ENS: Lawrence invited to participate in second search process
By Jerry Hames
Thursday, March 15, 2007

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has declared "null and void" the election of the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence to be the 14th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.

The announcement was first made in a letter written by the Rev. J. Haden McCormick, president of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of South Carolina, and posted to the diocesan website late in the afternoon of March 15.

"Although more than a majority of dioceses had voted to consent to Fr. Mark's election, there were canonical deficiencies in the written responses sent to us," McCormick wrote. "Several dioceses, both on and off American soil, thought that electronic permission was sufficient as had been their past accepted practice. The canons which apply are III.11.4(b), pp. 101-102 in the newly published 2006 Constitutions and Canons that require the prescribed testimonial to the consent be signed by a majority of each standing committee."

"I spoke to Father McCormick today, informing him that consent to the election of the Rev. Mark Lawrence has not been achieved," wrote Jefferts Schori in an email from Camp Allen in Texas.

A formal letter to the diocese, she said, will go out March 16. the rest

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