Conservative Episcopal bishop fails to win election

[kwassa]

Mark Lawrence is from the very conservative Diocese of San Joaquin, which is considering pulling out of the Episcopal church as a diocese.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_83687_ENG_HTM.htm

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has declared "null and void" the election of the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence to be the 14th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.

The announcement was first made in a letter written by the Rev. J. Haden McCormick, president of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of South Carolina, and posted to the diocesan website late in the afternoon of March 15.

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Canonically adequate ballots were received by South Carolina from 50 diocesan standing committees. Several other standing committees were reported to have consented, but no signatures were attached to their ballots, or the ballot itself was missing from South Carolina's records, Jefferts Schori reported. Any committee that did not respond is considered to have voted no.

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In the weeks following Lawrence's election, questions arose about Lawrence's intentions concerning the diocese's continuing membership in the Episcopal Church. Two affiliated groups issued statements of advice to the bishops and standing committees, and other individuals expressed concern either privately to Lawrence and the diocese or through postings on web sites.

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. What is it with conservatives and election irregularities?

"Although more than a majority of dioceses had voted to consent to Fr. Mark's election, there were canonical deficiencies in the written responses sent to us," McCormick wrote. "Several dioceses, both on and off American soil, thought that electronic permission was sufficient as had been their past accepted practice. The canons which apply are III.11.4(b), pp. 101-102 in the newly published 2006 Constitutions and Canons that require the prescribed testimonial to the consent be signed by a majority of each standing committee."

"I spoke to Father McCormick today, informing him that consent to the election of the Rev. Mark Lawrence has not been achieved," wrote Jefferts Schori in an email from Camp Allen in Texas.