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HOB Ready to Serve as 'Episcopal Visitors' Rejected by Orthodox Bishops
Preliminary HOB Draft Statement Calls for DEPO
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue in New Orleans
www.virtueonline.org
9/24/2007
Eight bishops, who said they are willing to serve as "episcopal visitors" to orthodox dioceses that are ready to leave The Episcopal Church, got thumbs down from three bishops who said they were never consulted and are not interested in the arrangement.
"I was quite surprised when I heard it announced that a Visitor's plan had been unveiled. Generally speaking, when someone is responding to a request, good manners would dictate that those who have made the request would be informed before a public announcement is made. In the spirit of 'deeper conversation' cooperative ventures are much more productive than surprise impositions. It is a disappointment that those whose lives are affected were not a part of the process. Advance notice of the surprise announcement would have been a nice courtesy," said the Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman, Bishop of Quincy. "Traditional Anglo Catholics have been forced out of the Episcopal Church."
Anglican Communion Network moderator and Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan echoed similar sentiments.
Ft. Worth Bishop Jack Iker said, "it sounded like a case of Mother Schori knows best and she will tell us what she has decided, in her good time. Rather condescending! She has not consulted with one bishop who requested APO. Feels to me like a case of 'too little, too late'. Wasn't DEPO a failure for the same reason?"
Iker wrote VOL to say, "Have we agreed to it? Heavens no! Just heard it announced this morning. The offer is meaningless, without substance, and a brush-off for the dioceses requesting APO." Eight bishops have accepted Mrs. Schori's invitation to serve as "episcopal visitors" to dioceses that have requested this provision.
"All eight are true bridge-builders who empathize with the concerns and needs of dioceses that are struggling with the issues of the current time," Robertson said, adding, "while all are sympathetic to these concerns, each is clear that the Presiding Bishop's ultimate goal is reconciliation."
The eight are active diocesan bishops Frank Brookhart of Montana, Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina (based in Columbia, S.C.), John W. Howe of Central Florida (based in Orlando), Gary Lillibridge of West Texas (based in San Antonio), Michael Smith of North Dakota, James Stanton of Dallas, and Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island, together with retired Connecticut Bishop Clarence Coleridge.
Robertson said all have agreed to serve as official "episcopal visitors"(the lowercase adjective referring generally to bishops and their ministries rather than the church's denomination), or to provide "Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight" (DEPO), an option provided by the House of Bishops' March 2004 statement "Caring for All the Churches" and a concept affirmed by the General Convention in 2006.
Today, a preliminary draft statement reaffirms that it wants Mrs. Schori to provide episcopal visitors - Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight (DEPO) -- for dioceses within TEC, but orthodox bishops, most of whom have left the meeting here have already rejected the idea.
The Pastoral Scheme for orthodox dioceses seeking alternative oversight proposed by the Primates was rejected because they said it violated TEC's Constitution and Canons. "These incursions imperil the Communion's principle of honoring one another as we work together in good faith on these very difficult issues," said the draft.
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