Statement on the "Sentence of Deposition" of Bishop Duncan

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9067

[VirtueOnline] 23 Sep 2008--Prior to the meeting of the House of Bishops last week The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc. warned that the "proceeding against Bishop Duncan clearly belong[s] to a larger effort to create an office of Presiding Bishop, and a way of proceeding in the present season, at odds with the constitution and canons of this church." Following the questionable vote, ACI noted that "the legitimacy of the House's action and the Presiding Bishop's leadership has been placed in serious question before the eyes of the Communion and the larger public. No one should minimize the role this may play in the unfolding re-establishment of the Communion's common life."

ACI's concerns about canonical abuse and procedural legitimacy are not allayed by the purported "Sentence of Deposition" of Bishop Duncan now made public. In her memorandum to the House of Bishops, dated September 12, 2008, the Presiding Bishop addressed the question whether the canonically required vote by the House of Bishops was "by a majority of bishops present at the meeting at which the matter is presented or, on the other hand, by a majority of all the voting members of the House whether or not in attendance." She concluded that "the vote must be by a majority of all the bishops who are at the meeting at which the vote must be taken and who are entitled to vote."

The "Sentence of Deposition" does not reflect, however, her interpretation of the canon. It includes the recitation "a majority of the members of the House of Bishops entitled to vote having consented to this Deposition at a meeting of the House of Bishops in Salt Lake City , Utah , on 18 September, 2008...." That is, the Sentence does not read, following the Presiding Bishop's own memorandum and ruling, "a majority of the members of the House of Bishops present," nor does it recite the actual language of the relevant canon. Instead, the Sentence adopts the plain reading of the canon the Presiding Bishop overruled: "a majority of members of the House of Bishops entitled to vote having consented..."