Internal strife in US Episcopal Church claim another casualty

House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson will not seek reelection


The Episcopal Church’s political wars have claimed their highest profile casualty. The President of the House of Deputies has announced that she will not seek reelection at this summer’s General Convention in Indianapolis.

In a statement released on 23 May 2012, President Bonnie Anderson said that after serving as president of the House of Deputies – one of the two co-leaders of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church – since 2006, she wanted to “to spend more time with my family.”

While Mrs. Anderson’s decision to step down has been couched in personal terms – many church watchers see her exit as the end move in the political battle between the presiding bishop and the president of the House of Deputies. Declining income and membership, a bloated bureaucracy and committee structure and a clash of ecclesiological visions has prompted bitter in-fighting in the higher echelons of the church. Read more