Bishops meet with the presiding bishop (from left): Scott Mayer, Dorsey McConnell, Michael Curry, David Rice, and Charles von Rosenberg |
The Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Fort Worth reports on a meeting between Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and bishops of reorganizing dioceses:
Bishop Scott Mayer joined Bishops Dorsey McConnell of Pittsburgh, David Rice of San Joaquin, and Charles von Rosenberg of South Carolina in a wide-ranging discussion with the presiding bishop designed to update him on developments in those dioceses.
As the meeting unfolded the bishops discovered that, even though the four dioceses are all very different one from the other and all are facing their own particular legal challenges, they have many things in common. While their litigation is important, it is not the center of life in any of the dioceses. Additionally, all the reorganizing dioceses:
- have healthy congregations with thriving outreach and ministries
- continue to cultivate and train lay leadership
- seek to create a healthy balance in roles among the four orders of ministry — bishop, priest, deacon, and laity
- actively form and recruit clergy inspired by the leadership challenges of dioceses that are reimagining the Episcopal Church in their local contexts
- are filled with people who have made a conscious decision to be Episcopalian, which endows them with a unique commitment to the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church
