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Standing Committee Announces Slate of Candidates for 15th Bishop of the Diocese of SC

1/30/2021

Photo of candidates for the XV Bishop of the Diocese of SC

The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina announced today the slate of candidates who will stand for election as the 15th bishop of South Carolina during a Special Meeting of Convention to be held for the purposes of the election on Saturday, May 1, 2021.

The candidates are (listed in alphabetical order):

The Reverend Geoffrey M. St. John Hoare, rector, St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C.
The Reverend Kevin Allen Johnson, rector, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Arlington, Texas
The Reverend Canon Terence Alexander Lee, rector, St. Philip's Episcopal Church, New York, New York
The Venerable Calhoun Walpole, archdeacon, Diocese of South Carolina; vicar and subdean, Grace Church Cathedral, Charleston, South Carolina
The Reverend Canon Ruth M. Woodliff-Stanley, canon for strategic change, Dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania & Western New York; senior vice president for strategic change, Episcopal Church Building Fund

Information about the candidates, including brief biographical information, essays and resumes, can be found on the website for the search for the XV Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina at this link.

In a letter to the Diocese of South Carolina (click here to read the letter), the president of the Standing Committee, the Reverend Canon Caleb J. Lee, said of the search: “This past year has been very challenging, in more ways than one. Through it all, our incredibly talented Search Committee has been steadfast in prayerful discernment. They selected, from a large and exceptionally qualified pool of candidates, the names presented to you to stand for election. The Standing Committee is grateful for the holy work that has been underway, and we are very confident in the process that has brought us to this point.”

The Standing Committee has also announced the opening of the petition process, which allows additional nominees to be added to the slate. More details about the process, including requirements for petition nominees, can be found on the bishop search website at this link. The petition process will close on Monday, February 8, 2021, at 5 pm EST.

Members of the diocese will have the opportunity to learn more about the candidates during walkabouts or candidate conversations to be held April 12-14, 2021. The final decision as to whether these events will be offered in person or virtually has not yet been decided. More information will be announced soon on the bishop search website at www.scbishopsearch.org.

The Standing Committee has called a Special Meeting of Convention to be held for the purposes of the Election of the XV Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. This Special Convention will take place at 9 am on May 1, 2021, at Grace Church Cathedral. If the Convention is not able to meet in person, the diocese will proceed with a virtual platform.

The Diocese of South Carolina announced the beginning of a process that would lead to the election and consecration of the 15th Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina on January 23, 2020. The process was briefly paused at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but resumed in August 2020. Learn more about the search for the 15th Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina at www.scbishopsearch.org.

AME-Episcopal Book Study Continues January 26

1/25/2021

Archdeacon Callie Walpole shared the following update on the weekly AME-Episcopal Book Study that will resume this week:

Over the next six weeks (January 26-March 2), the Tuesday Book Study will examine the Sermon on the Mount and consider the following question: What might God be calling and enabling us to do, and be, in response to racism and a caste society? To answer these questions, we will be grappling with Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 5-7.

Some of the questions the study may ask in reference to racism:

Is Jesus really serious when he says – Love your enemies? You’re “blessed” when people lie about you and bully you? And, just exactly when will those who hunger and thirst for righteousness “be filled?” And “don’t worry?”
Is Jesus focusing mostly on a far-off future here—a remote utopia?
Is Jesus laying out a socio-political strategy—a diagram for ideal commonwealth?
Or, is Jesus only talking about out “intentions” and the “inner life?”
Is there any good news, comfort, empowerment, grace here?

The Reverend Dr. Steve Rhodes will lead the discussion. Steve is a Presbyterian minister who served as pastor to three churches, professor of theology and Academic Dean at Memphis Theological Seminary, and later as Co-Director of the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center (AMERC). His fourth collection of Poetry “was that you Boss,” will make its appearance in the next few months.

All are welcome to join the conversation. Participants are asked to have a Bible/New Testament handy. To sign up to receive the Zoom link, please contact Tater Beak at [email protected].

A Covid-19 Update from the Standing Committee

1/19/2021

As cases of COVID-19 continue to increase in South Carolina, the Rev. Cn. Caleb Lee, President of the Standing Committee of The Diocese of South Carolina, has written an update to the diocese. A copy of his letter can be viewed here.

The text of the letter is below:

January 19, 2021

Dear Faithful People of the Diocese of South Carolina,

As the number of positive COVID-19 cases continue to climb throughout the state of South Carolina, the Standing Committee wishes to thank each congregation, its clergy, and lay leadership, for the diligence and forbearance exercised throughout this ongoing pandemic and especially during the Advent and Christmas seasons. What we are doing on the congregational level seems to be working, and we simply want to thank you for doing your part.

We encourage everyone in the diocese to get the vaccine as it is available. However, this virus is not letting up even though vaccines are beginning to be rolled out. Therefore, we humbly ask that all remain vigilant in our common task of slowing the spread in the months ahead by continuing the good work already being done. Let us not grow weary or complacent in these winter months but remain steadfast in our discipline regarding safety precautions.

Our current guidelines and recommendations remain in effect because they give you, the good people of the diocese, the flexibility to do what is best for your communities.

As a reminder, we also want to share the document we prepared last spring that will help us all reassess and fine tune our approach to in-person worship during this time. Find it at this link.

May this new year bring all who are heavy laden with the burden of this pandemic the refreshing yoke of Christ.

On behalf of the Standing Committee I am faithfully yours,

The Reverend Canon Caleb J. Lee
President of the Standing Committee

A Word to the Diocese From the Archdeacon

1/7/2021

Archdeacon Callie Walpole preached at Grace Church Cathedral, Charleston, on January 7, 2021, following the siege of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6. Watch the video of the homily at this link or by clicking the video below.

The text of the homily is below:

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable…
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.

You of course recognize these lines from T.S. Eliot. Or, as William Faulkner famously said: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

I often encounter earnest people of faith who suggest that while our history is important and we need to know our history, we also need to move on into a new future. I do not disagree. Sometimes I have conversations with others who express a real fatigue around the conversations pertaining to racial matters. Surprise might even be expressed on occasion that a number of us in this diocese—(and now beyond as we are meeting over Zoom)—continue to gather every single week to read and discuss books that deal with the issue of race in this country.

It was our own Bishop Guerry—martyred over his own stance that the Church must be broad enough to embrace within its communion every living human soul—who said: “If we take a backward glance today it is only that we may gain fresh strength and courage for the future and the great work to which God has called us.” We look back so that we might move forward. The two steps are not at odds with each other.

If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to read the classic work by C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. It was written back in the 1950’s and Martin Luther King quoted it in paragraphs.

Yesterday, startlingly, on the floor of the Senate a compromise was suggested—along the lines of the Compromise of 1877. We cannot continue to ignore the fact that attitudes about race continue to play a mammoth role in our struggles—and the invasion of our Capitol yesterday. The Compromise of 1877 was also known as “the Great Betrayal.” The agreement of 1877 removed federal troops from the South—effectively dismantling any strides made by Reconstruction and stripping away voting rights for Blacks. It ushered in a period known ironically, cruelly, as “Redemption”—paving the way for the Jim Crow laws of segregation. Lynchings would become prevalent during this period as African-Americans would endure a veritable reign of terror.

If you want to learn more about all this here in South Carolina, check out the book When South Carolina was an Armed Camp, by Belton O’Neall Townsend of Florence, South Carolina. It is a collection of articles that Townsend sent anonymously to The Atlantic.

Yesterday, the Feast of the Epiphany, saw a number of our elected officials change their minds and their vote after the besieging of the Capitol Building by Americans—the place where our Congress meets and deliberates and passes laws for our nation.

A dark day…
         But light, we know, shines in darkness.
         That is our hope.

I think we need to resist the very human need to move on from the pain that uncovering truth often brings. We need to remember that it is truth that sets us free—and so we oughtn’t fear truth, or tension—but confront it with courage and grace and strength—and be open to experiencing our own epiphanies as we do. This sort of tension is the very essence of human life.

Our human need for avoiding or removing tension is often at odds with the very will of God. Think about it: Eternal life—eternity itself—the essence of God—is unending, infinite, forever. It cannot be swept away or packed up and placed into a nice box and tucked away on a shelf somewhere—thank God.

We know that “at death life is changed, not ended.”
Christ’s kingdom is forever.
So is our struggle eternal.

Standing Committee Announces Slate of Candidates for 15th Bishop of the Diocese of SC

AME-Episcopal Book Study Continues January 26

A Covid-19 Update from the Standing Committee

A Word to the Diocese From the Archdeacon

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