two primates went so far as to say they would license Fr. Moyer in their own province if necessary.
 
Things will become even more interesting if the new North American province affirms the proposed Anglican Covenant and General Convention does not.
 
Interestingly, a comparison of the number of diocesan bishops who consented to the consecration of the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson as Bishop Coadjutor of New Hampshire in 2003 and those diocesan bishops who voted against the deposition of Bishop Duncan indicates the House of Bishops is about as divided as it was five years ago. At the 75th General Convention, 59 percent of diocesan bishops consented to Bishop Robinson’s consecration, while 41 percent did not (including abstentions). On Thursday, 64 percent voted for Bishop Duncan’s deposition, while 36 percent voted no. These numbers become even closer if one takes into account the absence in Salt Lake City of the bishops of Fort Worth, Quincy, Texas and West Tennessee.
 
Steve Waring
 
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