DioBeth newSpin

Pittsburgh Bishop deposed for his actions, not his beliefs

By Canon Bill Lewellis
Communication Minister, Diocese of Bethlehem

At its regular Fall meeting, September 17-19, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church authorized Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori to depose Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan from the ordained ministry of the Episcopal Church (85 in favor, 35 against, four abstentions) and remove him as the bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The Presiding Bishop signed Duncan's sentence on September 19, The sentence and an accompanying letter from Jefferts Schori to Duncan were sent to Pittsburgh diocesan offices on September 22 and later released to the public. Read the Episcopal News Service story here.

Statement by the House of Bishops ... and the many takes on it

The House of Bishops Response to Questions and Concerns Raised by our Anglican Communion Partners is available here. A news release about the statement is available here. Many examples of how this has played in newspapers across the country and around the world, some that badly missed the point, are available here with the following editor's note by Jan Nunley, Behold, how many competing interpretations can be made of one document that is only one day old and written in the contemporary language of those reporting on it, with the authors nearby for clarification! Now do you see why the interpretation of a set of 66 books in several different languages at several thousand years' remove is such a challenge for mere human beings? And there's more here.