Particulars of the consent process

[Louie Crew <lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu>]

The Episcopal Church has 100 domestic dioceses plus 11 outside the
United States.  For consecration a bishop-elect requires consents
from 50%+1 of the bishops with jurisdiction and consents from 50%+1
(56) of the Standing Committees.  A non-response has the effect of a
'no.' 
 
Canon 13:1 states: 
      A Diocese without a Bishop may, by an act of its
      Convention, and in consultation with the Presiding
      Bishop, be placed under the provisional charge and
      authority of a Bishop of another Diocese or of a resigned
      Bishop, who shall by that act be authorized to exercise
      all the duties and offices of the Bishop of the Diocese
      until a Bishop is elected and ordained for that Diocese
      or until the act of the Convention is revoked.

I asked David Beers, Chancellor to the Presiding Bishop, how Canon
13:1 relates to the consent process.  He confirmed that Provisional
Bishops do exercise jurisdiction in the matter of consents,
currently:   .
 
+Wallis Ohl in Fort Worth.  
+John Buchanan in Quincy.
+Jerry Lamb in San Joaquin. 
+Ken Price in Pittsburgh  
+Nedi Rivera in Eastern Oregon
 
Dioceses currently without bishops with jurisiction will be counted
neither in the numerator nor the denominator of the equation by which
we determine how many consents are needed:
 
Alaska
Eau Claire
Navajoland  (Mark MacDonald has always been only an assisting bishop
there)
Northern Michigan
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rio Grande
 
That would reduce to 104 the number of bishops asked to consent, with
53 consents required.
 
Others:
 
Louisiana and Upper South Carolina:  Both +Charles Jenkins and +Dorsey
Henderson  will retire on December 31, 2009.   If
consent requests reach them before that date, conceivably they could
exercise jurisdiction, but not thereafter.  Their successors
still await their own consents and do not now have jurisdiction.

\240

If Louisiana and Upper South Carolina have no bishop with jurisdiction
during the response period, 102 bishops will be asked to consent
and 52 consents will be required.

 
Western Kansas.  Bishop James Adams has resigned to become Vicar of
Shepherd of the Hills in Lecanto, Florida (CFla).  His office in
Western Kansas confirmed for me that the resignation does not take
place until March 31, although Bishop Adams will be on sabbatical in
February and March.   Thus he will exercise jurisdiction.
 
Note that the Presiding Bishop exercises jurisdiction for the
Convocation of American Churches in Europe.
 
The clock starts clicking on the day the requests are sent out for
consents.  The electing diocese and the Office of the Presiding
Bishop will assure that they are posted on the same day.  The
deadline for receiving responses is 4 months (120 days) after that
date.  The electing diocese sends the requests to Standing
Committees; the Office of the Presiding Bishop sends the requests to
the bishops with jurisdiction.   Completed forms are returned to the
sender.
 
Louie, L1 Newark, whose mother was the head teller a local bank
 
Louie Crew, 377 S. Harrison St., 12D, East Orange, NJ 07018
973-395-1068
http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/  Queer Eye for the
Lectionary