Diocesan Leaders in New Jersey Reject Plan for Reconciliation and Healing
Episcopal News Service. January 27, 1999 [99-2286_X]
(ENS) A proposal for healing and reconciliation in the long-festering rift between Bishop Joe Morris Doss and diocesan leadership in New Jersey was rejected by the Standing Committee and Diocesan Council at a January 26 meeting in Secaucus.
The proposal, drafted by Doss and Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, would have called for the Standing Committee and Council to "give their full support to the ministry of the diocese under the leadership of the bishop," including "full support -- spiritual and financial -- for this ministry."
The agreement called for the bishop to "consider new opportunities for ministry outside the diocese" and resign "effective no later than the close of the annual diocesan convention in March 2002."
In an attempt to bring peace to the diocese, the agreement called for the bishop and diocesan leaders to "exert every reasonable effort to maintain a professional and collegial relationship with each other and to devote their energies to a spirited and cooperative ministry in the diocese so long as the bishop remains in office." A "monitoring team" of 10 members, appointed by the bishop, the presiding bishop and the Standing Committee and Council, would have met regularly to review implementation of the agreement.
Challenges to the bishop's leadership go back several years and, despite the use of outside consultants and a wellness committee of diocesan leaders, the confrontation escalated into demands for his resignation. Critics contend that Doss is largely responsible for the "pain, conflict and mistrust that besets our diocese."
Another point in the agreement called for the Standing Committee and Council to "withdraw their resolutions calling for the bishop's resignation and cease all 'investigation' of the personal and professional life of the bishop."
Doss has remained defiant, contending that most of the problems in the diocese preceded his 1994 election, but he did agree to modify some elements of his working style that provoked criticism.
After spending seven months in the diocese as a "mentor bishop," Bishop George Hunt, the retired bishop of Rhode Island, said in a report in May 1998, "While recognizing that Bishop Doss has made some mistakes," he said, "There are also indications that a number of diocesan leaders have abandoned a tenet which lies at the heart of the Gospel -- that reconciliation is always possible if the parties will submit their wills to the will of Christ."
Hunt said that he had never seen a "more convoluted or complicated" situation. Despite the "enormously complex" situation, he said that he "couldn't find anything of substance on which Doss could be held accountable, nothing to justify attempts to force the bishop's resignation." In his report he warned diocesan leaders who continue to oppose the bishop, "The path you are on leads to death. If you continue to pursue it, it leads to the death of the diocese."
According to Doss, the agreement would have addressed and helped to resolve issues and disagreements. "Only through a mutual healing process can we assist the diocese in achieving a healthy reform," he said. "It has become clear to me that my call as bishop of New Jersey is a call to facilitate a period of reform leading to the election of another bishop," he said, adding that he was willing to take early retirement when all facets of the reform plan had been achieved.
Griswold said that he regretted the rejection of the proposal "that would have called upon all parties to use the next three years to rebuild the corporate life of the diocese, to work together in areas of mission and ministry, and to recover a healthy financial state through parish support of the diocesan budget."
The presiding bishop said that he had "tried with every means at my disposal to find healing and reconciliation," telling the Standing Committee and Diocesan Council that, in light of their decision, "I have now exhausted the possibilities for further intervention by the Office of the Presiding Bishop in the matter. I remain their chief pastor and friend, and pray for ways to emerge that will move toward healing. I have assured them," Griswold said, "of my concern not only for the bishop and his family but for all of the people of the Diocese of New Jersey."
Diocesan sources said that the Standing Committee and Diocesan Council are preparing a response to the proposed agreement, leaving open the possibility of a plan of reconciliation.