Two days after the Bishop of South Carolina announced a ceasefire in a long-standing property dispute, another large parish took final steps in separating from the Episcopal Church.

On March 27 the Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence told the diocese’s annual convention that All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Waccamaw, and All Saints’ Church (Anglican Mission in the Americas) had reached an out-of-court settlement in their legal battle for church property.

On March 29 the congregation of St. Andrew’s, Mt. Pleasant, acted on a parish survey in December 2009 that recommended leaving the Episcopal Church to affiliate with the Anglican Church in North America’s Diocese of the Holy Spirit.

The Rev. Steve Wood, rector of St. Andrew’s, wrote to members of his congregation that the new affiliation will occur by April 2.

Wood reported that a preliminary count of the congregation’s votes showed 97 percent in favor of leaving the Episcopal Church for the ACNA. The votes will be certified by an independent accounting firm.

“Unity and discernment are both gifts worked in our lives by the Spirit,” he wrote. “Having said that, I am reminded that at least 19 members of St. Andrew’s may not be rejoicing in this vote and I commend them to you and your prayers as brothers and sisters in Christ. Please commit with me to ensure that St. Andrew’s will remain a parish where all are welcome to gather at the foot of the cross; sinners yet redeemed by the wonderful work of Christ.”

Bishop Lawrence’s announcement about the end of court battles between the two congregations known as All Saints met with sustained applause at the diocesan convention.

“It is a work of such profound reconciliation that only God’s grace and the sacrificial labors of his people could lay down such bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness at the cross of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Lawrence said in his annual address. “This has been a long and painful pathway to walk for those at All Saints’ Episcopal as they have stayed faithfully with the Diocese of South Carolina. They have often been misunderstood, even by many within our own diocese, for one’s heritage, as any South Carolinian knows, is an almost unendurable thing to lose.”

The bishop said the congregation remaining within the diocese will soon choose a new name.

“The congregation and I will consult together to discern what our Lord has already chosen to name them — but let it be known and celebrated among us today as a church of Christ’s reconciliation,” he said.

Soon after discussing the resolution of that conflict, Bishop Lawrence urged the annual convention to approve resolutions that asserted the diocese’s authority to make its own decisions regarding departing congregations and possible property disputes. The convention approved the five resolutions on its agenda.

Lawrence said the diocese’s policies are in conflict with those of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

“It is difficult not to conclude that in the Presiding Bishop’s opinion, any bishop or ecclesiastical authority which chooses to deal with a departing parish in a manner contrary to her stated position is failing in his or its fiduciary responsibility,” Lawrence said. “Without so much as a nod to the apostolic teaching in 1 Corinthians 6:1-8, or the words of our Lord in Matthew 5:25-26, this model of litigation has become the official position of the Presiding Bishop’s Office.”

The Presiding Bishop has offered public comment on the South Carolina dispute only during the most recent meeting of Executive Council. “He's telling the world that he is offended that I think it's important that people who want to stay Episcopalians there have some representation on behalf of the larger church,” she said in remarks to the Episcopal Church's Executive Council on Feb. 19.

During his annual address, Lawrence thanked the Presiding Bishop for meeting with him for 90 minutes during the House of Bishops’ spring meeting at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas.

“Unfortunately, after lengthy and respectful conversation, the Presiding Bishop and I stand looking at one another across a wide, deep and seemingly unbridgeable theological and canonical chasm,” Lawrence said. “At present both of us have signaled a willingness to continue the conversation even if it requires phone conversations from vastly different area codes.”