Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has declared “null and void” the election of the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence as Bishop of South Carolina. The diocese received consent from more than the required 56 standing committees by the March 12 deadline, but a number of ballots were invalidated.
Most of the seven invalidated ballots did not contain the canonically required individual signatures of all members voting in favor of consent, according to the Rev. J. Haden McCormick, president of the South Carolina standing committee. Fr. McCormick said the office of the Presiding Bishop has not yet informed him which diocesan ballots had been rejected or the reasons for the rejection.
“In the past, when consents to episcopal elections have been so closely contested, the diocese has been diligent in seeking to have canonically adequate ballots submitted, asking standing committees to resubmit their ballots when necessary,” Bishop Jefferts Schori told Episcopal News Service. “It is certainly my hope that in the future any diocese seeking consent to an election will use all possible effort to ensure that ballots are received in an appropriate form and in a timely manner.”
It is unlikely that the South Carolina standing committee and its chancellors will be able to meet and decide on its next course of action prior to March 25 when Wade Logan, the acting chancellor, returns to the U.S. Under the Constitution and Canons of the General Convention, the diocese has several options in addition to holding another election. However, holding another election seems to have the most support at the moment, Fr. McCormick said.
“If anything this has galvanized the people of South Carolina and brought us closer together,” he said. “Our position all along has been that we will follow the canons. Perhaps holding a second election will reassure those who voted ‘no’ the first time because they were concerned that we might try to leave The Episcopal Church.”
Fr. McCormick s praised the Presiding Bishop and her staff for their courtesy and cooperation, throughout the process with one exception: the statement in which Bishop Jefferts Schori implied that the South Carolina standing committee might not have been diligent in making sure the consents were received on time and in the proper form.
“Either she was misinformed about our work or she needs to talk to my wife about what I’ve been doing for the past three months,” Fr. McCormick said. “That was not an appropriate or generous response and I don’t think it will help the situation if we start looking around for people to blame.”
The Rt. Rev. Edward Salmon, Bishop of South Carolina, turned 72 on Jan. 30, 2006, and was required by the constitution to resign. He will continue to serve as assisting bishop, according to a March 15 statement published on the diocesan website.
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