SOUTH CAROLINA: Bishop Skilton asked to resign by Standing Committee
Episcopal News Service. February 7, 2007 [020707-05]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Bishop Suffragan William Skilton of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina resigned from that position at the end of 2006.
In an letter posted on the diocese's website January 25, Skilton said that the decision "freely made by me" came at the request of the Standing Committee of the diocese "and with the concurrence of the Bishop-elect, Mark Lawrence."
Skilton, 66, wrote he had negotiated a benefit package with the Standing Committee in order to enable Lawrence the opportunity "to create a diocesan staff that will more effectively respond to his developing vision and gifts that he brings to the Diocese."
Skilton wrote that his decision came "after much prayer, counsel, consideration, and recognition of the canonical safeguards respecting suffragan bishops."
Canon III.11.10.b.3 states that "The tenure of office of a Bishop Suffragan shall not be determined by the tenure of office of the Bishop Diocesan."
In an accompanying statement, the Standing Committee thanked Skilton for his 11 years of ministry in the diocese.
"We are especially appreciative of Bill's sensitivity and cooperation over these past weeks as we discussed and designed his retirement," the statement said. "After Bill had made his decision to step down, he agreed to absent himself from the Diocesan office and curtail his normal activities during this time of transition."
Lawrence, 56, was elected September 16 as South Carolina's 14th bishop to succeed Bishop Edward L. Salmon Jr., who turned 72 on January 30, 2006, the constitutionally compulsory retirement age (Article II, Sec. 9).
In the weeks following Lawrence's election, questions arose about his intentions concerning the diocese's membership in the Episcopal Church. There has been speculation about whether Lawrence's election will or should get the necessary consents.
He is the rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Parish, in Bakersfield, California, in the Diocese of San Joaquin. Both South Carolina and San Joaquin are part of a group of seven dioceses, out of the church's 110 dioceses and one convocation of European congregations, which have requested a relationship with a primate of the Anglican Communion other than the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, citing 2003 and 2006 General Convention actions.
The canons of the Episcopal Church (III.11.4(a)) require that a majority of the bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees respond within 120 days of receiving notice of his or her election, saying whether or not they consent to the bishop-elect's ordination. Some diocesan standing committees have already announced that they will not give their consent to Lawrence.
On January 11, the Diocese of South Carolina announced that it had postponed Lawrence's planned February 24 consecration because a delay in sending out requests for consents to Lawrence's election means that consecration date would have fallen within the 120 days. That period ends on March 9.
Skilton, who was born in Havana, Cuba, wrote in his letter that Lawrence will have his continued support, adding that "he and his wife, Allison, will be a blessing during these troubled times in our Church."
"My plan now is to concentrate on the work that I have been doing nationally and internationally in the wider church," Skilton wrote in his letter. "I am and will continue to be a Missionary Bishop -- a Latino -- and the vineyard in which I will work in the future is a developing one."