PENNSYLVANIA: Presiding Bishop engages in conversation with laity
Episcopal News Service. March 30, 2009 [033009-03]
Jerry Hames
For two hours on Sunday afternoon (March 30), Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori held a conversation with lay people in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia Cathedral, listening to their views and responding to their questions about the diocese, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.
She urged them not to become mired in the diocese's major problem -- the future of inhibited Pennsylvania Bishop Charles Bennison -- but to focus on new possibilities. Echoing her videotaped greeting to the Diocesan Convention last November, she encouraged them to be open to healing as individuals and collectively as a diocese. "Restoring relationships with one another is a significant part of your work right now," she said.
More than 250 people attended the lay forum and listened intently as the Presiding Bishop responded to about 30 questions directed her way. The questions were wide-ranging in scope and reflected broad interests, but at least a dozen were related to the serious financial challenges the diocese now faces and the lengthy legal procedures that have followed the inhibition of Bennison in 2007.
Since then, Bennison has been found guilty of two charges of conduct unbecoming a clergy member, and an ecclesiastical court has recommended he be deposed. In a separate hearing, the judges, composed of bishops, clergy and lay people elected by the General Convention, rejected his request to modify their sentence. Bennison has now appealed to a Court of Review composed of nine bishops. He continues to be paid by the diocese during this time.
Peter Wilmerding, chair of the Finance and Property Committee and a former controller of the diocese, said he was frustrated by delays by the Court of Review, apparently because of the bishops' conflicting schedules. He urged the Presiding Bishop to try to expedite the process, and she agreed to do what she could. "We've got to get a decision on the table so we can move ahead," Wilmerding said.
Several others questioned why the diocese is required to pay the bishop after an ecclesiastical trial found him guilty and why church canons have created such a lengthy, drawn-out judicial process.
"I understand your frustration at having to pay someone who is not functioning in this diocese," said Jefferts Schori, acknowledging that there is a strong case for revising church canons in order to expedite such matters and yet still be fair to the accused. "But let me challenge all of you," she said. "The situation in which you find yourself should not hold you hostage. If that is the only thing in your view, it will do that."
Other speakers asked for counsel and training from the national church's stewardship office and described the difficulty trying to balance the diocese's critical financial need with Christian stewardship responsibilities beyond diocesan borders. Lengthy statements preceded many questions, but one of the most poignant was asked in just seven words. "What is your prayer for this diocese?" a woman asked.
"Get healthy; learn to love one another," Jefferts Schori replied, adding that those present must make attempts to lower the level of conflict in the diocese, and she urged them to adopt a discipline to help restore broken relationships. "Look for the blessing in the person that drives you crazy."
Bishop Rodney Michel, former suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Long Island, was introduced at the forum as the new assisting bishop beginning April 1. He will serve up to three years, succeeding Bishop Allen Bartlett who returned from retirement to serve as assisting bishop during the past year.
Christopher Hart, a member of the Standing Committee, said it had been the Presiding Bishop's intent to make a diocesan visit since last fall when she was unable to attend the Diocesan Convention. On Sunday morning she preached at a service celebrating the 150th anniversary of Holy Trinity Church, Rittenhouse Square, and had meetings with the Standing Committee and members of the Youth Council prior to the lay forum.
On Monday morning, the Presiding Bishop celebrated the Eucharist with diocesan clergy, followed by a clergy-only conversation about diocesan and church-wide issues and concerns.