PEP Argument Briefing Paper
Background Article XII, Admission of Parishes, was modified by votes in 2007 and 2008 to remove the requirement that new parishes recognize the authority of The Episcopal Church. This proposed change restores that requirement. Argument · The Rationale for this change provided by the Committee on Canons (see below) provides an adequate justification for this measure. · The change completed in 2008 not only removed the reference to The Episcopal Church but added a commitment to “upholding and propagating the historic Faith and Order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer.” Although some sympathy has been expressed for retaining this wording, the commitment to The Episcopal Church, as explained in the Rationale, surely entails this commitment. Supporting Information Resolution (from Preconvention Journal 2009, pp. C-9–C-10, http://www.episcopalpgh.org/wp-content/uploads/file/Documents/2009%20DioConv/2009DioConventionPacketV3.pdf):
3. Article XIII, Admission of Parishes shall be restated in its entirety as follows:
Article XIII Admission of Parishes
Any Parish formed within the limits of the Diocese, and regularly organized according to the Canons, may be admitted into union with the Convention, on motion, by a majority of votes. PROVIDED, it shall have laid before the Convention its Charter and By-laws, or its original Articles of Association, or a duly certified copy thereof, wherein it expressly adopts and recognizes the authority of the Constitution and Canons of this Diocese, and the Constitution, Canons, doctrines, discipline, and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. And provided, also, that it shall have complied with the canonical requirements for such admission.
Rationale: The current Article XIII was modified by the annual conventions of 2007 and 2008 in connection with the attempts to withdraw the diocese from The Episcopal Church. At the Special Convention of December 13, 2008, Resolution IV was passed, affirming the accession of the diocese to the Constitution and canons of The Episcopal Church. The proposed wording restores the pre-2008 text of Article XIII, which explicitly acknowledges the authority of The Episcopal Church. (The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America is the official name of the general church. According to the Preamble of the church’s constitution, the church is “otherwise known as The Episcopal Church.) By restoring the traditional language of “doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America” to this canon the proposed change incorporates a commitment to the historic faith and order of the Book of Common Prayer.
This would replace the current Article XIII which reads:
Article XIII Admission of Parishes
Any Parish formed and desiring union with the Diocese, and regularly organized according to the Canons, may be admitted into union with the Convention, on motion, by a majority of votes; provided it shall have laid before the Convention its Charter and By-laws, or its original Articles of Association, or a duly certified copy thereof, wherein it expressly adopts and recognizes the authority of the Constitution and Canons of this Diocese, and commits to upholding and propagating the historic Faith and Order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. And provided, also, that it shall have complied with the canonical requirements for such admission. |