CENTRAL FLORIDA: Leadership outlines 'disaffiliation protocol'
Episcopal News Service. December 17, 2007 [121707-03]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The Diocesan Board of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida has adopted what it calls "A Protocol for Those Desiring to Disaffiliate From The Episcopal Church."
In October, diocesan Bishop John Howe announced that he had reached an agreement with the rectors and senior wardens of seven parishes and two church planters regarding "possible scenarios by which all or part of the congregations may disaffiliate from The Episcopal Church."
The seven parishes contemplating separation from the Episcopal Church are Gloria Dei, Cocoa; St. Anne's, Crystal River; Good Shepherd, Maitland; St. Edward's, Mount Dora; Grace, Ocala; Trinity, Vero Beach; and Holy Cross, Winter Haven. The church planters are affiliated with St. Philip's, Lake Nona, and St. Nicholas, Poinciana.
The Diocese of Central Florida has 89 parishes and missions in 15 Florida counties.
In addition to outlining the protocol for disaffiliation, the December 13 announcement on the diocesan website also said that the diocesan Constitution and Canons Committee had advised against adopting the Board's proposed amendment to the diocesan Constitution regarding the diocese's accession to the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church.
The Diocesan Board, which according to the diocesan constitution acts as the board of directors of the Diocese of Central Florida, Inc., voted to modify its proposed amendment so that the accession clause would remain as it is now worded, "and add to that language from the National Constitution regarding our relationship to the Anglican Communion," the announcement said.
The announcement said that the committee had agreed to the modification. The complete amendment is available here. The diocesan convention, which meets January 25-26, 2008, will consider the proposed amendment as modified.
The disaffiliation protocol begins -- under a section titled "Vestry Decision" -- by stating that "the vote of a Rector and Vestry cannot control whether or not a congregation disaffiliates. Congregations cannot disaffiliate from the Diocese; individual members may choose to do so. However, if the Rector and Vestry decide by at least a 2/3 majority that they believe a substantial majority of the congregation is determined to disaffiliate from the Diocese at some point in the future, they shall immediately notify the Bishop of that fact."
A number of steps then must be followed, beginning with a special meeting of the congregation with the diocesan bishop and a congregational vote. "Clergy and members who have answered this question in the affirmative shall continue in parochial or diocesan office or appointment," the protocol says. "Those answering in the negative shall have, by that declaration, resigned any parochial or diocesan office or appointment."
The bishop or his designee would then meet with those members who wish to remain within the Episcopal Church. "The purpose of the meeting shall be one of mutual discernment regarding two key questions: Is there a viable continuing congregation? And if so, can the continuing congregation maintain its life and ministry within the existing physical plant?" the protocol says.
Also outlined is a process for sale of the congregation's property if it has been determined that those who wish to remain in the Episcopal Church "cannot maintain its viability in the existing physical plant." Possible buyers could include the departing members and leadership, the protocol says.
Once the board had voted to accept the protocol, the diocesan Standing Committee "then met separately, and passed a motion "advising the Bishop to use great discretion and caution applying the Protocol to avoid litigation," the diocese's website says.
Howe is one of the first eight diocesan bishops who accepted Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's invitation to serve as an official "episcopal visitor" (the lowercase adjective referring generally to bishops and their ministries rather than the church's denomination) to dioceses that have requested an alternative visitor to Jefferts Schori, or to provide "Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight" (DEPO), an option provided by the House of Bishops' March 2004 statement "Caring for All the Churches" and a concept affirmed by the General Convention in 2006.
Four additional bishops later accepted Jefferts Schori's invitation to serve as "episcopal visitors."
Jefferts Schori's invitation to the 12 bishops seeks to delegate the first of three primary canonical duties of the Presiding Bishop, that of visiting each of the Episcopal Church's 110 dioceses during each Presiding Bishop's nine-year term. The Presiding Bishop's other two principal canonical roles are to "take order" for ordaining and consecrating bishops, and to oversee certain disciplinary actions as needed.