Many of you may have already heard that my brother bishop, Mark Lawrence of our neighboring Diocese of South Carolina, has had Title IV disciplinary charges brought against him. You can read the actual charges here:
http://www.diosc.com/sys/
I am personally saddened by this on many levels, but mostly because I have come to know and love him as a friend and brother in Christ. Upon investigation of these charges, I hope the members of the Disciplinary Board for Bishops will dismiss them appropriately.
Before arriving at any conclusions or engaging in any wild conspiracy theories, we all need to recognize the facts. The Presiding Bishop (nor anyone in her office) did not bring these charges against Bishop Lawrence. Also, no one in the House of Bishops brought these charges forward. Communicants in the Diocese of South Carolina have made these charges. Please refer to this fact sheet so you will have the facts and are not relying on rumor or the blogospehere, which often traffics in the same:
http://www.episcopalchurch.
Our new Title IV Disciplinary Canons have a specific process. If charges are made, they cannot be ignored or kept quiet. The process requires that the Disciplinary Board convene its Reference Panel, investigate the merits of the charges, and then make a recommendation either to dismiss them or to send the charges onto a Conference Panel comprised of three bishops, one priest or deacon, and one layperson. The Conference Panel’s membership is taken from the ten bishops, four priests or deacons, and four laypersons on the Disciplinary Board for Bishops.
The Conference Panel listens to those who made the charges, the bishop who is responding to the charges (in this case, Bishop Lawrence), and then it can do a number of things: dismiss the charges, work out an Accord between those bringing the charges and the responding bishop, or refer the charges to a Hearing Panel comprised of different members of the Disciplinary Board’s Conference Panel. The Hearing Panel has three bishops, one priest or deacon, and one layperson. It functions much like a traditional ecclesiastical court. (See Title IV Canon 17 for a complete explanation at
http://www.episcopalarchives.
In my experience, no healthy, faithful Christian enjoys conflict or its consequences. Yet, conflict is a part of life and the Church is not immune from it. My hope is that this matter will be handled with justice and compassion for all concerned. The Title IV process, while cumbersome and more public than previous processes, does offer the hope of that. Please keep Bishop Lawrence, our Disciplinary Board, and the people of the Diocese of South Carolina in your prayers.
+Scott
The Rt. Rev. Scott Anson Benhase was the tenth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia from 2010-2020. This website serves as an online archives for the weekly email reflections, the eCrozier, he wrote during his episcopacy.