ECUADOR BISHOP DEPOSED ON 'ABANDONMENT OF COMMUNION' CHARGES

By Jan Nunley 3/25/2004

[ENS] The Rt. Rev. Neptali Larrea Moreno, Bishop of Ecuador Central, has been deposed from the ministry by a unanimous vote of the House of Bishops, meeting at Camp Allen, Texas, on March 23.

According to the resolution, the deposition was made on the ground that Larrea abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church by "an open renunciation of the Doctrine, Discipline and Worship" of the church under canon IV.9(1).

On January 21, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold inhibited Larrea from functioning as a bishop, but Larrea failed to contest the inhibition or demand a trial by the House of Bishops, as canon law provides, within two months from the original notice.

Bishop Clayton Matthews, executive director of the church's Office of Pastoral Development, said that the action was taken with the full support of the Standing Committee of the diocese and the bishops of Province IX. The Provincial Synod of Province IX will be meeting in Quito next week.

Financial irregularities

Matthews said that complaints about financial irregularities under Larrea's management of the diocese go back at least to 1997, when the treasurer's office for the Episcopal Church made "multiple attempts" to complete audits of the diocese. Because Larrea refused to cooperate with the audits, the matter was taken to Griswold in 2001. In September of that year, a special committee of bishops with particular knowledge of South America was appointed to gather further information.

The committee included Bishops Onell Soto of Alabama, Victor Scantlebury of Chicago, William Skilton of South Carolina, John Lipscomb of Southwest Florida, and Frank Gray of Virginia. Soto was later replaced by Bishop Lloyd Allen of Honduras.

After months of negotiation without cooperation from Larrea, said Matthews, the committee requested that Griswold send the matter to the Title IV Review Committee--which, after further investigation, concluded that presentment charges were in order against Larrea. The charges were filed January 16, and Larrea was notified.

Consent to the charges was obtained from the three senior bishops of the House: Peter James Lee of Virginia, William Swing of California, and Leo Frade of Southeast Florida.

In the meantime, though, Larrea—still under inhibition according to the canons—called a diocesan convention in the fall of 2003, and then in December declared that the diocese was "independent" of Province IX and the Episcopal Church.

Matthews said that Larrea also refused to cooperate with Bishop Telesforo Isaac, retired bishop of the Dominican Republic and assisting bishop of Southwest Florida, who had been asked to provide pastoral care for congregations in Ecuador.

The action means Larrea is no longer a bishop and cannot function as such. The House of Bishops and the standing committee of the diocese is now in the process of obtaining the services of an assisting bishop until an election for a new bishop can be held.

The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of Episcopal News Service.