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| The '''Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh''' (Southern Cone) |
The '''Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh''' (Southern Cone) is a constituent member of the Anglican Communion through a temporary pastoral relationship with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trurochurch.org/files/SouthernConeRes_110707.pdf |title=Resolution of the Province of the Souther Cone |accessmonthday=November 8 |accessyear=2008 |author=Province of the Southern Cone}}</ref> On November 7, 2008, the Rt. Rev. [[Robert Duncan (bishop) |Robert Wm. Duncan was elected to serve as the 8th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh was founded in 1865 as a constituent ] in the ]. On October 4, 2008, the |
The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh was founded in 1865 as a constituent ] in the ]. On October 4, 2008, the Diocesan Convention voted to leave The Episcopal Church and become a diocese in the ]. Following the decision, a number of parishes signaled their intent to remain within The Episcopal Church, ]. Geographically, the diocese encompasses several counties in ] and its ] (shared with the body in communion with the Episcopal Church) is located in downtown ]. Before the schism in 2008, the diocese included 66 individual parishes, and in 2004 had a total membership of 20,263. Membership totals have not been released since the realignment of October 2008. Bishop ] was re-elected on November 7, 2008 to serve as the 8th Bishop of Pittsburgh. Bishop Duncan was previously deposed by action of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church on September 18, 2008. The motto of the Diocese of Pittsburgh reads '''"One Church of Miraculous Expectation and Missionary Grace.''' | ||
| In addition to its parishes, the diocese is home to numerous other Episcopal/Anglican organizations including the Community of Celebration, the Church Army, Rock the World Youth Mission Alliance, and the South American Missionary Society. Perhaps the most prominent of these is ], a leading ] ] ]. The relationship of these various bodies to the two post-schism bodies in the diocese remains currently uncertain. | In addition to its parishes, the diocese is home to numerous other Episcopal/Anglican organizations including the Community of Celebration, the Church Army, Rock the World Youth Mission Alliance, and the South American Missionary Society. Perhaps the most prominent of these is ], a leading ] ] ]. The relationship of these various bodies to the two post-schism bodies in the diocese remains currently uncertain. | ||
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| After many years of controversy, the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted to leave the Episcopal Church by overwhelming numbers and join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. | After many years of controversy, the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted to leave the Episcopal Church by overwhelming numbers and join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. | ||
| 119 of 191 lay deputies and 121 of 160 of clergy deputies voted on the second reading of constitutional changes intended to facilitate removing the diocese from the Episcopal Church.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/us/05church.html |title=Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese Votes for Split |accessmonthday=October 11 |accessyear=2008 |author=Hamill, Sean D. |date=2008-10-04 |work=]}}</ref> In additional votes, canonical changes were approved that were intended to move the diocese into the ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_101322_ENG_HTM.htm |title=Pittsburgh votes to leave Episcopal Church, align with Southern Cone |accessmonthday=October 11 |accessyear=2008 |author=Schjonberg, Mary Frances |date=2008-10-04 |work=]}}</ref> | 119 of 191 lay deputies and 121 of 160 of clergy deputies voted on the second reading of constitutional changes intended to facilitate removing the diocese from the Episcopal Church.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/us/05church.html |title=Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese Votes for Split |accessmonthday=October 11 |accessyear=2008 |author=Hamill, Sean D. |date=2008-10-04 |work=]}}</ref> In additional votes, canonical changes were approved that were intended to move the diocese into the ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_101322_ENG_HTM.htm |title=Pittsburgh votes to leave Episcopal Church, align with Southern Cone |accessmonthday=October 11 |accessyear=2008 |author=Schjonberg, Mary Frances |date=2008-10-04 |work=]}}</ref> However, the status of this relationship is unclear (the canon law of the Province may be unclear about its membership requirements).<ref>http://www.fwepiscopal.org/downloads/PSCconstitution&canons.pdf Constitution and Canons of the Anglican church of the Southern Cone of America, Constitution section 2</ref> Also, some persons assert that the realignment of the diocese is not possible because the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church make no provision for such a procedure,<ref>http://www.episcopalarchives.org/e-archives/canons/CandC_FINAL_11.29.2006.pdf Constitution and Canons</ref>. | ||
| The diocese's Standing Commmittee, the ecclesiastical authority in the absence of a bishop, supported the vote for realignment with one exception. On November 7, 2008, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan was |
The diocese's Standing Commmittee, the ecclesiastical authority in the absence of a bishop, supported the vote for realignment with one exception. On November 7, 2008, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan was re-elected to be the Diocesan Bishop. | ||
| The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is the second whose convention voted leave The Episcopal Church in this fashion, after the Diocese of San Joaquin, California. On November 7, 2008, |
The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is the second whose convention voted leave The Episcopal Church in this fashion, after the Diocese of San Joaquin, California. On November 7, 2008, the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, Il also voted to separate from The Episcopal Church and join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. | ||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 23:04, 9 November 2008
The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Southern Cone) is a constituent member of the Anglican Communion through a temporary pastoral relationship with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. On November 7, 2008, the Rt. Rev. [[Robert Duncan (bishop) |Robert Wm. Duncan was elected to serve as the 8th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.
The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh was founded in 1865 as a constituent diocese in the Episcopal Church. On October 4, 2008, the Diocesan Convention voted to leave The Episcopal Church and become a diocese in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Following the decision, a number of parishes signaled their intent to remain within The Episcopal Church, Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Episcopal Church). Geographically, the diocese encompasses several counties in Western Pennsylvania and its cathedral (shared with the body in communion with the Episcopal Church) is located in downtown Pittsburgh. Before the schism in 2008, the diocese included 66 individual parishes, and in 2004 had a total membership of 20,263. Membership totals have not been released since the realignment of October 2008. Bishop Robert Duncan was re-elected on November 7, 2008 to serve as the 8th Bishop of Pittsburgh. Bishop Duncan was previously deposed by action of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church on September 18, 2008. The motto of the Diocese of Pittsburgh reads "One Church of Miraculous Expectation and Missionary Grace.
In addition to its parishes, the diocese is home to numerous other Episcopal/Anglican organizations including the Community of Celebration, the Church Army, Rock the World Youth Mission Alliance, and the South American Missionary Society. Perhaps the most prominent of these is Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, a leading conservative evangelical seminary. The relationship of these various bodies to the two post-schism bodies in the diocese remains currently uncertain.
Diocesan history
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The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh covers the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania and includes the current counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland. In the mid-1700s this rich transmontane area drew the first Indian traders, exploring surveyors, military men and later settlers, many of whom were at least nominal Anglicans primarily from Maryland, eastern Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
The earliest penetration of the southwest corner of the state, then sparsely populated with Indians, was made by Episcopalians who set up posts in the 1740s along the Allegheny, Youghiogheny and Ohio rivers. Maryland surveyor Christopher Gist crossed the mountains in the early 1750s to survey large claims of the best farm land. Young George Washington, already a Virginia vestryman, was guided by Gist when he came west to warn the French to withdraw from this region claimed by the British. The French's refusal to leave led to invasion and capture of the tiny stockade built by Virginians at the future site of Pittsburgh in 1754. Washington read the burial office from the 1662 Prayer Book in 1755 when British churchman General Edward Braddock, fatally wounded while attempting to drive the French from Fort Duquesne at the Forks, was carried back over Chestnut Ridge and buried in the middle of the wagon tracks of US 40 in Fayette County. The successful 1758 campaign of British churchman General John Forbes marked the end of French control of the region.
When the first new migrating settlers arrived in the 1760s, there were no settled Episcopal clergy. Laity read Morning Prayer, mainly in farm cabins but sometimes at Fort Burd or Fort Pitt, or in public houses as those were established. Before the American Revolution there were no organized Episcopal churches left anywhere in this corner of the state. Some of the more dedicated laity maintained Prayer Book worship in their homes until after the first Convention of 1789, but they kept no records, elected no vestries, and built no houses for worship. From then until the 1820s, the leadership of the scattered congregations established was mainly in the hands of the few early ministers who sought ordination as Episcopalians and rode wide itinerant circuits.
The first known Episcopal clergy resident in this western third of what was then Diocese of Pennsylvania included: Robert Ayres, a Methodist ordained in 1789, residing at Brownsville, Fayette County; Francis Reno, trained for the ministry by Presbyterians and ordained in 1791, residing at Woodville, Allegheny County; Joseph Doddridge, a Methodist ordained in 1792, residing in Independence, Washington County; and John Taylor, a Presbyterian ordained in 1794, who resided in Hanover Township, Washington County, before moving to Pittsburgh in order to teach school.
John Barrett Kerfoot was the first bishop of the diocese.
Current controversy
The pre-schism Diocese of Pittsburgh was a front line in the current struggles within the Episcopal Church. Bishop Duncan in particular had taken up a prominent role in the conservative position within the national church. In 2003, he and a group of other conservative bishops walked out of General Convention after the House of Bishops approved Gene Robinson's election as Bishop of New Hampshire. In January 2004 Duncan was elected the first moderator of the Anglican Communion Network.
Opposition to Bishop Duncan was well-organized and at least moderately successful. In 2003, Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside sued the diocese (and Bishops Duncan and Scriven specifically) over actions taken by a special convention the diocese held after the 2003 General Convention. At the special convention, the diocese had passed a resolution that asserted that all property of individual parishes belonged to the parishes themselves, rather than to the diocese. In the suit, Calvary claimed that the diocese could not take such an action, as it violated the Dennis Canon. Eventually, the suit was settled out of court. The final settlement did not affirm Calvary Church's central contention that diocesan property was held in trust for the national church, but it created a process by which the diocese agreed to make decisions about property and assets should a congregation wish to leave the diocese.
On November 2, 2007, the convention of the Diocese of Pittsburgh voted to change its constitution to remove accession to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church. (Constitutional changes require votes at two successive annual conventions.) The vote was 118 to 58 in the lay order and 109 to 24 in the clergy order.
A September 18, 2008 session of the House of Bishops deposed Bishop Duncan from ordained ministry on charges of abandoning the communion of the church.
Realignment
After many years of controversy, the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted to leave the Episcopal Church by overwhelming numbers and join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
119 of 191 lay deputies and 121 of 160 of clergy deputies voted on the second reading of constitutional changes intended to facilitate removing the diocese from the Episcopal Church. In additional votes, canonical changes were approved that were intended to move the diocese into the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. However, the status of this relationship is unclear (the canon law of the Province may be unclear about its membership requirements). Also, some persons assert that the realignment of the diocese is not possible because the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church make no provision for such a procedure,.
The diocese's Standing Commmittee, the ecclesiastical authority in the absence of a bishop, supported the vote for realignment with one exception. On November 7, 2008, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan was re-elected to be the Diocesan Bishop.
The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is the second whose convention voted leave The Episcopal Church in this fashion, after the Diocese of San Joaquin, California. On November 7, 2008, the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, Il also voted to separate from The Episcopal Church and join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
References
- Province of the Southern Cone. "Resolution of the Province of the Souther Cone" (PDF).
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - Schjonberg, Mary Frances (2008-10-04). "Pittsburgh votes to leave Episcopal Church, align with Southern Cone". Episcopal News Service.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - Schjonberg, Mary Frances (2007-11-02). "Pittsburgh convention approves first reading of constitutional changes". Episcopal Life.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - Hamill, Sean D. (2008-10-04). "Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese Votes for Split". The New York Times.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - Schjonberg, Mary Frances (2008-10-04). "Pittsburgh votes to leave Episcopal Church, align with Southern Cone". Episcopal News Service.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - http://www.fwepiscopal.org/downloads/PSCconstitution&canons.pdf Constitution and Canons of the Anglican church of the Southern Cone of America, Constitution section 2
- http://www.episcopalarchives.org/e-archives/canons/CandC_FINAL_11.29.2006.pdf Constitution and Canons