Title IV Task Force Begins 'Blue Book' Report

October 1, 2008

The task force charged with rewriting the church’s canons on discipline does not expect to release another draft until the Blue Book of General Convention legislation is published sometime after the first of the year. The Title IV Task Force Two met Sept. 28 through Oct. 1 in New Orleans.

Last January the task force released a draft of its revised disciplinary code. The group proposes among other things streamlining the inhibition and removal of a priest or bishop on abandonment charges, extending the disciplinary canons to include jurisdiction over the laity in some circumstances and a new provision for declaring a cleric impaired. The period for public comment ended June 1.

The task force was expected to discuss the submissions and to begin drafting its blue book report during the New Orleans meeting, according to Steve Hutchison, chairman of the task force and chancellor of the Diocese of Utah. the rest