The Living Church report on Pittsburgh. Will the real committee please "stand" up? (Isn't Kitty Carlisle gorgeous?)Fr. Simons and two new members he appointed were subsequently recognized by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as the ecclesiastical authority and charged with reorganizing a diocese of The Episcopal Church in that region. (The constitution and canons of the diocese permits the standing committee to appoint new members to fill vacancies.)
Bishop Jefferts Schori also wrote the other seven members of the standing committee on Oct. 9. Citing Title 1, Canon 17, Section 8, she said that she no longer “recognize[d]” them as the ecclesiastical authority.
“Any person accepting any office in this Church shall well and faithfully perform the duties of that office in accordance with the constitution and canons of this church and of the diocese in which the office is being exercised,” the passage states. It does not identify who decides whether a person has failed in that capacity, or specify a procedure for determining whether a breach of fiduciary duty has occurred. This point was raised by the Rev. David Wilson, president of the standing committee of the continuing Diocese of Pittsburgh and rector of St. Paul’s, Kittanning. Fr. Wilson responded to Bishop Jefferts Schori on Oct. 16.
“The only reason we are the ecclesiastical authority for the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is because of your illegal ‘deposition’ of Bishop Robert W. Duncan,” Fr. Wilson said. “Your effort to take advantage of this illegal action by following it with a subsequent illegal action (i.e., seeking to ‘recognize’ members of a diocesan standing committee despite the fact that you have no jurisdiction or authority to do so) is wholly improper.”
The rest is here-
http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2008/10/16/reorganization-underway-in-pittsburgh
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