Our diocesan news items are updated regularly. If you would like to contribute an item to share with the diocesan community, please forward it to Joy Hunter at joyhunter@earthlink.net.

Diocesan Highlights

Clergy Family Day at Camp St. Christopher May 26
Join with other clergy and their families for a time of fellowship, food and fun, music games and prizes. The gathering, at Camp St. Christopher, will last will last from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. All are asked to bring a favorite salad or dessert to share. RSVP by May 15 to Susan Burns. Read more.

Opportunities for Growth, Healing, Renewal and Prayer

"To the Ends of the Earth" Mission Week at St. John's Parish, John's Island May 4-11
Join St. John's Parish for a dynamic Missions Week. Guest speakers include Pastor Peter Chernyavsky of the Ukraine, the retired Archbishop of Uganda, Livingstone Nkoyoyo and the Rt. Reverend FitzSimons Allison the retired Bishop of South Carolina. Learn more.

Love and Respect - Holy Cross Sullivan's Island Offers Marriage Retreat, May 9-10
Learn more!

Making Your Worship Team Sound Better - An Evening with Andy Piercy, May 12
Andy will demonstrate, with a live band, How to apply simple & practical tips to help improve the way YOUR band can sound. 7-9:15 (6:30 snacks), Saint James Church, 1872 Camp Rd., James Island, Questions? Call Pam: 843-270-4834. Learn more.

Social Ministries Offers Next Steps Training, May 14, June 18, July 23
The Department of Social Ministries will offer NEXT STEPS database training at Agape Ministries of Charleston (727-729 East Bay Street, Charleston, SC 29403) on Wednesdays May 14, June 18, and July 23, 2008 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Please contact Ed Dyckman at 843-367-5647 or edward.dyckman@att.net for information and to register.

St. Andrew's, Mt. Pleasant, Offers "Soaking Prayer," May 17
Dr. Barbara Boatwright will teach on "Experiencing the Lord's Presence" followed by soaking prayer sessions featuring music by St Andrew's worship team, Saturday, May 17 from 9:30 to noon. St. Andrews is located at 440 Whilden Street in the Old Village of Mt. Pleasant. For more information, visit www.samp.cc or contact Beth Sires.

A Seaside Retreat, An Offering for Senior Adults, Camp St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center, June 1 – 4
The Rev. Bob Ott (Holy Cross, Sullivan’s Island) will lead this year’s Seaside Retreat at St. Christopher. The theme for this year’s retreat is “Spirituality in Your Senior Years.” The cost of the entire program is $349/person for a single occupancy and $295/person for a double occupancy for three nights. This includes all meals and activities for four days and three nights. You may register online at www.stchristopher.org or by picking up a 2008 Seaside Retreat brochure at your church and mailing in the registration form.

HIV/AIDS Retreat at Kanuga Conference Center, June 6-8
Each June, Province IV operates a retreat for people with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers. The retreat’s location is the Episcopal Diocese’s Kanuga Conference Center in western North Carolina. To learn more, download the brochure. You may donate to this ministry by visiting the website of Social Ministries, click the ministries tab and the HIV/AIDS ministries section.

New Wine USA at St. Andrew's Mt. Pleasant, June 19-22
New Wine USA 2008 will take place June 19-22 and will feature internationally known author and speaker RT Kendall. Worship will be led by Vineyard worship leader Eoghan Heaslip. The theme of this year’s conference is Kingdom Come. The conference has moved this year to St. Andrew’s Church in Mount Pleasant. New Wine USA features teaching by world class speakers, passionate worship, and spirit-filled ministry. Learn more!

The Marriage Conference, St. Michael’s Charleston, June 27
Nicky and Sila Lee, co-authors of The Marriage Book will be at St. Michael’s for a one-day training event June 27. visit www.marriagecourseusa.org or call 866-872-5742 to learn more.

Diocesan Married Couples Retreat, Camp St. Christopher, August 1 – 3
The 10th annual Diocesan Couples Conference will be held at St. Christopher August 1-3, 2008. The Rev. Chuck Owens and his wife Becky will lead a program titled, “Marriage: Matching + Complementing.” The Couples’ Conference is a weekend retreat designed to strengthen and renew Christian marriage. We will have strong Biblical teaching as well as time for small groups, praise and worship, fellowship with other Christian couples, and time to spend with your spouse. The cost is only $310 per couple for the weekend with a $75. Download the brochure and registration for more information

Special Events

Installation of The Rev. Rick Luoni as Rector of St. George’s Summerville, May 7
Join Bishop Lawrence and the congregation of St. George’s at 7 p.m. for the installation service.

All Saints Parish, Waccamaw Episcopal Church, Organ Dedication Concert, May 18.
All are invited to the organ dedication concert Sunday, May 18 at 4 p.m. A reception will follow. The concert will feature Dr. Ron Davis, Associate Professor of Music at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina and also organist for First Baptist Church of Greenwood, South Carolina. All Saints Parish Waccamaw Episcopal Church is located on Highway 17, 10172 Ocean Highway, Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

Calvary Episcopal Church will Sponsor The Rockaway Review, May 21
The Rockaway Revue, a group of senior citizens between the ages of 65-85 will present “I’ll Take You There,” a musical review at Sterrett Hall (on the former Naval Base, North Charleston), Wednesday, May 21, at 7:00 p.m. The group will celebrate its 36th year and its 28th year touring the Southern States. Tickets are $12 and may be purchased by contacting Calvary Episcopal Church at 723-3878

Grace Church, Charleston, Tea Room, May 26-June 6
Grace Episcopal Church, Charleston will hold its 17th annual Tea Room May 26-June 6 to raise money for local outreach organizations. The Tea Room serves lunch Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Visitors are also invited to visit the Church Mouse Boutique. The shop will be open from 10:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. daily during the Tea Room. Grace Church is located at 98 Wentworth Street, near the College of Charleston campus. For the complete menu, please visit www.gracechurchcharleston.org

“Play for the Child” Golf Tournament, York Place, June 6
On June 6, the 26th Annual Gene Knight “Play for the Child” Golf Tournament will take place. Proceeds from this event go directly to benefit the children at York Place. For more details or an entry form, please contact the York Place Development Office 803-684-4011, ext. 1014, or visit www.yorkplace.org

Opportunities for Children and Youth

Summer Camp at Camp St. Christopher June 6 – August 16
Children K-2 through 12th grade will enjoy time at Camp St. Christopher this summer. There are 11 separate age-based sessions. The sessions and registration information can be found at www.stchristopher.org

Summer Enrichment Program, June 9 – July 25
St. Andrew’s Mission is sponsoring a Summer Enrichment Program for children ages 5 – 12. The program will run Monday – Friday, June 9 – July 25 from 8 a..m. to 4 p.m. Read More.

Growing Leaders – Student Leadership Camp, St. Christopher’s August 11 – 15
The first Student Leadership camp for high school students (and those about to enter college) will be held at St Christopher Conference Center August 11-15. The cost is $300. Space is limited. More information is available at www.stchristopher.org

Contact: Lilly Endowment
2801 North Meridian Street
Indianapolis, Ind. 46208
(317) 916-7350
clergyrenewal@yahoo.com

www.clergyrenewal.org

Audio Recordings of the Presiding Bishop's Visit to the Diocese of South Carolina

+Lawrence: We spent a day and a half on what was called a reconciliation retreat. What makes it difficult to answer that question is that, based at our table discussion, the table I was at, I thought we began to talk about the difficulties that are connected with that whole area of reconciliation. So in that sense, on a table level, I would say, yes, we made some progress. But once we got to the legislative portion of the meeting…reconciliation is always costly and the question is, who it’s going to cost and who wants to sacrifice in order to reconcile. Once we got to the legislative portion of the meeting and the deposition for Bishop Schofield and Bishop Cox, I wouldn’t describe the mood of the house as conciliatory to those who, for issues of faith, don’t feel like they can conform to order of the church.

What we have in The Episcopal Church (TEC) today is that many people feel like the faith of the church has been compromised or violated and in order to deal with what they feel is a profound compromise or denial of the faith of the church historically and biblically, they feel like they have to do things contrary to the order of the church. At that point, many in the House of Bishops and in various other formats of the church desire to impose the order of the church upon them. That is, if Bishop Schofield believes the faith of the church has been denied, he has to go beyond the order of the church as in the canons and constitution of TEC, and those who are in the forefront who are quite comfortable with the new faith of the church, so to speak, feel like they have to impose the order upon him or upon Bishop Cox.

The difficulty we have, then, is the very way we went about imposing the order of the church. That is, after the House of Bishops’ meeting, after the voting on the canonical depositions of Bishop Cox and Bishop Schofield, it seemed to be revealed that those depositions were done in a way that was contrary to the order of the church...

AAC: What is your next step?

+Lawrence: I know that Bishop Howe has recently called for a re-examination of this. The Standing committee and Bishop of South Carolina, myself, have issued a letter of protest that the canons were not followed. I don’t know where we will end up with all of that.

Read it carefully and read it all, noting that there is more to come later.

March 27, 2008

The Most Reverend Katherine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church Center
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Dear Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori:

We, as the Standing Committee and Bishop of South Carolina, write this letter to strongly protest what we recognize as a failure to follow the Canons of our Episcopal Church in the recent depositions of Bishops Schofield and Cox. We respectfully request that you and the House of Bishops revisit those decisions, refrain from the planned selection of a new bishop for the Diocese of San Joaquin, and make every effort to follow our Church Canons in all future House of Bishops decisions.

We believe that deposition is the most severe sanction that can be applied against a bishop.. Consequently, it is most important that both the letter and the spirit of the Canons be followed. In this instance, it is clear that the canonical safeguards in place were not followed.

Due to amendment, Canon IV.9.2, at various times, required consent under these circumstances consisting of " . . . a majority of the House of Bishops," ". .. . a majority of the whole number of bishops entitled . . . to seats in the House of Bishops . . . " and " . . . by a majority of the whole number of bishops entitled to vote." The language of the Canon has consistently required that a majority of all bishops entitled to vote, and not just a majority of those present at a meeting, must give their consent to the deposition of a bishop. Although the language itself is clear, the definition contained in Title IV is even more specific. Canon IV.15 specifically provides that "All the Members shall mean the total number of members of the Body provided for by Constitution or Canon without regard to absences, excused members, abstentions or vacancies."

As we understand the decision by Chancellor Beers, he interprets the language " … the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote" to mean the consent of a majority of those bishops who are present and voting. Yet if the drafters of Canon 9 had wanted to allow for the deposition of a bishop on a vote by a majority of the Bishops at a meeting, as distinguished from a vote by a majority of the whole, they clearly knew how to say that.

The Constitution, Canons and Rules of Order are replete with other instances in which the drafters knew how to articulate something other than " … the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote.". The Constitution Article I 3, dealing with the election of a Presiding Bishop, requires that such a vote be "by a vote . . . of a majority of all Bishops, excluding retired Bishops not present, except that whenever two-thirds of the House of Bishops are present, a majority vote shall suffice . . . " Unlike Canon IV.9, other Canons refer to a vote " . . . by a three-fourths of the members present" or some other "super-majority. In the Rules of Order of the House of Bishops, Rule V speaks of a vote ". . . by a two-thirds vote of those present and voting." That same language appears in Rules XV, XVIII (a) and XXIX. In short, where the drafters meant "those present and voting," they knew how to say so, and did so on a number of occasions.

It is only logical that a greater majority of Bishops should be required for involuntary separation by way of deposition than for voluntary separation by resignation. Canon III.12.8 (d), dealing with resignation by a Bishops, provides that the House of Bishops may accept or refuse a resignation of a Bishop " … by a majority of those present." Under Chancellor Beers' interpretation, it is possible for a smaller number of Bishops to consent to the deposition of a Bishop than the number required to consent to resignation of a Bishop.

Not only is this distinction of critical importance under the present circumstances, but also the question may arise again. Accordingly, and with all due respect to you and Chancellor Beers, we must respectfully request that you and the House of Bishops re-visit your decision and allow for a canonically correct vote on the depositions of Bishops Cox and Schofield and on any future possible depositions. Additionally, for the good of our Church, we ask you not to proceed with the planned election of a replacement for Bishop Schofield until the matter of his deposition can be legally and canonically resolved.

The Diocese of South Carolina demonstrated our commitment to the proper observance of The Episcopal Church Canons with two election conventions and eighteen months of Standing Committee and Bishop confirmations. Because we feel so strongly that the Canons were not followed in the depositions of Bishops Schofield and Cox, we must respectfully refuse to recognize the depositions, and we will not recognize any new bishop who may be elected to replace Bishop Schofield, unless and until the canons are followed.

Yours in Christ,

The Very Reverend John B. Burwell
President, Standing Committee of the Diocese of South Carolina

The Right Reverend Mark J. Lawrence
Bishop, Diocese of South Carolina

WHLIII/fnr

cc: David Booth Beers, Esquire

--The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence

Video Recordings of the Presiding Bishop's Visit to the Diocese of South Carolina

Audio Recordings of the Presiding Bishop's Visit to the Diocese of South Carolina

Make sure your child doesn't miss out on summer camp this year. Registration begins March 1. This year the children will be looking at the Book of Daniel and learning what it truly means to live courageously as Christians in the face of opposition.

Session dates and age groups, may be downloaded here.

Visit St. Christopher's website to register.

On January 26, 2008 at a festive service in the Cathedral of Saint Luke and Saint Paul in Charleston, Mark Joseph Lawrence was consecrated the 14th Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. “We thank you and Allison for your strength and perseverance,” said Alden Hathaway, retired Bishop of Pittsburgh and preacher for the service. “You inspire us and give us hope.”

Father Lawrence was born in Bakersfield, California, on March 19, 1950. He was educated at California State University, Bakersfield (BA, 1976) and Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry (M. Div. 1980). He has ministered at Church of the Holy Family, Fresno, California (1980), Saint Mark’s, Shafter, California (1981-1984), Saint Stephen’s, McKeesport, Pennsylvania (1984-1997), and Saint Paul’s, Bakersfield, California (1997-2007). Known for being a dedicated pastor-teacher, Mark also served, among many other capacities, as a member of the Commission on Ministry, the Standing Committee, and the Board of Examining Chaplains, the latter of which he chaired. He also served as a deputy to the General Conventions of 2003 and 2006.

Mark has been married to Allison Kathleen Taylor since 1973. They have five children: Chadwick (33), married to Wendy; they have three children, Esther, Sarah, and Sydney; Adelia (30), married to Stephen Matson; they have three children, Natalie, Tobias and Macy; Emily (24), married to Jacob Jefferis; Joseph (23), married to Joette, who is expecting her first child this summer, and Chelsea (19).

His name was Charles Henry Brent, born the son of an Anglican clergyman from New Castle, Ontario in 1862. How Charles Brent, a Canadian by birth, came to be a priest in of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and under the episcopacy of the renowned Phillips Brooks, and later, the almost equally celebrated Bishop William Lawrence, is itself an interesting story we haven’t time to explore. Suffice to say that God seemed to be grooming through the seemingly quixotic twists and turns of providence a bishop not merely for the church or for one nation, but for the world—a man, of whom it could be said, he was Everybody’s Bishop.

Read it all beginning with part one here and and concluding with part two there.