Parties to one of the longest-lasting legal disputes involving the Episcopal Church have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the matter on appeal.

The petition for a writ of certiorari asks the Supreme Court to rule in a legal battle involving All Saints, Waccamaw, S.C., which separated from the Diocese of South Carolina after its rector, Charles H. “Chuck” Murphy III, became a founding bishop of the Anglican Mission in the Americas.

The petition involves the consolidated cases of All Saints Parish, Waccamaw v. Protestant Episcopal Church and Green v. Campbell.

The Rt. Rev. Edward L. Salmon, Jr., Bishop of South Carolina from 1990 to 2007, was a party to All Saints v. Protestant Episcopal Church. The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence, who became Bishop of South Carolina in 2008, has never been a party to the dispute.

Meanwhile, the Diocese of South Carolina’s former chancellor, Thomas T. Tisdale, has sent a series of letters to its current chancellor, Wade H. Logan III, regarding four other parishes, some of which have distanced themselves from the Episcopal Church.

In the letters, which he began sending on Jan. 25, Tisdale identified himself as “South Carolina counsel for the Episcopal Church.” Bishop Lawrence challenged this description in an open letter to the diocese on Feb. 9 [PDF].

“He may be an attorney retained by the Chancellor for the Presiding Bishop, but it is hardly accurate in regards to the polity of this Church to claim to be an attorney of The Episcopal Church, as if the parishes, Standing Committee, and Bishop of South Carolina are somehow something other than The Episcopal Church,” the bishop wrote.

In the letters, which the diocese has distributed through its website, Tisdale asked the current chancellor for extensive material, including:

  • A list of all ordinations to the diaconate or priesthood by Bishop Lawrence since Oct. 24, 2009, and a copy of the declaration of conformity signed by each ordinand [PDF]. That date reflects when the diocese, meeting in special convention, voted to amend the declaration of conformity.
  • The transcript of the diocese’s special convention on Oct. 24, 2009, and copies of resolutions to be considered at the annual convention on March 2-5 [PDF]. Bishop Lawrence, citing his prerogative under diocesan canons, has postponed the convention until March 26.
  • Copies of amendments to bylaws by parishes or missions since 2006 [PDF].
  • Minutes of the standing committee since Bishop Salmon concluded his leadership of the diocese [PDF].
  • Documents regarding the property at St. Andrew’s, Mt. Pleasant [PDF]. The members of St. Andrew’s voted in December 2009 to leave the Episcopal Church and join the Anglican Church in North America.
  • Documents regarding the property at St. Luke’s, Hilton Head [PDF]. The Rev. Greg Kronz, rector, wrote in the December issue of the parish’s newsletter, St. Luke’s Messenger:  “We will be having two parish-wide meetings [this month]: the first regarding changes in our by-laws, and our deed and title.” The clergy and vestry of St. Luke’s signed “Where We Stand,” a statement that dissociated the parish from the 76th General Convention.
  • Documents regarding the property at St. John’s, Johns Island [PDF]. The congregation voted on Jan. 17 to remove references to the Episcopal Church from its sign [PDF]. Another resolution [PDF], which said the parish was in a spiritual but not a legal relationship with the diocese, passed on a simple majority. The parish planned another vote on that resolution six weeks later.
  • Documents regarding the property at Trinity, Myrtle Beach [PDF]. The Rev. Rob Sturdy, Trinity’s rector, wrote on his weblog, Awakening Grace: “The stated motive behind this action is the claim that we have threatened to leave or have left the Diocese of South Carolina due to the revision of our bylaws. This is of course absurd. Currently I … serve on the Diocesan Council of South Carolina. I serve on the Board of Examining Chaplains of the Diocese of South Carolina. I serve on an advisory council to the Director of Youth Ministries for the Diocese of South Carolina. This past fall I spoke at a Diocesan wide youth retreat. This past summer I spoke at the nation wide Renewal Conference, sponsored by the Episcopal Church at its retreat center in Kanuga, North Carolina. Furthermore, Trinity pledges to the Diocese of South Carolina and has registered delegates to Diocesan Convention.”

In his letter, the bishop stressed that the four parishes have not separated themselves from the diocese. The parishes, he wrote, “have not made these changes with the intention of leaving the Diocese of South Carolina, nor have they left. I have been working with their clergy and lay leaders to find appropriate ways to resolve their struggles with the recent decisions of the General Convention in ways consistent with the Holy Scriptures, our common life and fellowship in Christ, as well as with the canons of the Church and the laws of the State of South Carolina.”

The bishop added: “As the Bishop elected by the Convention of this Diocese, duly consented to and consecrated in accordance with historic precedent and polity, I am the only bishop with canonical jurisdiction here. Thus the Standing Committee and I believe this action is an unjust intrusion into the spiritual and jurisdictional affairs of this sovereign diocese of The Episcopal Church. This provocative interference has been pursued without the Presiding Bishop having communicated with me in a manner consistent with the Constitution of The Episcopal Church and the historical polity of this Church.”

Douglas LeBlanc