Court Hears Arguments in Montana Bishop's Case
Episcopal News Service. November 21, 2000 [2000-209]
(ENS) A court composed of nine bishops of the Episcopal Church, meeting in Minneapolis, heard arguments November 20 in the case of a fellow bishop accused of immorality and conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy. A decision is expected by the end of the year.
The Court for the Trial of a Bishop had ruled in August that the Rt. Rev. Charles I. "Ci" Jones III, bishop of Montana since 1986, was guilty of sexually exploiting a relationship with a female parishioner while serving as a rector in Russellville, Kentucky almost twenty years ago. Jones' attorneys argued that he had already been disciplined by then-Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning when the allegations came to light in 1993, and that allowing further proceedings against him amounts to his being punished twice for the same offense.
But attorneys for the church counter that what Jones experienced was therapy, not discipline -- and that he remains unrepentant and should be punished.
The hearing began with a quiet Eucharist in the Church of Gethsemane, the "mother parish" of Minneapolis, as the first snow of winter fell outside. Jones and his wife Ashby sat in the pews along with judges, attorneys, advocates and journalists. Rather than a homily, the celebrant -- the Rt. Rev. Edward "Ted" Jones, retired bishop of Indianapolis, who acted as the convenor of the court -- asked the congregation to reflect silently on three elements of the service: the Collect for Purity, a portion of Psalm 19, and the Gospel reading from John 15 with its repeated phrase, "Abide in me."
Following the Eucharist, the group adjourned upstairs to the parish hall-turned-courtroom, where Ted Jones explained the ground rules. Ci Jones' guilt or innocence would not be considered, he said -- that had already been decided by the partial summary judgment issued August 28. What was at issue was whether Jones was still subject to discipline in the matter, or whether the pastoral discipline administered by Browning, to which Jones submitted in 1993-4, was sufficient.
Jones' side was argued by Memphis attorney Edward Inman Curry III, who began by blasting the partial summary judgment of guilt as "inappropriate" and a violation of his client's "fundamental rights." The facts aren't all in, Curry said, because some important witnesses have refused to testify. He alleged "deliberate deceptions...and falsehoods about material facts" on the part of the Episcopal Church Center's former Director of Pastoral Development, Bishop Harold Hopkins, and David Booth Beers, the Presiding Bishop's chancellor. And Ci Jones didn't testify because Curry "insisted on his right" not to bear the burden of proving he didn't commit an offense. Curry maintained that the fact that the national church didn't pursue canonical charges against Jones immediately proves that "everybody involved believed it was resolved" in 1994, and that the Presiding Bishop had the authority necessary to impose discipline without the canons being invoked or a trial court convened.
But the church's attorney, Gregory Nye, countered that Curry was avoiding the fundamental reason for the proceedings: Ci Jones' sexual relationship with a parishioner and his refusal to "own it" as sexual exploitation and not just misconduct. "He's fought it tooth and nail," Nye declared. "When he says, 'I've paid the price,' he means for what he considers to be an adult consensual affair," not an abuse of power and position.
When the allegations came to light, Browning ordered Jones to take a one-year paid leave of absence from his duties in Montana and to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the Menninger Clinic and a subsequent course of therapy. Nye argued that the agreement was "therapeutic, not disciplinary," no different from what would have been required even if Jones had later been cleared. Jones himself didn't regard Browning's order as disciplinary in nature, Nye said, until he was faced with presentment charges. And Nye pointed out that it was Jones who decided to cut short the leave of absence and return to his diocesan duties within three months.
As to Jones' contention that the trial constitutes "double jeopardy," Nye said the concept doesn't apply here because this is the first time Jones has actually been tried on the charge.
After both attorneys had presented their arguments and rebutted each other's, both respondent and complainant were offered the opportunity to make statements to the court. The complainant waived her right to speak, but in a surprise move, Jones stood to claim his. Nye objected on the basis that Jones had previously refused to testify or give evidence in the case. Jones quietly withdrew his request to speak and sat down.
Jones' trial marks the second time a bishop has been put on trial in a century. A hearing on a presentment filed against retired bishop Walter Righter in 1996 ended with the court disallowing the heresy charges filed against him for ordaining a man in a committed same-gender relationship.
Just as the charges against Righter hinged on the meaning of the word "doctrine," the Jones case seems to hang on what "discipline" means -- in the canons and in the common usage of the church. In his rebuttal, Curry spelled it out: "If this court believes that Title IV is the only way, issue a ruling that pastoral discipline will not preclude presentment charges. If you want to say that canonical discipline is the only kind that matters, say so," he added.
If the court rules that Jones has been disciplined already, the presentment charges will be dismissed. If it rules otherwise, the court must allow 30 days to comment on its proposed sentence. The court has the choice of imposing an admonition on Jones, suspending him from the ministry, or deposing him -- stripping him of his status as a clergyman.
Two of the bishops on the ecclesiastical court -- the Rt. Rev. Andrew Fairfield of North Dakota and the Rt. Rev. Roger White of Milwaukee -- recused themselves from the court because of close personal friendship with Ci Jones. Bishop Chilton Knudsen of Maine and Suffragan Bishop Cathy Roskam of New York took their places.