Dear Friends,

Many of you have heard about the allegations that have been made against our Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence.   It has been a topic of much discussion and has been written about extensively in the local press and on our diocesan website. For those of you who do not know, Bishop Lawrence is being accused of actively trying to lead our diocese out of the Episcopal Church. I do want everyone to know that I, as your rector, prayerfully decided not to make any public statements about these events until I had the opportunity to meet with our Wardens, Pierce Campbell and Allie Walker, and our Vestry. Rest assured that I am in full support of Bishop Lawrence.  Our Wardens and Vestry are also in support of our Bishop. If you would like to know more about these recent events, you can read all about it by clicking HERE.  If you want to see the accusations themselves, you can click HERE.

To bring everyone up to speed, this past Tuesday, October 11, the clergy of our diocese met at St. James Church on James Island to hear Bishop Lawrence explain his understanding of where we currently are in the process and to pray for the situation.  Joy Hunter, our diocesan communications coordinator, has a good summary of our day together which you may read by clicking HERE.   A National Associated Press article about the day can be found HERE.  What we don't know is who is making the charges against our Bishop.  The Rt. Rev. Dorsey Henderson, who is the president of the Title IV Disciplinary Board of the National Church is on record as stating that the charges came from within our diocese. You may read his press release HERE. 

Under the new Title IV canons (church laws), now in effect in the National Church, any accusation presented has to be investigated as if it were true.   It is also my understanding that our Bishop could be inhibited (suspended) by the Presiding Bishop without any due process or even so much as a hearing, once the Disciplinary Committee presents formal charges. At this point, there are only allegations against Bishop Lawrence.   Also of interest, under the new canons that just went into effect, the accuser can remain anonymous until formal charges are made.   You may read more on this by clicking HERE.  The present situation with our Bishop and our diocese is the reason we as a diocese passed resolutions at our Diocesan Convention saying that we would not accede to the new Title IV canons.

To close, please know that we here at St. John's are going to continue to attempt to live into our Mission Statement - To Know Christ and to Make Him Known. Also, please feel free to call or e-mail me or our Wardens if you have any questions or if you need further clarification about any of this. Brothers and sisters, Christ is blessing us richly here at St. John's and I have every confidence He will continue to do so as we continue to "dedicate ourselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers" (Acts 2:42).  Please keep Bishop Lawrence, our diocese, and St. John's in your prayers. Know that you all will be in mine.

Christ's blessings,

Ken Weldon, Rector