Episcopal Church: Proposed Misconduct Changes Would Compel Testimony from Accused

June 15, 2008

A “fundamental shift” in the proposed revision to The Episcopal Church’s misconduct canons would require accused persons to testify, said Sallie Johnson, chancellor to the President of the House of Deputies, during a question-and-answer session with Executive Council on June 14.

Discussion and a presentation of the proposed canonical revision, which for the first time will propose making lay leadership subject to the Canons and Constitution of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church, consumed about an hour of the afternoon plenary session.

Council members asked a number of questions about the rationale and potential for abuse of making lay leadership subject to the misconduct code. That decision has proven controversial, and helped lead to defeat of a previous revision of the code at the 75th General Convention in 2006. Under the latest proposed revision to the misconduct code, complaints against laity have been removed from Title IV and incorporated into Title I. A procedure for dealing with impaired clergy will be included in Title III. the rest