Ex-candidate for bishop asks members to choose

http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/default_pf.aspx?NEWSID=135077

[Charleston Post and Courier] 17 Mar 2007--A day after his election as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina was declared null and void, the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence expressed disappointment in the state of his church and called on Episcopalians to pick one side or the other.

In one camp are those who emphasize the church's "broad tent" tradition. In the other are those who believe a broadening tent has caused the church to stray too far from a doctrine in which Scripture and tradition reign supreme.

"It's astonishing, the way people have flung mud," Lawrence said in an interview Friday. "It's ludicrous what is being portrayed here."

He said he has been portrayed as a candidate willing to split the church by realigning the diocese with other parts of the worldwide Anglican Communion. He said he was accused of placing conditions on the U.S. church, hedging when it came to the "oath of conformity."

His statements have been misconstrued, he said, such as the one he made late last year when he wrote responses to questions from church officials: "I shall commit myself to work at least as hard at keeping the Diocese of South Carolina in The Episcopal Church as my sister and brother bishops work at keeping The Episcopal Church in covenanted relationship with the worldwide Anglican Communion."