There may be some legitimacy to the objection that a majority of consents necessary came from retired bishops: Since they no longer have the responsibility, they should no longer vote on decisive issues. But let us look at the House of Bishops in another way, and count only the diocesan bishops as members. There were 27 of these bishops giving consent to the presentment - still the necessary 25 percent. There are, I have been told, 110 dioceses; there are at least five vacant sees (even when a bishop has been elected as in Maryland or Rhode Island, that bishop has not been consecrated and therefore is not yet a member of the House of Bishops). If my arithmetic is correct, that leaves 26 and a quarter bishops necessary for presentment. Perhaps this is not true in counting bishops, but in the old arithmetic, anything under half is rounded down - so there was still one bishop beyond the necessary 25 percent.

Change the canon if you will, but if retired bishops are included as members of the House of Bishops, then they must be allowed to participate as they will. Their participation does not invalidate any action they chose to take part in.

Dorothy W. Spaulding

McLean, Va.