Monday, April 07, 2008

Schofield might not have been deposed canonically

http://www.questioningchristian.com/2008/03/schofield-might.html

[The Questioning Christian] 7 Apr 2008--I can't say I like the looks of this one bit. This past week, the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops voted to depose John-David Schofield, sometime bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin, from ordained ministry for having abandoned the communion of the church. But The Living Church reported yesterday that the number of bishops present at the meeting was far short of the canonical requirement.

Canon IV.9.2 of the Episcopal Church sets out the relevant procedure. It says that such a deposition must be approved at a meeting of the House of Bishops by "a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled to vote ...." (Emphasis added.) According to the Living Church report, out of 294 bishops entitled to vote, only 131 registered for the House of Bishops meeting, and 15 left before the vote.

I wasn't prepared to accept the report of an improper vote just on The Living Church’s say-so. I have no idea where they got their information. Anyone who has ever raced around at the last minute helping to organize an event can confirm that, just because 131 bishops registered for the HoB meeting, that doesn’t mean 131 bishops were present. We also need to know where The Living Church got its information about 15 bishops leaving before the vote.

No comments: