Whither Pittsburgh?

In October, like the Diocese of San Joaquin before it, and, presumably, the Diocese of Fort Worth after it, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is going to vote itself out of The Episcopal Church and into the province of the Southern Cone. That, at least, is the plan. The followers of Pittsburgh’s Bishop Robert Duncan seem untroubled that he has no right to lead his diocese down this particular path, which, as in San Joaquin, will result in the bishop’s being deposed by The Episcopal Church, the diocese’s being reorganized under new leadership, and The Episcopal Church’s suing to regain diocesan and parish property. The litigation will last for years. In the end, Duncan will become the martyr he has always spoken of being, though a martyr to the cause of hubris and recklessness, rather than to “biblical faithfulness,” as he would have it.

Meanwhile, life will go on in the counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland, which make up the physical territory of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Those Episcopalians who choose not to follow their bishop into his brave new world of Anglican purity, will find themselves running a smaller and—it is greatly to be hoped—happier diocese of The Episcopal Church. Those remaining Episcopalians will comprise those who love the church for its progressive innovations, those who love or respect it despite those innovations, and those—this is not meant to be disparaging—who merely go along for the ride.

What will that new Episcopal diocese be like after “realignment”? Will the liberal/conservative feuds that characterize the present diocese be recreated in the reorganized judicatory? There is genuine reason to think not. Episcopalians on the left and on the right are talking to one another and to reprentatives of the Presiding Bishop’s office as to how they should deal with the schismatic vote at the annual convention and how they will structure and run the diocese of which they will become the inheritors. There is widespread resolution that the sins of the diocesan fathers should not be visited upon their sons and daughters.

A little history is helpful here. Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh was formed early in 2003—before the episcopal election of Gene Robinson by the Diocese of New Hampshire, I hasten to add—in response to the perception that the Diocese of Pittsburgh was becoming increasingly hostile to moderate and liberal Episcopalians and to The Episcopal Church itself. Despite its leftist-sounding name—repeated attempts to change it, at my suggestion and at those of others have left “Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh” and its more tractable familiar moniker, PEP, in place—the organization has always had the goal of making the diocese a comfortable home for Episcopalians of all varieties of churchmanship. (That traditional Anglican term seems quaint and sexist today, of course, but, aside from that, it is the proper term to use here.)

PEP has, since its inception, carried the flag for tolerance and moderation in its diocese, and has become known (and vilified) for its position papers and educational materials that, invariably (and perhaps unfortunately) opposed the plans and pronouncements of Bishop Robert Duncan. For many, PEP exemplified everything they considered wrong in The Episcopal Church. Although PEP saw tolerant conservatives as natural allies, it was not particularly successful in attracting them as members.

Although, from the beginning, PEP nurtured communications with the wider church, including especially Episcopalians in similarly ideological dioceses such as San Joaquin, only in 2006, in response to the diocese’s “withdrawal” from its Episcopal Church province (see “An Appraisal of the Diocese of Pittsburgh’s ‘Withdrawal’ of Consent to Inclusion in Province III”), did PEP reach out, and with some sense of alarm, for direct help from the parent church. PEP invited representatives of Province III to Pittsburgh for meetings and programs. Eventually, a group consisting mostly of PEP members began meeting outside the diocese with representatives of The Episcopal Church. They met first with Province III president Bishop Robert Ihloff, and, later, with the Presiding Bishop’s chancellor, David Booth Beers. As it became increasing clear that Bishop Duncan was determined to leave The Episcopal Church, participants were being told, though they did not need to be told, that they needed to build a broader coalition of Pittsburgh Episcopalians.

From its inception, PEP was an organization of both lay and clergy members, with laypeople in the most prominent leadership roles. Although no analogous conservative organization developed in the diocese, conservatives who did not want to leave The Episcopal Church were systematically discussing the developing crisis in the diocese. In January of this year, 12 right-leaning clergy wrote “to the people and clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh” that they intended to work within The Episcopal Church, rather than leave it. This communication had been a long time in coming, and it provided the opportunity for the group that had been meeting with church officials in Western Maryland to invite the 12 priests and representative laypeople of similar persuasion to join the discussions about the future of the diocese.

The group that had been meeting with church representatives in Maryland, joined by conservative clergy and an increasing number of conservative laypeople, began conversation tentatively and with some mutual suspicion. Initially, the group deliberately remained nameless—thereby avoiding a potentially divisive discussion—though it has come informally to be called the “Across the Aisle” group. Although there is some reluctance to use the terms, the part of the group that developed from the original PEP-initiated discussions is known as the “Gospel side,” and the group of more-recently-added conservatives is known as the “Epistle side.” Happily, these terms are being used less and less, as the “sides” are increasingly concerning themselves with the mechanics of reorganizing the diocese so as to discourage the divisiveness that has characterized Pittsburgh in the recent past.

PEP has perhaps become known for its rhetoric because its marginalization within the diocese provided little opportunity for it to accomplish very much, at least through diocesan institutions that have been firmly in the hands of the bishop and his supporters. The Across the Aisle group, on the other hand, sees a realistic opportunity to gain power only a few months from now, and it has neither the time nor the established mechanisms to articulate for the wider diocese and church what it intends to do with that power. The increasing harmony and dedication of the group to the task at hand, however, is quite encouraging.

Not long ago, discussion among PEP board members led to a consensus that PEP needed to counter what we considered the misrepresentations of the diocesan leadership concerning realignment. Eventually, PEP published “Realignment Reconsidered,” which addresses the reassurances of the propriety and safety of the bishop’s plan point-by-point. PEP board members also thought that a one-page statement of a more irenic Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, probably from the Across the Aisle group itself, would be useful in clarifying the group’s objectives and in attracting Pittsburgh Episcopalians who are tired of the constant battles and angry rhetoric that have become characteristic of our life together.

I was skeptical that a reasonable vision of the reorganized diocese could be captured on a single page, in part because I thought it would have to deal with the many theological issues that vex our common life. I challenged myself to draft such a statement, which I managed eventually to produce. I offered it to the PEP board for comments and, based on the responses I received, I produced a second draft that I hoped would be appropriate for the Across the Aisle group itself to consider as a possible basis for the proposed statement.

Helpful though a statement about our future might be, both for achieving internal consensus and for offering hope for a better future to others in the diocese, it is clear that getting its development on the agenda of the wider group is simply impractical—there is too much other pressing work to do. I have faith that the reorganized diocese will be one that facilitates our Christian mission rather than one that perpetually fights about it, and that is good enough for now. Besides, the leaders of the new diocese eventually will have to articulate their own vision of what they are about.

I do believe, however, that my document captures the spirit with which the Across the Aisle group is approaching its task, and, with that particular leap of faith in mind, I offer my latest draft below without further editing or, in fact, explicit feedback from the Epistle side. Though “unofficial,” it can perhaps suggest a brighter day for the Diocese of Pittsburgh to those frustrated with our present diocesan leadership. In many respects, we are all looking for a diocese that, for want of a better term, is simply “normal.” A PDF version is available here.

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A Vision for the Episcopal Church’s
Diocese of Pittsburgh after Realignment

Members of our diocese have to make a decision about realignment. They deserve to know what vision we who will remain members of The Episcopal Church have for our diocese after the realigners leave.

We are followers of Jesus Christ, whom we accept as our Lord and Savior. We will continue our worship according to the Book of Common Prayer. We will recite the creeds with enthusiasm and without irony. We will be thankful for the people next to us and will not need to know whether their theological understanding exactly matches our own. We will join them at the Lord's Table. We will continue to love God and our neighbor, and to share our faith with all those who will listen, though listening is not a prerequisite for neighborliness.

We will build a diocese that sees its primary job as supporting local congregations, which it does

• Directly, by helping congregations find clergy appropriate for them, offering loans and grants, and providing additional services;
  
  
• Indirectly, by connecting congregations with each other for mutual support; by offering training, education, and other resources to individuals and congregations; by providing common fellowship and worship opportunities; by sponsoring mission projects too big for individual congregations to undertake; and by being a good steward of common assets.
  

We will build a diocese devoted to figuring out how we all can work together, not how we can "win" battles with our diocesan brothers and sisters. We will welcome back into our church any who wish to rejoin us on our mission journey.

We will build a diocese that shows concern for the poor and the downtrodden, that has a passion for a just society, and that respects the dignity of every human being.

We will build a diocese that participates fully in The Episcopal Church and seeks to make it better through its democratic mechanisms.

We will elect a bishop who shares our values, as outlined here. When that bishop retires, we expect him or her to be celebrated for having had an exceptionally successful episcopate.


Draft by Lionel Deimel, 5/28/2008 (ver. 2.3)

Which Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh?

I just posted the latest news summary on Pittsburgh Update, a Web site intended to keep people in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh aware of news events that will or might affect them as our diocese heads toward schism.

One item is particularly interesting in this week’s post. (A post is made every Monday.) It concerns something that has been known by a number of Episcopal Church supporters in the diocese for a couple of weeks, and something Bishop Robert Duncan has known we know. There was uncertainty, however, about whether we should publicize the facts we had learned, particularly as they may have some effect on the ongoing litigation between diocesan leaders and Calvary Church.

Any concerns anyone might have had about not talking about what we knew are now moot, as Calvary’s rector, Harold Lewis, has spilled the beans himself in the parish newsletter.

As the Rev. Dr. Lewis explains in Agape—Lewis’s essay “What’s in a name?” is well worth reading, by the way—Bishop Duncan has registered a new nonprofit corporation with the Pennsylvania Department of State. Its name (“mirabile dictu!,” as Lewis puts it) is “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.” (The registration is listed here.) The corporation was officially registered 4/28/2008, but the articles of incorporation, in the bishop’s handwriting, is dated 12/29/2006. (The application is reproduced in Agape.) Since the Secretary of State’s office processes new corporations with relative dispatch, it is unclear why the above dates should differ by nearly a year and a half. The paperwork was received by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 1/2/2007.

In any case, the move by the bishop was, until very recently, not known to any members of the Board of Trustees or Diocesan Council, as far as I can tell. The bishop is said to have been advised by his chancellor to file the incorporation to protect diocesan property. (The stated purpose of the new corporation is “[u]pholding and propagating the historic Faith and Order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer.”)

For historical reasons that I do not pretend to understand, the Diocese of Pittsburgh has existed for all of his history as an unincorporated entity and has, from all I can tell, been none the worse for wear as a result. (The Board of Trustees of the diocese, on the other hand, is explicitly incorporated.) So why is “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh” now being incorporated? Presumably, it is to give the bishop, who is likely to be deposed by The Episcopal Church before he can “realign” the diocese, a better claim to be the legitimate leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.

It has long been clear that Duncan subscribes to the legal theory that The Episcopal Church is a voluntary federation of dioceses. According to this theory, a diocese can, at any time, choose to leave the federation. Here is not the place to explain why this notion is demented, but I invite the reader to think of the relationship of South Carolina to the United States before the Civil War. In any case, it is clear that the good bishop thinks that he can remove the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh from its parent church and have it still be the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. (See “Frequently Asked Questions About Realignment.”) Presumably, he will claim that the preëxisting diocese is the one being incorporated, and that he is in control of it. Although I am not a lawyer, I suspect that this is a stretch.

More importantly, the incorporation may largely be irrelevant. In Calvary’s lawsuit, an agreement was reached concerning ownership of diocesan property and the procedures by which property might be alienated from the diocese. In that agreement, “Diocese” is defined as “the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America.” It is unclear how “Diocese” in that agreement could possibly refer to any entity, by whatever name, that is not in The Episcopal Church. “Realignment,” however, by definition, requires the removal of the diocese from The Episcopal Church. (For more information about the stipulation in the Calvary lawsuit, see question 4 in Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh’s “Realignment Reconsidered.”)

So how can the new incorporation do Bishop Duncan any good in his attempt to remove assets from The Episcopal Church? I have no idea. His chancellor had better have a better theory than is presently apparent.

Resigned to Realignment

On Sunday, June 1, 2008, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, in the Highland Park neighborhood of Pittsburgh, held a forum and panel discussion on Bishop Robert Duncan’s plan for “realignment.” Duncan, who has been determined to have already abandoned the communion of The Episcopal Church and is awaiting a vote by the church’s House of Bishops on his deposition, is attempting to change the constitution of the diocese and to transfer the entire diocese from The Episcopal Church to another Anglican Communion province, most likely South America’s province of the Southern Cone. The only bishop ever to have tried this ploy, John-David Schofield, late of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, was deposed shortly after doing so. It is unclear whether Episcopal bishops will, this time around, shut the barn door before the horse gets out.

That a majority of diocesan clergy will vote for the transparently improper constitutional change that proponents claim will allow realignment has never really been in doubt. Indeed, the Diocese of Pittsburgh has become a magnet and training ground for militant Evangelical clergy frustrated by their apparently permanent minority status within The Episcopal Church. The majority of laypeople in the diocese are not necessarily committed to the bishop’s program, however, and divided loyalties in congregations are causing some clergy to have to make painful choices.

A round of district meetings was held last year, ostensibly to discuss realignment, but actually to sell the realignment plan to the laity. This year, formal meetings largely have been confined to individual congregations, to which Bishop Duncan repeatedly has taken his medicine show. The St. Andrew’s affair was an exception. Although held primarily for the benefit of the parish vestry, the entire diocese was invited, and the audience of 100 or so clergy and laypeople mostly came from other churches.

Sunday’s program was put together by St. Andrew’s’ rector, Bruce Robison, and, although a balanced presentation was certainly an aspiration of his, circumstances conspired against achieving it. Robison could not get the mix of panelists he originally sought, and the group assembled on June 1 represented a compromise of what must have been Plan C. Observers unfamiliar with St. Andrew’s or its rector might have concluded, erroneously, that the parish was at least nominally committed to realignment. It isn’t.

The Program

The program began with 10–15-minute opening remarks from four presenters. This was followed by a question-and-answer period during which the audience was invited to ask questions. Pittsburgh Assistant Bishop Henry Scriven and the Rev. John Bailey, secretary of Diocesan Council, spoke in favor of realignment. The Rev. Daniel Hall, while generally agreeing with the arguments advanced to justify realignment, urged that the diocese wait for a definitive ruling from the Anglican Communion that The Episcopal Church has chosen to “walk apart” before leaving the then-officially-discredited Episcopal Church. Only the Rev. Cynthia Bronson Sweigert disputed the need for realignment or its desirability. The Rev. Canon Mary Maggard Hays, who seemed to have come in a package deal with Bishop Scriven, joined the four speakers in answering audience questions. Robison acted as moderator and offered occasional remarks.

As I understand it, the speakers were given little direction concerning the issues they were to address; they were told simply to give their personal reasons for supporting or opposing realignment. It was not surprising that the panel, drawn exclusively from the ordained orders, spoke mostly of theological issues.

Graciously, Scriven conceded that not everyone who will be left behind in The Episcopal Church by realignment is a heretic. But he asserted that the church is moving in a direction he is unwilling to go, and he raised the usual charge that the church is “unclear” about the nature of Jesus (among other things), citing the Presiding Bishop’s “10 Questions For Katharine Jefferts Schori” interview in the July 10, 2006, Time and an August 2007 statement, “Already One in God,” a response to the primates’ Dar es Salaam letter from the leadership of the Diocese of Northern Michigan. Scriven’s strategy was a clever one to use in front of a potentially hostile audience, since it is much harder to refute someone’s distorted opinion of what might happen than it is to refute his distorted opinion of what has happened.

The bishop’s opening statement was followed by one from the Rev. Daniel Hall. Hall is a surgeon and an Episcopal priest serving in a Lutheran church. He was a signer of the January 2008 letter to the bishop declaring that “the best way forward for renewal and reformation of the Episcopal Church” is to stay in the church and advocate for the Windsor Report’s recommendations to be implemented. Hall emphasized his Evangelical heritage and expressed general agreement with the critique of The Episcopal Church offered by those wishing to realign. Surprisingly, he also expressed love of The Episcopal Church and of its 1979 prayer book, although he clearly would like to see both a different Episcopal Church and a different Anglican Communion. He enumerated the sorts of mechanisms available for holding Evangelical Christianity together—apparently, he does not much care what happens to other Christian traditions—confessional (the usual Protestant solution), magisterial (Roman Catholic), and conciliar (as advocated by the Anglican Communion Institute but, arguably, at odds with actual past practice of the Anglican Communion). In theory, Hall is looking for “mutual submission under Christ” among Anglican provinces. In practice, he seemed to think it wisest to wait until The Episcopal Church is thrown out of the Anglican Communion, so that realignment can be effected with greater moral authority. Those of us who believe that realignment is the moral equivalent of theft by deception were not cheered by Hall’s opposition to the bishop’s present scheme.

The Rev. John Bailey’s opening remarks, articulated at great length, were familiar: The Episcopal Church is going where traditional Christianity has never gone, and the need to defend the authentic Gospel—he told his audience that we are actually two churches with two gospels—justifies the militancy of realignment. The litany continued: the church is shrinking, but South Carolina and Pittsburgh (corrected through some appropriate statistical legerdemain) are growing; The Episcopal Church adopts ideas from contemporary society; loving your neighbor does not mean consenting to sinful behavior; the Presiding Bishop has denied the uniqueness of Jesus. The “truth of the Gospel,” Bailey said, is at stake. “Peacemaking”—he began by talking about peacemaking and asking, rhetorically, why we are fighting—“is not about everyone just getting along.” Realignment would mean that Evangelicals will no longer need to apologize for their church.

Last to speak was the Rev. Cynthia Bronson Sweigert. She suggested that generalizations were being made about The Episcopal Church that simply are not true, a point she illustrated, somewhat obliquely, by quoting from Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh’s “Realignment Reconsidered,” which juxtaposes answers from PEP to questions and answers about realignment offered by the diocese. She suggested that dialogue in Pittsburgh is much like that from the pen of Lewis Carroll, in that words and ideas are bandied about with meanings different from their conventional ones. (“We are not leaving The Episcopal Church; The Episcopal Church has left us.”) While conceding that some division of the diocese seems unavoidable, she admitted to seeing no valid purpose for it. Groups breaking away from The Episcopal Church, she observed, do not have much of a success rate. Sweigert expressed excitement, however, about a future diocese free of the current strife, and she said that a group of clergy and laypeople, informally called the Across the Aisle group, is talking about how the Diocese of Pittsburgh can be reorganized in a way that avoids “the polarization of the past.” Sweigert said that she is in The Episcopal Church because of its comprehensiveness, and she noted, with sadness, that, in Pittsburgh, one never hears Queen Elizabeth’s remark about having no desire to make windows into men’s souls. She ended by observing that we need Christ and one another.

Details of the question-and-answer period that followed are not particularly important. Most of the questions were from opponents of realignment, but they were respectfully asked and respectfully answered. Particularly toward the end of the event—it actually lasted close to 2½ hours—the panelists seemed just as happy to let someone else answer a question, although Robison had suggested that each presenter should have an opportunity to respond to each question.

Analysis

What was striking was the contrast, particularly in the question-and-answer period, to the dialogue that took place at a similar meeting in the same space. One of the aforementioned district meetings (that for District VII) was held at St. Andrew’s. It, too, was well attended and was similar in format, though the presentations were even more weighted in favor of realignment. The audience was almost uniformly opposed to this point of view—only one of the questions could be considered at all sympathetic or neutral—and the session became progressively more acrimonious as it wore on, with questioners angrily hurling charges and posing questions designed to embarrass the presenters.

The mood on June 1, however, was one of resignation to some sort of division of the diocese. The first question, in fact, was about whether there is a way to part gracefully. The consensus was that there likely is not, an answer disputed by no one. Some perfunctory words were said about being gracious to one another and possibly sharing projects and resources, but the words seemed to lack conviction.

Perhaps most surprising was the absence, both in the initial presentations and in the subsequent questions, of discussion related to the canonical or legal propriety of realignment. There was little concern expressed for the effect realignment might have on the Anglican Communion, and no talk at all of the likely effect on The Episcopal Church. These concerns had seemingly become irrelevant, as if everyone was part of a Greek tragedy, and no one had control over his or her fate.

The program was, I suspect, the last great theological debate in Pittsburgh on the realignment question. (It was, perhaps, not a great debate, but theological issues were raised in the apparent expectation that someone would actually listen to them.) From this point on, however, I suspect that we will not bother to argue theology. Realigners and non-realigners will continue to plan for their individual futures. Everyone will play out his or her role, and what will happen will happen. A broad coalition of Episcopalians will inherit the current dysfunctional diocese and will try to make it work, while the lawyers will labor to return diocesan assets to their rightful owners.

May God have mercy on us all.

Realignment Reconsidered

The various groups allied as Via Media USA are notable for quite different reasons. The Episcopal Forum of South Carolina, for example, has emphasized informational events. Remain Episcopal, whatever its past accomplishments, will forever be known as the organization most responsible for facilitating the rising from the ashes of the Diocese of San Joaquin. Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh (PEP), on the other hand, is best known for its publications.

Lately, PEP’s efforts have been focused on working, largely behind the scenes, to forge as wide a coalition as possible to help in the rebuilding of a post-Duncan Diocese of Pittsburgh. (See “A Pittsburgh Conversation,” which reports on a small piece of this work.) Even this project, however, requires PEP to shift into document-production mode on occasion, and, today, PEP is releasing what we consider to be a very significant handout, “Realignment Reconsidered.”

Some background of today’s announcement: On April 22, the Diocese of Pittsburgh posted “Frequently Asked Questions About Realignment” on its Parish Toolbox Web site. That 8-page document distills the message Bishop Duncan has been delivering to individual parishes in his recent campaign to shore up support for his plan to remove the diocese from The Episcopal Church.

Reading “FAQ” is a visit to a looking-glass world in which facts and logic are, shall I say, malleable. For example, question 4 asks: “If the Diocese chooses to realign, what would the immediate consequences be for individual … clergy?” The answer offered by the diocese is the following: “Clergy would need to enter a new retirement plan and would be clergy of the province that the Diocese joins instead of clergy of The Episcopal Church.” Even John-David Schofield, bold as he was in engineering the “realignment” of the Diocese of San Joaquin, was not so presumptuous as to suggest that his diocesan convention could undo the ordination vows of individual priests or deacons.

There was no question that “FAQ” required a direct response. Within a few days, I had written alternative answers to several of the diocese’s questions, and I made a pitch to turn that preliminary work into a PEP publication. The idea was not a hard sell. The plan was to copy the diocesan document and add our own answers alongside the original ones.

It has taken nearly a month to finish “Realignment Reconsidered.” Like so many PEP projects, although it has a single, primary author—me, in this instance—it had many reviewers, and some people made significant contributions to particular answers. Because we tend to go through so many review cycles, it is easy to loose track of just who wrote what.

In any case, the scrutiny to which PEP subjects its publications is very good at smoothing the rough edges, and I believe the new document to be a very good one. Most typos get caught eventually, if not always quickly. Errors of fact are likely to be identified by someone, and it is often the case that a reviewer will be able to summon up useful information, unknown or forgotten by the author, that can be used to strengthen the text. Much attention is given to tone, and that was certainly the case for “Realignment Reconsidered.” We try to avoid name-calling, sarcasm, and unsupported accusations; it is all too easy to be carried away by one’s emotions, but a little self-indulgence can alienate a reader, particularly one unsympathetic to your viewpoint to begin with..

It is difficult to identify a question and answer from the new document as being typical, but an example will at least provide a sense of what the Diocese of Pittsburgh has been saying and how we have tried to correct the record. Question 5 from “FAQ” reads as follows:

Can a congregation “opt out” of diocesan realignment? What would happen to the a) parishes who do not wish to realign, and b) clergy who do not wish to realign?

a) Parishes would be given time to consider whether to leave the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh by changing the “accession” in their by-laws. The Diocese would work with parishes to make such a decision as conflict-free and charitable as possible.

b) Clergy would apply to the Bishop for letters dimissory (transfer letters) from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh to whatever entity the leadership of the Episcopal Church sets up.

Our answer is the following (PEP answers are all set in italics):

It is clear from the experience of the Diocese of San Joaquin that any parish that wants to remain in The Episcopal Church need only declare that intention. Likewise, clergy who want to stay in The Episcopal Church will not need to execute any sort of transfer or require anyone’s permission to do so, especially not that of a bishop who no longer holds authority in the church. Failure of a parish to declare its intention to remain an Episcopal parish could be construed as indicative of an intention to leave the church and could expose it to litigation by The Episcopal Church to recover parish property.

It is the position of The Episcopal Church, supported overwhelmingly by diocesan chancellors and legal scholars, that a diocese cannot properly remove its accession clause from its constitution, nor can it remove itself from The Episcopal Church. There will continue to be an Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh that is part of The Episcopal Church, but it will have new leadership. There will be no need for any parish remaining in The Episcopal Church to amend its bylaws, since there would be no conflict in acceding to the constitution and canons of the diocese that remains in The Episcopal Church.

Legal precedent for the inability of Episcopal Church parishes to remove parish property from The Episcopal Church is strong. Such matters are largely governed by state law, and a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in the St. James the Less case—a case about which the diocese has largely been silent—gives little reason for realigning parishes to think that they can long remain in control of parish property. Changing parish bylaws will be unavailing.

PEP’s biggest challenge will be getting “Realignment Reconsidered” into the hands of those willing at least to consider arguments at odds with statements made by their bishop. Proponents of realignment have demonized Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh at least as much as they have demonized The Episcopal Church, which makes it difficult for any PEP document to get a fair hearing in much of the Pittsburgh diocese.

Interested readers can find “Realignment Reconsidered” here. The press release announcing its availability can be found here.

A Pittsburgh Conversation

With a vote construed as a mechanism to remove the Diocese of Pittsburgh from The Episcopal Church less than half a year away and a real possibility that Bishop Robert Duncan could be deposed before then, what I have called the enthusiastic and the reluctant supporters of The Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh are beginning seriously to talk to one another.

The contacts between these groups have had something of an ad hoc quality about them because of organizational asymmetry. Enthusiastic Episcopalians have, in Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh (PEP), a nearly 5-year-old tax-exempt corporation of clergy and laypeople, whereas the anti-realignment conservatives are represented mainly by a small, informal group of clergy used to meeting quietly and in private. Despite this asymmetry, the forging of an effective coalition to move the Diocese of Pittsburgh into a post-schism era is moving forward.

As part of this coalition building, the Rev. Dr. Jay Geisler, a member of the group of conservative clergy that declared to the diocese and its bishop that they intend to remain in The Episcopal Church, was invited to be guest speaker at a PEP meeting last week, and his visit occasioned a useful exchange of ideas. Geisler, who is rector of a church once led by Mark Lawrence, now Bishop of South Carolina, brought a few of his vestry members along with him, thereby providing a rare opportunity for moderate and conservative laypeople of Pittsburgh to talk to one another as well.

PEP members were, I think, delighted (and probably surprised) to hear of Geisler’s passion for social justice. (He once landed in jail for his part in a demonstration.) I hope that he left with the impression that PEP people are generally orthodox in their theology, if very protective of their church and wary of their bishop.

During the presentation and subsequent Q&A, I listened especially for an answer to a longstanding question of mine: What do conservatives—for want of a better term—really want? Geisler never quite answered this question, though, in truth, I never quite asked it. He did say a few things that touched on the matter, however.

Acknowledging that conservatives have sought a place of “safety” within The Episcopal Church, Geisler offered his own solution, at least for the short term. As a mechanism to avoid schism and lessen conflict, he explained that he would like to see the establishment of a non-geographic diocese of conservative parishes within the church, led by a conservative bishop. He admitted that this plan is problematic. He did not say what effect he thought such an innovation would have on Pittsburgh, an interesting question, in retrospect, that no one pursued. He related that Bishop Duncan had discouraged him from advocating his plan because it would, in Duncan’s words, “weaken our position.”

This was an interesting revelation. I do not favor the non-geographic diocese “solution,” but not for the same reason that Duncan opposes it. (I will have more to say about this another time.) Duncan’s opposition, I think, is to any reconciliation or mechanism that gives even the appearance of unity, since such a scheme would ease tensions in the church and blunt his efforts to engineer a schism that ultimately could place him in the position of leader of his own Anglican province in North America.

Interestingly, Geisler did not articulate the complaint I have heard from other conservatives that they are discriminated against by liberal bishops when seeking rectorships. I have always been skeptical of this charge, but I never felt qualified to evaluate it. Geisler suggested a more credible “problem,” namely that bishops—it was not at all clear that he meant to limit his remark to liberal bishops—are wary of graduates of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, the alma mater of so many favoring “realignment,” because they are concerned that Trinity graduates will not long remain clergy in The Episcopal Church. In other words, discrimination against evangelical clergy may be less a matter of disqualifying candidates for their theology as for their schismatic designs against The Episcopal Church.

Our speaker had a few other things to say that most listeners probably found encouraging, whether or not they were in full agreement. Although Geisler passed up an opportunity to call his bishop disingenuous, he nevertheless took exception to Duncan’s contention that the current disagreements are, at root, about the “authority of Scripture.” Instead, he said that he thought the fundamental issue was autonomy, suggesting, in so saying, that The Episcopal Church has failed to be sufficiently respectful of the beliefs of other Anglican provinces. Geisler also made it clear that, in his mind, “realignment” is, in fact, schism. Duncan has avoided this conclusion by accusing The Episcopal Church of “walking apart” from the rest of the Anglican Communion or even of becoming non-Christian. Geisler’s view seemed more genuine and defensible.

The conversation failed to cover some of the essential issues that must be faced in Pittsburgh in the coming months. The Q&A period was not long enough, and the experiences of the audience in working in the diocese over the years, predictably influenced comments and questions, both in helpful and unhelpful ways. Nonetheless, the discussion seemed a useful part of an ongoing conversation that offers hope of reconciliation and a renewed sense of mission in the not-so-distant future of the (likely much smaller) Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The Ignorant Vote

Hillary Clinton is trying desperately to make the case that she is more electable than Barack Obama. I doubt this is true; Clinton had what pollsters call high negatives long before she announced her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. What that means is that there is a large fraction of the voting population that Clinton will almost certainly never win over. Many in that group are not ready to vote for Obama either, but they at least are not unalterably opposed to the idea. To be sure, there is a racist vote that will not support a black man, but Clinton supporters cannot dismiss misogynist sentiment, either.

Anyway, in supporting the case for her electability the other day, Clinton was bragging that she has more support than her opponent from whites who have not finished college. No doubt, this is a significant voting bloc, but one has to question Clinton’s boast that she is preferred by the ignorant. I wonder how she does with white supremacists and whether she is ready to tout her advantage with that group to superdelegates.

Has Anyone Looked at the Numbers?

All news outlets are reporting that Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama in Pennsylvania’s Democratic presidential primary by 10%. This is significant news because pundits insisted that Clinton needed to win by “double digits” for a “real” victory over her opponent, since Pennsylvania has long been considered a Clinton state.

The only problem with the news reports is that they are apparently wrong. I discovered this when I began searching news sites like CNN and NPR for the actual vote tallies. None of the sites seemed to give vote totals, only percentages.

I tracked down the election returns on the Pennsylvania Department of State Web site and was surprised to learn that Clinton did not win by 10%. As of 9:00 AM this morning, her lead is something like 8.5%, a significant difference, given the expectation game. Yet, in its 9:00 AM newscast, NPR was still reporting a 10% Clinton victory. (I have informed the network of the error.) What are reporters reporting, anyway?

Here are the current numbers from the Pennsylvania Department of State:

Because the numbers will change, I captured the Department of State tally, which can be viewed as a PDF here. The current Web page can be viewed here.

NOTE: As I am posting this, the numbers have changed slightly. With 99.34% of the districts reporting, Hillary Clinton has gained 0.01% over Barack Obama. Her lead is still 8.5%.

UPDATE 4/28/2008: The Department of State Web site now reports 100% of the ballots counted. Clinton’s victory is not 1,259,466 to 1,046,120. Her final lead—still not in double digits—is 9.26%.

UPDATE 5/9/2008: Pennsylvania still lists primary numbers on the Web as “unofficial returns,” but, presumably, the numbers are increasingly close to what will be the final, official tally. As of today, Clinton has 1,260,937 votes to Obama’s 1,046,822. Her lead has now inched up to 9.28%. Clinton would do well to point out that she received 20.45% more votes than her opponent, however.

Even I Am Not That Paranoid

In his introduction to the February-March issue of Trinity, the house organ of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop Robert Duncan’s introductory message (on page 2) was all about a prophesy he had received from the Rev. Mark Stibbe, an English Evangelical who contributed to a recent clergy conference in Pittsburgh. Stibbe’s pronouncement “2008 Is the Year of the Gate” appeared below the bishop’s message. Although the bishop and his staff were reputedly cheered by Stibbe’s prophesy, like most prophesy, ancient and modern, this particular example of the genre is ambiguous. The bishop may see in the message a coming liberation from the despised Episcopal Church. I can as easily read a coming liberation from an oppressive diocese and a joyous reunification with a reinvigorated Episcopal Church. I will let my bishop take comfort where he can, however.

Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh took virtually no notice of the Stibbe prophesy. It has become harder and harder for the bishop to surprise or shock us, and we were too busy discussing when the bishop might finally be deposed. At some point, however, liberal Episcopalians discovered the prophesy and discussed it a good deal. (See, for example, the conversation at Father Jake Stops the World.) Well, material in an official diocesan publication is surely fair game, and most Episcopalians put little stock in fortune telling.

A few days ago, a friend was complaining that she had not yet received her copy of the latest (April-May) Trinity in the mail. Not only that, she said, but it had not yet been posted on the Web, as it usually is. Soon thereafter, those who had been discussing the Stibbe piece began discussing the fact that the magazine “containing Bishop Duncan’s comments and the prophecy have been pulled from the Diocesan web site.” (See post on The Lead.) The implication was that the bishop or his staff were trying to manipulate the bishop’s public image to spare him embarrassment.

In fact, although the bishop’s views on myriad matters is quite at variance from my own, even on what one would think are issues of fact, Bishop Duncan is not shy in proclaiming his beliefs, nor is he much inclined to apologize for them or to deny acknowledging what he has said. (Calvary Church’s attorney, who has more evidence of Bishop Duncan’s declarations at his disposal, might have a different view.) Anyway, I checked the diocesan Web site this morning and discovered that, indeed, I could not bring up the February-March Trinity. It was listed on the proper page, however, just below a link to the latest issue, which now is on-line.

I have maintained a few Web pages for my church’s worship commission, where I have posted such documents as minutes, one after another, as links to the actual documents. A number of times, while using Wordpress to add a new document, I inadvertently caused the identification of two documents to be incorporated into a single link to one of the documents. Given that the link to the latest Trinity was new, I suspected that a simple HTML error, not a nefarious plot, was responsible for the earlier issue’s having been “pulled.” I wrote a note to Peter Frank, who runs communications for the diocese, and Peter thanked me for pointing out the problem and assured me that the disappearance of the February-March issue was really a clerical mistake of the Internet age. The links have now been fixed, and you can find the listings of Trinity issues here.

Are we all getting a little paranoid here? Why was I the first person to go the the diocese to ask what was really going on? There are enough strange things happening in our church that we don’t need to go about inventing others. Everyone should chill out.

A New Service

A new service aimed at Pittsburgh Episcopalians is being launched today. It should also be of interest to Episcopalians elsewhere. Specifically, Pittsburgh Update is intended to “provide accurate and timely information” about “developments in the wider church that have the potential to affect [Pittsburgh Episcopalians].”

The first weekly post appears today, and it reports on the reorganization of the Diocese of San Joaquin, on the recent court decision regarding the property of St. James’, Elmhurst, N.Y., on the controversy over the recent episcopal depositions, and on a vigil to be held in support of Bishop Robert Duncan and the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes. The stories posted are brief, but they contain links to conventional news stores and other sources.

Pittsburgh Update builds on the background material provided by A Pittsburgh Episcopal Voice, which is maintained by an increasingly diverse group of Pittsburgh clergy and laypeople. I am, for now, one of the editors.

Some Background

For those of us who have been trying to get ordinary Episcopalians to pay attention to church developments beyond the boundaries of their parish, it has been hard to know where to tell people to go for concise and relevant news updates.

Four years ago, I suggested that Via Media USA post a history of the current church conflicts and keep that history up-to-date. That never happened, partly because the history would be a long read and would be difficult to write and maintain.

My own parish recently faced the news source problem. I am on a committee that was concerned about how we can help keep parishioners informed of current events in the church. We could recommend no single Web site, or even a handful of sites, that could be relied upon effectively to deliver relevant news to Episcopalians.

This led me to scale down my original idea to something more manageable. Why not offer concise, objective news summaries with appropriate links? (One can hope that readers will eventually pick up the necessary background information.) This is the idea that has been developed into Pittsburgh Update.

Is Obama Applying for the Wrong Job?

Pennsylvania is receiving a lot of attention from the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. The battle for votes in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary is beginning to produce lots of stories in local media.

I awoke today to a segment on my local NPR affiliate describing an Obama speech in Pittsburgh in which the candidate said something like, “My first job will be to keep you safe.” I was still a bit sleepy, so that may not be a precise quotation, but it captures the essence of what Obama said.

I was struck by the emphasis. As Commander in Chief, the President surely bears significant responsibility for national defense. In the oath of office, however, the incoming President says, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” [Article II, Section 1]

We are not electing the Commander in Chief or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. We are electing a President of the United States whose job is broader. His first job, I would suggest, is to “defend the Constitution of the United States,” including the Bill of Rights.

We currently have a President who is confused about his job. President Bush thinks that defending the country against foreign threats requires him to use any means necessary in doing so, including ignoring the Constitution and the civil rights of citizens and non-citizens alike.

What we need, however, is a President who has the priorities of the job straight, a President who will use any means necessary to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Obama could be that President. Or maybe not.

A Punctuation Oddity

Having written several rather serious posts of late, perhaps it’s time for some comic relief, or something completely different, anyway.

In the February 2008 issue of Trains Magazine, I encountered this sentence:

With the ClassOne Dispatch system, from Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Avaya Inc. and Frisco, Texas-based ObjectTel Inc., BNSF radio calls now travel over what is believed to be the largest combination voice, data, and radio network in the world, expanding usefulness of the network, improving response times, and helping the company reduce costs.

There is reason to be thankful that I did not have to copyedit this sentence, which contains a number of pitfalls for the unwary editor. First, one has to be very sure about corporate and product names these days, which often violate conventional spelling (ClassOne and ObjectTel) and punctuation (Avaya Inc.) rules. The copyeditor (or fact checker) slipped up with “ObjectTel Inc.” The corporate name, apparently, is the slightly more conventional “ObjectTel, Inc.,” which you can verify from the company’s Web site.)

What particularly disturbed me about this sentence—yes, it is one sentence—is the way that Trains indicated the locations of the two companies responsible for the ClassOne Dispatch system.

Commas are used to set off instances of successive geographical or political divisions occurring in a sentence, as in this one: “The company has offices in Springfield, Missouri, and San Francisco.” We would normally expect commas around “N.J.” and “Texas” in the Trains sentence, except for the transformation of place names into compound adjectives. Whereas “Frisco-based ObjectTel” seems perfectly correct, “Frisco, Texas-based ObjectTel” does not. The punctuation seems to emphasize “Texas-based,” with “Frisco” left rather unconnected to the rest of the sentence. We expect a comma somewhere after “Texas,” which would make a clearer connection between city and state, but we don’t get one. Where would it go?

The Trains punctuation is surely defensible, though it is disconcerting. Because it juxtaposes two punctuation marks, most people would be reluctant to write “Frisco, Texas,-based ObjectTel,” but its meaning is clearer without its looking impossibly odd. More disconcerting is “Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Avaya,” where “Basking Ridge” becomes part of a semi-open, semi-hyphenated compound.

Sometimes there just seems not to be a fully satisfactory way of punctuating a sentence. In such case, we are better off recasting the sentence to avoid problems. I would have written:

With the ClassOne Dispatch system, from Avaya Inc., of Basking Ridge, N.J., and ObjectTel, Inc., of Frisco, Texas, BNSF radio calls now travel over what is believed to be the largest combination voice, data, and radio network in the world, expanding usefulness of the network, improving response times, and helping the company reduce costs.

Isn’t that clearer?

Legal Matters

In an earlier post, I analyzed Bishop Robert Duncan’s letter to the Presiding Bishop intended to prevent him from being deposed by the House of Bishops. That letter, I am afraid, will not accomplish what it was intended to do.

Duncan’s Philadelphia law firm is doing better work on his behalf. As I noted in my first post on the material that the Diocese of Pittsburgh released today, the letter from Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP, to David Booth Beers, the Presiding Bishop’s chancellor can be read here.

In this essay, I want to consider the letter to Beers and some of the canonical issues raised there and elsewhere.

The letter from attorney John Lewis first asserts that Duncan’s affirmation in his letter (“I state that I consider myself ‘fully subject to the doctrine, discipline and worship of this Church.’”) has fulfilled the requirement of the Presiding Bishop’s letter of January 15 (“I would, however, welcome a statement by you within the next two months providing evidence that you once more consider yourself fully subject to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of this Church.”) and therefore puts the matter of Duncan’s abandonment of the communion of The Episcopal Church to rest.

This is a strong opening move by Mr. Lewis, but the Duncan letter surely does not provide the sort of evidence Bishop Jefferts Schori was seeking. It may seem that the Presiding Bishop actually asked the wrong question, but I want to revisit that matter below.

Mr. Lewis’s next point is perhaps his strongest. He maintains, as others have done, that Canon IV.9 assumes that a bishop found to have abandoned the communion of the church must be inhibited before he or she can be deposed. Duncan has not been inhibited. The recent deposition of Bishop William Cox suggests otherwise, but a case can be made for Mr. Lewis’s point of view.

According to Canon IV.9, once the Review Committee has certified to the Presiding Bishop that a bishop has abandoned the communion of the church:

The Presiding Bishop, with the consent of the three senior Bishops having jurisdiction in this Church, shall then inhibit the said Bishop until such time as the House of Bishops shall investigate the matter and act thereon. During the period of Inhibition, the Bishop shall not perform any episcopal, ministerial or canonical acts, except as relate to the administration of the temporal affairs of the Diocese of which the Bishop holds jurisdiction or in which the Bishop is then serving.

The canon seems to assume that the three senior bishops will, in fact, consent to inhibition. It is possible that, in writing this canon, it occurred to no one that inhibition might not happen. Why would the bishops overrule the Review Committee? Lewis would have us believe that the matter is ended if the three senior bishops do not agree to inhibition. It is certainly possible to interpret the canon in the case where they do not consent to inhibition, however, and I plan to do that. I note, however, that the notion that the three senior bishops can interrupt the disciplinary process by not agreeing to inhibition is at least a little crazy. In practice, this means that a single, elderly bishop—if consent from three bishops is required, the lack of consent from one can prevent inhibition—can override the work of the Review Committee and possibly the entire House of Bishops, which, by this reasoning, has no say in the matter.

How do we interpret the part of the canon cited above if the bishop charged is not inhibited? Logically, everything after “During the period of Inhibition” is irrelevant. No restrictions apply to the actions of the non-inhibited bishop.

The canon continues:

The Presiding Bishop, or the presiding officer, shall forthwith give notice to the Bishop of the certification and Inhibition. Unless the inhibited Bishop, within two months, makes declaration by a Verified written statement to the Presiding Bishop, that the facts alleged in the certificate are false or utilizes the provisions of Canon IV.8 or Canon III.12.7, as applicable, the Bishop will be liable to Deposition. If the Presiding Bishop is reasonably satisfied that the statement constitutes (i) a good faith retraction of the declarations or acts relied upon in the certification to the Presiding Bishop or (ii) a good faith denial that the Bishop made the declarations or committed the acts relied upon in the certificate, the Presiding Bishop, with the advice and consent of a majority of the three senior Bishops consenting to Inhibition, terminate the Inhibition. Otherwise, it shall be the duty of the Presiding Bishop to present the matter to the House of Bishops at the next regular or special meeting of the House. If the House, by a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote, shall give its consent, the Presiding Bishop shall depose the Bishop from the Ministry, and pronounce and record in the presence of two or more Bishops that the Bishop has been so deposed.

If there is no inhibition, presumably, “certification and Inhibition” in the first sentence is equivalent to “certification,” as if the sentence ended with “certification, if any.” The next sentence refers to “the inhibited Bishop,” and so is irrelevant. Because this sentence is null and void where the bishop has not been inhibited, we can see that we may ignore everything in the canon up to the sentence beginning “Otherwise.” Without inhibition, it appears that the process by which the bishop offers a defense is short-circuited. This might explain why the Presiding Bishop did not actually ask for a “Verified written statement” as described in the canon. She asked for something a bit different, seemingly as something of a courtesy.

Is this reading reasonable? Why not? If the senior bishops think the case is not strong, perhaps it should just go to the House of Bishops, where it may be quickly dealt with or the bishops may initiate their own investigation in any way they see fit. This seems to be what the Presiding Bishop intends to do.

Lewis next suggests that the certification should not go to the House of Bishops because the charges are similar to charges brought against Bishop John-David Schofield before San Joaquin claimed it had left The Episcopal Church. No certification was forthcoming from the Review Committee in that case. Presumably, the current Review Committee either sees a difference in the two cases, or its members believe that the former Review Committee erred. I suspect that both are true. That the church made one honest mistake is no reason to repeat it.

The rest of Lewis’s letter simply argues for as many rights for his client as he can get. There is no need to discuss that here.

Two questions have been raised about the recent depositions of Bishops Schofield and Cox, and, since those objections might be brought in Duncan’s case, I would like to mention them here. First, there is the question of whether the spring meeting of the House of Bishops had a quorum. The parliamentarian and the Presiding Bishop’s chancellor say that it did, and this is a commonplace enough issue for the House for me to assume that these people know what they are talking about.

More complicated is the matter of what sort of majority is needed to agree to deposition when the House of Bishops votes on the matter. Consent to deposition must be given by “a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote” (see above). What exactly does that mean? Those who have suggested that the depositions of Schofield and Cox, all of whom seem to be on the staff of The Living Church, was improper contend that a majority of all bishops that can vote in the House of Bishops is meant. On the face of it, however, the canon could as easily refer simply to a majority of those present at the meeting entitled to vote. A follow-up story in The Living Church offers various reasons for accepting this interpretation.

I will offer additional reasons to think that no sort of supermajority is intended by the canon. First, since the Review Committee has already offered a judgment—in most cases, a judgment in which the three senior bishops concur—the House of Bishops is really just validating what is, presumably, a strong case. The history of the canon, however, suggests a reason for the presence of the confusing words “whole number of Bishops.” This canon, the first version of which was enacted in 1853, has been changed a number of times, usually in response to particular problems encountered in its application. An earlier version included the wording “a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled at the time to seats in the House of Bishops.” This wording clearly is intended to refer to all bishops who could attend a meeting, rather than those who actually do so. On the other hand, “a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote” could conceivably refer to all bishops who can vote or to all bishops at a meeting who can vote. Admittedly, the “whole number” locution suggests something special, but there is reason to believe that this odd phrase was merely carried over from the earlier canon. The interpretation of the Presiding Bishop’s chancellor seems as good as anyone’s here. If the General Convention believes that the effect of the canon should be otherwise, it can change it in 2009.

Duncan’s Defense

Below is the letter from Bishop Robert Duncan referred to in my post of earlier today, “Duncan Responds.” It is instructive to analyze the text, which is largely devoid of exculpatory material. To do so, I will insert comments within the text of the letter. My comments will be in larger type and longer lines.

14^th March, A.D. 2008

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
815 Second Avenue
New York NY 10017

Dear Katharine,

In response to the request set forth in your letter of January 15^th (which enclosed the certification of the Title IV Review Committee), I state that I consider myself “fully subject to the doctrine, discipline and worship of this Church.”

In particular:

1. I have striven to follow the Lord Jesus with all my heart and mind and soul and strength, all the while relying on God’s grace to accomplish what my sinfulness and brokenness otherwise prevent.

This, of course, is mere boilerplate. Duncan asserts that he is a sincere and committed Christian. The statement is somewhat self-deprecating, which is, no doubt, intended to be endearing.

2. I have kept my ordination vows – all of them – to the best of my ability, including the vow I made on 28 October 1972 to “banish and drive away all strange and erroneous doctrines contrary to God’s Word.”

This does not address any particular charge. The remark about “strange and erroneous doctrines” is a not-so-subtle jab at The Episcopal Church. Duncan is not being charged with heresy, so his relation to church doctrine, whatever that might be, is irrelevant.

3. I have preached and taught nothing but what faithful Anglicans and mainstream Christians have always preached and taught, with the exception only that I have supported and encouraged the ministry of women in Holy Orders.

Again, the charges against Duncan involve the discipline of The Episcopal Church—whether or not he has obeyed the rules of the church—not its doctrine. The assertion about what he has preached and taught is, again, irrelevant. His gratuitous comments are, however, interesting in themselves. On one hand, it could be said that Duncan is here making a grudging admission that the Church can change over time and has actually done so. (If the Church can change its views on the ordination of women, then why cannot it change its views on homosexuality?) This is hardly the message Duncan is sending here, however. The insurgency in The Episcopal Church is largely an Evangelical enterprise. Evangelicals believe that our church does not read the Bible literally enough. Women’s ordination is not a big issue for most Evangelicals. Just as Duncan has looked to “continuing” churches to enhance his coalition (see item 6), he needs the support of the most radical Anglo-Catholics, who view The Episcopal Church’s attitudes toward both gay and women priests (not to mention gay unions) as insufficiently respectful of the tradition of the Church. Duncan has always seemed genuinely in favor of ordaining women, but he needs the support of those opposed to it. (Until Bishop Schofield abandoned The Episcopal Church, the three diocesan bishops opposed to ordaining women have been supporters of Duncan’s schismatic movement.) Duncan walks a fine line trying to keep his unlikely coalition together. In this assertion, he is trying to keep the Anglo-Catholics happy.

4. I have been present to all but two meetings of the House of Bishops (out of twenty-four) during the last 12 years. In those meetings I have clearly and openly opposed the theological and moral drift of the Episcopal Church, often in the face of great hostility and sadly, at times, derision.

Not attending meetings of the House of Bishops might be evidence of having abandoning the communion of The Episcopal Church, but such a charge was not actually lodged against Duncan in the materials before the Review Committee. In fact, however, when Bishop Duncan attends a meeting of the House of Bishops, he usually does not stay in the same accommodations as the other bishops and he often absents himself from deliberations unrelated to the movement that he represents. The defense offered here is irrelevant, but it does raise additional issues that might have been considered. Duncan does take another opportunity to take a jab at the church and to play victim at the same time.

5. I have made no submission to any other authority or jurisdiction.

Again, doing so might bolster the abandonment case, but no one has suggested that Duncan did what he here asserts here he did not do. What he has been doing, however, is working to create a new jurisdiction. His actions suggest that he intends to lead such a jurisdiction, one that is either parallel to The Episcopal Church or a replacement, in the Anglican Communion, for The Episcopal Church.

6. I have gathered Anglican fragments together from one hundred and thirty-five years of Episcopal Church division, vastly increasing understanding and cooperation, though preserving the jurisdictional independence of all.

Finally, in this item, Duncan comes close to addressing the actual charges against him. Ironically, he construes his infractions as virtues. It is not his job, of course, to unite the various “continuing” Episcopal churches, but doing so is not clearly a bad thing. The actual allegation, however, is that Duncan is uniting the various splinter churches to form a jurisdictional rival of The Episcopal Church. Item 6 is actually a partial admission of guilt. Duncan fails to note that the unity he is working to create does not include unity with The Episcopal Church.

7. I have, with the clergy, people and para-church organizations of my diocese, built missionary relationships all over the world, fielding both missionaries and resources on five continents.

Duncan has not been criticized for this. The statement is irrelevant.

8. I have faithfully served and shepherded the clergy and people of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh through what has, by God’s grace, been one of its greatest periods of extension and blessing. My intention is to continue in this call for what remains of my active ministry.

I’m not sure I even know what this means. It is surely irrelevant. Many of us in Pittsburgh do not feel blessed by the service of Robert Duncan!

Faithfully in Christ,
[signed] +Bob Pittsburgh

So this is Bob Duncan’s defense. Not very impressive, I am afraid. This letter is unlikely to save the good bishop from deposition. His lawyer has done a much better job, but I do not want to deal with serious canonical issues here.

I do want to mention one legal issue, however, which was pointed out to me by a real lawyer. (I neither am one nor pretend to be one on the Web.) Canon IV.9 speaks of a bishop charged with abandonment making “declaration by a Verified written statement to the Presiding Bishop” in his or her defense. Apparently, “Verified written statement” has a specific legal meaning in civil law, and this same meaning is applicable here (as defined by Canon IV.15). According to that canon, “Verification shall mean a signature before a notary public or similar person authorized to take acknowledgments of signatures on a document that states that the signer has personal knowledge or has investigated the matters set forth in the document and that they are true to the best of the signer’s knowledge and belief.” Also, “Verified shall mean that an instrument contains a Verification.” Duncan’s letter, which is not notarized, is clearly not a “Verified written statement to the Presiding Bishop.”

UPDATE: I have now posted a—dare I say it?—legal analysis here.

Duncan Responds

The Diocese of Pittsburgh today released a letter from Bishop Robert Duncan to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori dated March 14, 2008, disputing the facts concerning the certification by the Title IV Review Committee that Duncan has abandoned the communion of this church. You can read the letter here. I may analyze the letter in a later post; for now, all I can say is that I am unimpressed.

The date of the letter is interesting. By Canon IV.9.2, Duncan had two months, from January 15, to make a “declaration by a Verified written statement to the Presiding Bishop, that the facts alleged in the certificate [from the Review Committee] are false ….” It seems that the Bishop of Pittsburgh just made it under the deadline.

It is not surprising that Duncan would offer a defense. First, there are indications that the House of Bishops might meet before Lambeth to take up his case and other matters. Moreover, unlike Bishops Cox and Schofield, Bishop Duncan remains in place in The Episcopal Church actively subverting it. Writing a letter to the Presiding Bishop is cheap, and this letter really does not address any of the specific charges considered by the Review Committee.

I do not believe that Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will be convinced that the Duncan letter is either an adequate defense or a recantation. It hardly seems, in the words of the canon, to be “(i) a good faith retraction of the declarations or acts relied upon in the certification to the Presiding Bishop or (ii) a good faith denial that the Bishop made the declarations or committed the acts relied upon in the certificate [of the Review Committee] ….” Should the Presiding Bishop want to give Bishop Duncan the benefit of the doubt, she should insist that he demonstrate the fact by ceasing his actions against the church and undoing his many actions that have harmed it. He will not, of course, do that.

It remains to be seen whether Duncan’s letter will have an influence on other bishops. It should not.

UPDATE 1. In my haste, I neglected to notice that a letter has also been sent on Duncan’s behalf to David Beers, the Presiding Bishop’s chancellor. The letter can be read here. One of its main points is that the House of Bishops cannot take up the matter of deposing Duncan because he has not been inhibited. However, the recent deposition of Bishop Cox, who also had not been inhibited, provides a precedent. I do not know if there are others. The letter from Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP, also asserts Duncan’s right to further dispute the findings of the Review Committee.

UPDATE 2: I have now written an analysis of Bishop Duncan’s letter. You can read “Duncan’s Defense” here.

Random Linguistic Oddities

Certain English words have multiple meanings, some of which can be virtual opposites of one another. “Sanction” is one of these, which can mean authorize or approve of, but can also mean to punish so as to deter. Consider:

Although the administration sanctioned waterboarding, Congress sanctioned the CIA operatives who utilized the technique in interrogations.

Can we construct a sentence using “sanction” that is ambiguous and whose possible meanings are approximately opposite? Actually, this is difficult, as actions are usually sanctioned (authorized), but persons are usually sanctioned (disciplined) for their bad behavior. I remembered that sporting contests are said to be “sanctioned” by sports governing bodies, however, which lead me to this sentence:

Because the all-women league was sanctioned by the ABC, rather than the WIBC, it was sanctioned by the ABC for failing to file the required paperwork.

(The ABC is the American Bowling Congress, and the WIBC is the Women’s International Bowling Congress. These two organizations have now merged.) The usage in the dependent clause of this sentence differs subtly from the corresponding usage in the first sentence. This observation leads to the ambiguous sentence:

The ABC sanctioned the league.

The usual meaning would be that the ABC sponsored or authorized the league, but the meaning of imposing a penalty on the league cannot be ruled out.

A similarly strange word is the verb “to dust,” which can mean to remove dust or to apply it. Consider these two sentences:

Malcolm dusted the cabinet.

Malcolm dusted the cabinet for fingerprints.

Two quite different actions are being described here! (By the way, “Malcolm” is odd in its own right. It contains both a sounded and a silent L. See my essay “Silent Ls” on Lionel Deimel’s Farrago.)

“To trim,” another odd verb, can mean to remove part of something or to add decoration to it. What do you suppose this sentence means?

The logger trimmed his family’s Christmas tree.

The reader cannot tell without more context!

Finally, homonyms can sometimes be used to create sentences that sound alike but have different meanings. Somewhere, recently, I encountered:

You have been to much trouble.

This sentence acknowledges the efforts of another. This sentence, however, has a very different message:

You have been too much trouble.

Of course, although the words in both sentences are pronounced alike, we would speak the sentences with emphasis on different words!

Playing by the Rules?

NOTE: I have been following the presidential primaries closely, but I haven’t had much time to comment on them. Tomorrow, however, could be an important day in determining the nominee of the Democratic Party (or not), and this seems a good time to make a brief comment about Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. Let me begin with a disclaimer: My first choice for a nominee was John Edwards, but I am now supporting Barack Obama.

The Clinton campaign has suggested that it might argue that Clinton “victories” in Florida and Michigan should give its candidate additional delegates. The Democratic National Committee, of course, penalized Florida and Michigan for disregarding its regulations about primary dates, and the expectation was that no delegates would be seated from those states. Democratic candidates—and there were a lot of candidates when Florida and Michigan voted—pretty much eschewed campaigning in those two states, though Clinton celebrated her “victories,” even if they were essentially uncontested. Now there are rumblings that Clinton might also protest the admittedly idiosyncratic primary/caucus system in Texas, which is widely thought to favor Obama, though not because of anything he has done personally.

What’s wrong with this picture? Are not people are fed up with the brazen partisanship of the Bush administration, with its take-no-prisoners disregard for law and the Constitution (not to mention science and human decency)? Hillary Clinton’s similar attitude of winning at any price and trying to circumvent the rules that everyone knew in advance does not suggest that she is the kind of person the American people want to see in the White House. Is her attitude toward rules of the Democratic Party a preview of how she will treat Federal law and the U.S. Constitution if she becomes President? I don’t think I want to find out.

The Pittsburgh Laity Speaks

An article in yesterday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described an open letter from laypeople in the Diocese of Pittsburgh supporting Bishop Robert Duncan in his efforts to remove the diocese from The Episcopal Church. (See “Episcopalians support break from church.”) The latest letter is a response to an earlier letter from 12 conservative Pittsburgh priests indicating that they are not going to leave The Episcopal Church. The Post-Gazette reported on that letter in its January 30 story “Letter shows rift among Episcopal conservatives.” The two stories are not equally newsworthy. That conservatives have strongly supported Bishop Duncan’s schismatic plans in recent diocesan conventions makes a declaration of support for him from Pittsburgh laypeople a ho-hum, dog-bites-man story. (Duncan’s proposals have generally been approved by conventions by something like 3–1 margins.) That self-identified conservatives would break publicly with Duncan, however, is a man-bites-dog story worthy of prominent placement in the morning edition.

What is going on, of course, is a battle to control the perception of how much support there is in the diocese for one position or another. It is also a battle to characterize the positions themselves. Although what the general public thinks is of limited importance, what clergy and laypeople in the diocese believe will be crucial in determining who will leave The Episcopal Church and who will be willing to fight over property when what appears to be an inevitable schism occurs.

That there are at least two contending parties has long been obvious. On the one hand, there are those who have consistently supported Bishop Duncan, his withering critique of The Episcopal Church, and his plans to wrest the Diocese of Pittsburgh, along with all its assets, from the church’s control. The leaders of this group include the bishop, Assisting Bishop Henry Scriven, and Canon Mary Hays. They have been strongly supported by most members of the Board of Trustees, Standing Committee, and Diocesan Council, as well as some prominent rectors and Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry faculty. Opposed to the bishop have been most of the clergy and parishioners of about a dozen parishes of various sizes, including some of the largest and smallest in the diocese. The opposition has rallied behind the efforts of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, a Via Media USA alliance member, and Calvary Church, whose rector, the Rev. Dr. Harold Lewis, is regularly vilified by Duncan supporters for having brought a lawsuit against Duncan and other diocesan leaders in 2003 to prevent the improper alienation of Episcopal Church property.

The two obvious parties are usually called “conservative” and “liberal,” though these terms are certainly inadequate. Operationally, they might best be described as, respectively, revolutionary and loyalist, at least with respect to their attitudes toward The Episcopal Church. That is, one group disdains The Episcopal Church and is willing to destroy or wound it for the sake of its perception of truth, whereas the other group values the church and wants to preserve it. In this sense, the group usually called “liberal” is peopled by conservatives.

Usually, of course, “conservative,” in the religious sense, refers to people holding views typical of nineteenth-century Evangelicals. (This may be an exaggeration, but it is surely true that Duncan’s supporters, despite their rhetoric, do not “believe what Christians have always believed,” and they certainly do not exemplify the traditional Anglican preference for unity based on liturgy, rather than on doctrine.) In that conventional sense of “conservative,” it has long been clear that many adherents of this theological viewpoint are not revolutionaries and are not willing, for whatever reason, to abandon The Episcopal Church. These non-revolting theological conservatives have kept a low profile in the diocese, probably because their views lead them to regard their bishop with great ambivalence. Everyone has known that they are out there, yet there has been much speculation as to who was actually in this group, at least among the clergy. The revolutionaries wanted this group to join the revolution, and the loyalists hoped that its members would rally behind the barricades in the face of the insurgents.

The “liberals” in Pittsburgh are a mixed group, united by their support of The Episcopal Church. Some of these people, by nearly any measure, should be called liberal. Many people do not understand, however, that Southwestern Pennsylvania is a socially, politically, and religiously conservative enclave, and that churches such as Calvary, which is reviled for its liberalism, would seem decidedly middle-of-the-road if transported to another part of the country. No objective observer expects to see open communion or the blessing of same-sex unions in Pittsburgh Episcopal churches any time soon. Some very conservative people attend churches that have been adamant in their support of The Episcopal Church, and being progressive, as it is usually understood, is hardly a requirement for membership in Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh.

In other words, there are three significant parties in the Pittsburgh diocese—the insurgents, the enthusiastic loyalists, and the reluctant loyalists. The Episcopal Church is certainly more liberal than most Pittsburgh Episcopalians, and the loyalist camp that has just come out of the closet knows that its members are destined to feel somewhat uncomfortable and marginalized in their chosen church for the foreseeable future, no matter how “inclusive” that church is. Such is the fate of minorities, and no one has figured out how to change it. When the Pittsburgh schism actually arrives, I suspect that additional revolutionaries will get cold feet and join the reluctant loyalists, albeit reluctantly.

The New Letter

The letter from the Duncan-supporting Pittsburgh laypeople is posted on a new blog called “Pittsburgh Laity.” For convenience, and because it may disappear or be changed—the blog suggests that more names may be added over time—I reproduce the letter, dated February 8, below. You can find the currently posted version here. (The letter is relatively short, but it concludes with a long list of signatures.)

A Statement of Support for the Diocese and our Bishop

As committed laity within the Pittsburgh diocese of the Anglican Communion, we hereby publicly express our strong support for the godly direction of our Bishop, Robert Duncan, and for the strategy approved by delegates to our annual diocesan convention last November. It is not our bishop who is mistaken, but rather the interpretation of the twelve dissenting clergy that is skewed: our diocese is not separating from the Church, but can no longer travel with a national Episcopal body that is departing from its foundations. As a result, we are participating in a necessary realignment with biblical, catholic, traditional and evangelical Anglicans across the globe. Last November, delegates demonstrated an astounding show of support for this direction, a decision that was not hasty, but that came after nearly five years in which we waited for our national church to repent and to respond to the pleas of the rest of the worldwide Anglican Communion. They did not, and since then have clarified the disturbing course to which they intend to hold—promoting a so-called “gospel” that is faithful neither to Jesus, nor to the
Holy Scriptures.

We are told that a major reason for the dissent of these twelve brothers and sisters from our Diocese is “the prospect of protracted court cases evolving from the diocese's realignment effort” (Pittsburgh Post- Gazette, January 30, 2008). We want to remind them and the public that the court cases came about because of suits against the diocese and officers of the diocese; our bishop did not initiate these suits. Indeed, with others who support him, he has done everything possible to defuse the situation outside of the courts. We are responding to an attack (an attack in secular court, forbidden in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians), not initiating it. In this response, the Diocese is preventing a take-over of parish properties by the national church: such actions protect not only the majority of parishes who agree with the direction of the Diocese, but also the parishes of those who have seen fit to dissent from the decisions of the annual diocesan convention. Perhaps clergy could have taken the “high ground” by recommending that Christians not defend themselves, and so be prepared to suffer loss for the sake of truth; this would have demonstrated integrity. However, it is unconscionable that the faithful be constrained, because of the fear and inconvenience of litigation, to continue in communion with those who preach and walk after a different gospel. For the sake of our children, our children’s children, and those to whom we deliver the good news, we cannot agree with those who would counsel us to maintain our ties with an increasingly apostate national church. We pray that in the coming year, even more laypersons will recognize the danger and folly of remaining in the punctured hull of the Episcopal Titanic.

We understand that faithful pastors who stand against the policies of the national church face hardship, including likely loss of position and full pension. As laity, we know that there are those who will attempt to take away the places where, in some cases, our families have worshipped for generations. Under the current threat, we understand the fear of those who do not want to move with the Diocese, though it grieves us that some of our brothers and sisters have given way to such fears. Even more, however, we applaud and honor our own bishop and those many other priests of this Diocese who are prepared, as our shepherds, to “put their life on the line.” They are acting as they are, not to be quarrelsome, but for the sake of truth and love for the worldwide Anglican communion-- especially for numerous courageous Anglicans in Africa, South America, Asia and elsewhere, who are also standing against innovative departures from Christian life and faith.

No, Pittsburgh Diocese is not arranging to “leave,” but to stay. We intend to stay and be the Church that we have always been, believing and practicing as we have always done, with other faithful Anglicans across the world, with those of the past who paid for the truth with their lives, and with the apostles and ancient theologians who transmitted the knowledge of Jesus and the Triune God.

Edith M. Humphrey, Ph.D., Church of the Ascension (Oakland) and District 7 Delegate
William F. Orr Professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Appointed Member of the Commission on Ministry, Pittsburgh Diocese

Dr. Leslie Thyberg,
Chair, Board of Examining Chaplains for the Priesthood, Diocese of Pittsburgh

Mr. Chris Thyberg
Director of Global Missions, American Bible Society

Dr. Jeanne Kohn, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)
Director of Music Ministries

Dr. Andy Kohn, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Gillis Harp, Ph.D., Grace Anglican Fellowship, Slippery Rock, PA;
Professor of History, Grove City College

Stuart P. Simpson, Fox Chapel Episcopal Church
Deputy to Diocesan Convention; Deputy to General Convention
Board of Trustees, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry
Board of Church Army USA

Ann F. Castro, Grace Church, Mt. Washington;
Adjunct Professor of Greek, Trinity School for Ministry

Robert G. Devlin, Fox Chapel Episcopal Church
Senior Warden; Chancellor of the Diocese

Kenneth W. Herbst, St. Peter's Church, Butler, PA;
Lay Leader for Pittsburgh Episcopal Cursillo; Diocesan Standing Committee member

Marilyn Clifton Chislaghi, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)
Parish Administrator
Board of Anglican Frontier Missions

A. Michael Galbraith, Church of the Savior, Ambridge
Alternate to General Convention, Member of Array, and on the Commitee for Donegal Property

Mary Ann Evankovich, St. Andrew's New Kensington and District 3 Delegate
Fourth Day Coordinator for Pittsburgh Cursillo Secretariat;
Member of the Diocesan Commission of Racism

Ann Dickinson, St. Stephen's Sewickley

Leslie Uncapher Zellers, St. Andrew's New Kensington

Tony Errico, St. Andrew’s New Kensington
Member of Vestry

Kenneth Clever, Holy Innocents, Leechburg
Previous vestry member

Pat Errico, St. Andrew's New Kensington

Gregory R. Campbell, St. Paul's Kittanning
Layreader and St. Paul's vestry member

Eric W. Cook
Organist and Choirmaster, St. Paul's (Kittanning)

Lois J. Ilgenfritz, St. Mary's, Charleroi

Charles T. Hach, St. Alban's Episcopal Church

Duane F. Ilgenfritz, St. Mary's, Charleroi

Gladys Bell, St. Mary's, Charleroi

William J. Bell, St. Mary's, Charleroi

Robin Capcara, Church of the Ascension

Jim Catlos, Holy Innocents

Kay Catlos, Holy Innocents

Jesse Catlos, Holy Innocents

Cindy Zimmerman, Somerset Anglican Fellowship

Lynda Miller Holy Innocents

Robert S. Smith, Holy Innocents, Leechburg, PA

Margot S. Smith, Holy Innocents; Leechburg, PA

Dr. Daniel C. Lujetic, Senior Warden, Church of the Good Samaritan, Liberty Borough

Stephen B. Whipple, St. Stephen's Ambridge

Ellen Cappelli, St. Alban’s Murrysville

Guido Cappelli , St. Alban's Murrysville.

Tasso Spanos, Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship

Wendy Scott Paff, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Marian M. Kreithen, Church of the Ascension, Convention Deputy, District 7
Altar Guild Directress, Lay Eucharist Minister and Visitor

Alexandra Tiel, Church of the Ascension

Brian Tiel, Church of the Ascension

Alan Komm, Church of the Ascension
Senior Warden
Diocese of Pittsburgh Celebrate 250

Timothy Podnar, Church of the Ascension

Cole Van Ormer, Church of the Ascension

Jay Gowdy, Church of the Ascension

Brian Mack, Church of the Ascension
Member of Vestry

Paige H. Forster, Church of the Ascension

Nancy B. Foster, Church of the Ascension

Agnes Green, Church of the Ascension

John K. Walsh, Church of the Ascension
Member of Vestry

Michael W. Luckett, Church of the Ascension

Brad Hgoz, Church of the Ascension

Nicole D. Mack, Church of the Ascension

Joelle Humphrey, Church of the Ascension

David Picking, Holy Innocents Episcopal Church

Katherine Picking , Holy Innocents Episcopal Church

Gordon Keith McFarland, Holy Innocents Church, Leechburg, PA
Member of Vestry

Alison D. McFarland, Holy Innocents Church, Leechburg, PA
Member of Diocesan Council & Deputy to Diocesan Convention

Andrea Paskorz, St. Andrew's New Kensington,
Member of the Vestry

Diane Kaufmann, St.Alban's, Murrysville

John Kaufmann, St.Alban's, Murrysville

Cyndi Taylor, St. Philips, Moon Township

Elaine P. Morehead
Ministry staff of Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship

Theresa T. Newell, D. Min., St. Stephen’s Sewickley
Diocese of Pittsburgh Standing Committee

Director of Travel-study, Trinity School for Ministry
Chairman, CMJ USA

Gloria J.Clever, Holy Innocents, Leechburg
Former secretary to Bishop Henry Scriven

John W. Polczynski, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, New Kensington, PA
Junior Warden

Julia A. Polczynski, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, New Kensington, PA
Member-Pittsburgh Episcopal Cursillo Community

William F. Roemer, St. Stephen's Sewickley
Deputy to General Convention;
Trustee of Trinity School for Ministry;
Treasurer of Anglican Communion Network;
Board Member of Anglican Relief and Development Fund

Gale Wilson, St Paul's, Kittanning and Delegate of District 3
Parish Ministry Committee

Georgette Forney, St. Stephen’s Sewickley
President, Anglicans for Life
Co-founder, Silent No More Awareness Campaign

James D. Bradley Sr., St. Pauls Kittanning
Member of Vestry

Paul Stirbis, Church of the Good Samaritan, Liberty Boro, District 8

Bernice Rowe-Stirbis, Church of the Good Samaritan, Liberty Boro, District 8

Travis S. Hines, Church of the Savior, Ambridge,
M.Div., Director, Center for Distance Learning,
Trinity School for Ministry Postulant for Holy Orders.

Linda Banks Grissom, St. Alban’s Murraysville

Amy V. Campbell, St. Paul’s Kittanning,
Parish Secretary; Assistant Treasurer

Tina Wurschmidt, Shepherd’s Heart
Worship Pastor and Lay Leader

Sarah M. Kwolek, Church of the Savior, Ambridge
Interim Music Director

Mark A. Kwolek, Church of the Savior, Ambridge
Interim Music Director

Peter Frank, Church of the Nativity, Crafton

Amy Maddalena, Church of the Ascension, Oakland

David F. Black
Member Diocesan Board of Trustees
Growth Fund Committee
Pittsburgh Episcopal Foundation/Chaplaincy Endowment Committee

Richard Jernigan
All Saints’ Church, Brighton Heights

A. Dwight Castro, Ph.D.
Professor of Classics
Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA
Member of the Vestry of Grace Church, Mount Washington

Sue Crary
Treasurer, Church of the Ascension

Allison S. Burgan
Member of the Vestry of Fox Chapel Episcopal Church

Aaron Pelot, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)
University of Pittsburgh Student

Margaret Whitacre, Grace Church, Edgeworth
Organist and Vestry Member

Patricia Kriever, Grace Church, Edgeworth
Former Senior Warden

Thomas S. Hay
St. Stephen's Sewickley
Former Treasurer & Vestry Member
Former Member of the Board of Trustees of the Diocese of Pittsburgh
Senior Investment Officer, The Pittsburgh Foundation

Beth Kriever, Grace Church, Edgeworth

John Kriever, Grace Church, Edgeworth

Nicolaas G. Storm, Esq.
St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Moon Township
Former Senior Warden
Delegate Diocesan Convention
Member Commission on Ministry

Jonathan Cagwin, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)
Coalition for Christian Outreach, Staff Member

Chad Whitacre, Grace Church, Edgeworth

Jessica Whitacre, Grace Church, Edgeworth

Shannon Hach, St. Alban's Episcopal Church

Seth Whitacre, Church of the Savior, Ambridge

Roger Maddalena, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

David E. Berklite
Fox Chapel Episcopal Church
Treasurer, Vestry Member

Robert L. Forrest, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Mary Lou Herbst
St. Peter's Butler
Pittsburgh Episcopal Cursillo Secretariat
Servant Community Coordinator

Ruth A. Fitzpatrick, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Jane R. Flaherty
Fox Chapel Episcopal Church
Cursillo Secretariat Member, Pre-Cursillo Coordinator

Michelle D. Everson, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)
University of Pittsburgh student

Marilyn German
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Mt. Lebanon
Former member of the Parish Council, Lay Eucharistic Member and Parish Archivist
Former Diocesan Delegate, District 5
Former member of Diocesan Council and Array
Former Diocesan Archivist

Fritzie Hess, St. Stephen's, Sewickley

Davida van Mook, Fox Chapel Episcopal Church

Ron James, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Sally James, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Kathleen Hartle, Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

John Stevenson, St. David's Church
Former Senior Warden and Treasurer
Former member of the Diocesan Board of Trustees

Dorothy A. Fleming, St. Martin's Monroeville
Member, Pittsburgh Cursillo Community

Robert M. Fleming, St. Martin's Monroeville and District 8 delegate
District Representative on Diocesan Board of Trustees
Lake Donegal Common Life Committee and Donegal Program and Events Commission
Former Vestry member, Former Senior Warden, Former Treasurer
Former Pittsburgh Cursillo Secretariat

Della A. Crawford
St. Thomas Church in the Field, Gibsonia

Richard Bates
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Sewickley

Bill Klingensmith
Holy Innocents Church, Leechburg
Senior Warden

Carolyn Smail
Holy Innocents Church, Leechburg

Linda Roemer
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Sewickley

David M. Ball
St. David's Church, Peters Township
Junior Warden
Treasurer
Diocesan Board of Trustees

Curt Henry
Christ Church, Greensburg
Former Junior Warden
Senior Warden
Member of Diocesan Council

Wendi Richert
Christ Church, Greensburg
Projection Team Member

Allan Rathbone, St. Martin's Monroeville

Yvonne Rathbone, St. Martin's Monroeville
Treasurer

Howard Yant
Christ Church, Greensburg

Esther Yant
Christ Church, Greensburg

Truth Topper
Church of the Savior, Ambridge
Vestry member

Howard Finney
Christ Church, Greensburg
Chairman of Worship Committee
Head Usher

Bettyann Finney
Christ Church, Greensburg

Dana Walker
St. Andrew's Church, New Kensington

William Topper
Church of the Savior, Ambridge
District 1 Delegate
Member Diocesan Council

William C. Knapp
St. James Church, Penn Hills
Worship Leader

Linda F. Knapp
St. James Church, Penn Hills

Donna Evans
St. Thomas, Gibsonia

Chris M. Evans
St. Thomas, Gibsonia

Diana Yuhanjak
St. Thomas, Gibsonia

Peter Yuhanjak
St. Thomas, Gibsonia

John J. Means Jr.
Trinity Episcopal Church, Washington
Vestry member

Gretchen F. Means
Trinity Episcopal Church, Washington
Former Vestry member

Bill Lutes
St. Mary's, Charleroi

Mary Lutes
St. Mary's, Charleroi

Mrs. John H. Morgan
Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Mrs. Barbara Baur
Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Virginia Fitzsimmons
Church of the Savior, Ambridge
Member of the Vestry

Glenn Crytzer
Verger, St. Peter's Butler
Postulant for Holy Orders, Diocese of Pittsburgh

Lynn Crytzer
St. Peter's Butler

Laura Crytzer
St. Peter's Butler

Margaret L. Prather, D.O.
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, New Kensington

Teri Dillon
The Church of the Good Shepherd
Treasurer, Vestry Member, Daughter of the King
Past Secretary for Good Shepherd and Trinity Cathedral

Ralph Hiller
St. Peter's Brentwood

Lois Hiller
St. Peter's Brentwood
Former Vestry, Altar Guild & Search Committee

Yoseph Barhem
Member of Church of the Good Shepherd (Anglican/Episcopal)
Binghamton, NY

Mark Stevens
St. Christopher's, Cranberry Township

Susan Milligan
Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Edward J. Milligan
Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Avin Fernando
Bishop's Committee Member
Seeds of Hope Mission Fellowship

Ian Sadler
Trinity Episcopal Church
District 10 Representative on the Diocesan Council

James S. Moore
Fox Chapel Episcopal Church
Delegate Diocesan Convention
Member Diocesan Board of Trustees
Member Board of Church Army

Carmen Moore
Fox Chapel Episcopal Church

Kathryn Smith
Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Rebecca Tickner
Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Frances Hartzell
St. Andrew's, New Kensington
District 3 Alternate

Gerald Hartzell
St. Andrew's, New Kensington

Tom Meyers
St. Andrew's, New Kensington

Ron Yadrick
Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Judy Yadrick
Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Ann R. Steenkiste
Fox Chapel Episcopal Church
Former Vestry Member
District 3 Deputy
EFM Coordinator

Jason Smith
Church of the Savior, Ambridge
Area Director, Young Life Beaver County

Margy Baker
Previously Eucharistic Minister, St. George's Waynesburg
Currently member St. Christopher's, Cranberry Township

Jason Toman
Church of the Ascension (Oakland)
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship staff

James J. Vevers
Grace Church, Mt. Washington

Ellen R. Stolpe
Church of the Ascension (Oakland)

Bill Driscoll
Church of the Savior, Ambridge
Candidate for Holy Orders in the Diocese of Pittsburgh
M.Div. student at Trinity School for Ministry

Kim Driscoll
Church of the Savior, Ambridge

The attacks against The Episcopal Church have been led by clergy, especially bishops. The prominent leaders of that movement in Pittsburgh have largely been clergy, although the Episcopal Church loyalists have both clergy and laypeople prominent among their leaders. It is, therefore, refreshing to hear from laypeople in Pittsburgh dissatisfied with their church. (It may take longer for the reluctant loyalist laypeople to organize themselves.) The new letter is endorsed by approximately 175 people (and counting, I’m sure they would assure me). It is interesting to see how the signers have identified themselves. (Or not. Peter Frank, who is Communications Director for the diocese, fails to note the fact, perhaps out of modesty.) Nineteen people hold significant official positions in the diocese. (I discounted many minor offices. All these counts are approximate, by the way.) Three are former office holders or staff members. Eight seem to be paid staff members in their respective parishes; one is the spouse of a staff member; three are relatives of conservative clergy. Six are associated with Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry. Two are from “Anglican” congregations in the diocese but already out of The Episcopal Church. One lists himself as being in New York. Forty-eight are from Church of the Ascension, a large church led by the Rev. Jonathan Millard, an insurgent rector who has argued passionately for leaving The Episcopal Church and taking Ascension’s property with him. (Millard made his case for this at a workshop at the November convention and had a letter published in the Post-Gazette on the subject on Friday.) Several very small congregations are represented by ten or more members.

I do not mean to belittle the commitment of anyone who has signed this letter, but no one should think that it represents a cross-section of the laity of the diocese, which the title “Pittsburgh Laity” might suggest. Many of these people are closely tied to Bishop Duncan, to Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, or to churches led by especially vocal insurgent clergy. That the letter was initiated at Church of the Ascension is obvious from the fact that more than a quarter of the signatures are from that parish.

Analysis

What can be said about the content of the letter? To begin with, its purple prose is painful to read. The rhetoric is overblown and emotional. This is not a letter intended to win converts through its logic, and I suspect that it is intended to rally the troops and denigrate the 12 clergy who dared to defy the movement. Some choice phrases for which I would deduct points on a freshman paper: “punctured hull of the Episcopal Titanic, “those of the past who paid for the truth with their lives,” “godly direction of our Bishop,” and “suffer loss for the sake of truth.” Ironically, of course, while claiming the moral high ground and standing for truth against all odds, even in the face of death, these people seem most interested in leaving The Episcopal Church with their parish property intact. Such willingness to sacrifice is touching!

Looking past the rhetoric, I will mention just a few of the many defective arguments and deceptions prominent here. We must begin at the first sentence, where we encounter the phrase “Pittsburgh diocese of the Anglican Communion.” The “committed laity” signing the letter want to remove the diocese from The Episcopal Church, yet they cannot even bring themselves to admit that the diocese is in The Episcopal Church! The opening paragraph goes on to attack first the judgment of the “twelve dissenting clergy,” followed by The Episcopal Church and its “so-called ‘gospel.’” As it happens, however, the letter never uses the phrase “Episcopal Church”; like rabid Republicans who insist on referring to the “Democrat Party,” the signers cannot even bring themselves to write the name of the church they so despise. (I suppose it is, to the signers, “the church that cannot be named.”) “Anglican Communion,” on the other hand, occurs three times, and members of its (other) provinces are described as “faithful” and “courageous.” Some of us have always thought that the hallmark of Anglicanism, however, was respect for differences. That Anglican virtue is absent here.

A surprisingly large fraction of the letter is devoted to railing against lawsuits, both the existing action brought by Calvary Church and future litigation likely to be brought by The Episcopal Church against seceding congregations intent on retaining parish property. While asserting that the use of secular courts is forbidden by biblical injunction, the letter maintains that it would be “unconscionable” to be constrained by this injunction if it meant that signers could not protect “their” property. Incredibly, the letter argues that Bishop Duncan is “preventing a take-over of parish properties by the national church,” including the properties of parishes that have supported The Episcopal Church. Such parishes have no fear in that regard, however, since they freely acknowledge that the property is held in trust for The Episcopal Church. Calvary would like nothing more than for The Episcopal Church effectively to “take-over” all diocesan property. That is the situation its lawsuit was initiated to protect!

Finally, the paragraph I find most offensive is the last one, where the letter repeats the now trite argument that the diocese is not leaving, but staying. (The bishop usually expresses this by saying that The Episcopal Church has left the diocese; the diocese is not leaving The Episcopal Church.) This is, as they say in England, utter rubbish. I am actually hard-pressed to figure out what logic is being used here, but I am sure it is defective. It may be that, if you are part of an organization and that organization changes over time, even through legitimate processes, you are free to leave the organization and—as we used to say in the ’60s—liberate its property. Perhaps the argument is that, if you are part of an organization you have come to dislike, you are free to declare yourself part of another organization you like better and—as we used to say in the ’60s—liberate its property. Either way, the argument seems a justification for theft, which, if I remember, is enjoined elsewhere in the bible.

I hope that “Pittsburgh Laity” will offer more edifying fare in the future, but I hold out little hope either that it will do so or that it will broadly represent the many Pittsburgh Episcopalians who attend church regularly in the vain hope that their church—their diocese, at any rate—will not self-destruct in the near future.

Postscript (2/11/2008): My tabulation of characteristics of signers of the “Pittsburgh Laity” letter was done rather informally on a few sheets of blank paper. Someone else reports having used both a spreadsheet and a diocesan directory. This procedure yielded a count of 14 clergy spouses. Moreover, I failed to note the two officers of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes (Anglican Communion Network) who signed the letter.