Voorhees College and the Rev. Dr. James Yarsiah have announced that he will conclude his service as Voorhees Chaplain and Vicar of St. Philip’s Chapel at the end of this semester. Fr. Yarsiah was called to Voorhees in 2011 and was instrumental in restarting the Canterbury Club, bringing the Voorhees Choir to General Convention in 2015 and reaching out to the Denmark community through annual Thanksgiving baskets. The college is beginning its search for the next chaplain of the college.

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The Rev. Jon Coffey has announced that his last Sunday at The Episcopal Church in Okatie will be March 3. He has served as priest-in-charge of the congregation for the last two years through a time of growth and discernment.


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This article was graciously shared with members of the Fellowship of South Carolina Bishops, written by Dan O'Mara, Communications Coordinator of the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Nearly 100 people gathered in Allendale to share their hopes and concerns about the future of Allendale County schools – and what that means for the future of their children, grandchildren and the community as a whole.

At the “Listening Post” event – hosted February 11 by the Fellowship of South Carolina Bishops’ Public Education Initiative – parents, educators and local residents told bishops and other church leaders about their frustration, anger and disappointment at the state of their school system, which the state Department of Education took control of in June 2018.

Almost person-for-person, however, they also delivered a message of hope, confidence in the future and support for local schools, teachers, administrators and – most of all – for the children themselves.

“No matter where I go, I defend Allendale,” said Valaree Smith, who represents Allendale and four other counties on the State Board of Education. “We’ve got to love where we live, and don’t let anybody talk about our house.
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“When you have that passion for your community, and start valuing education again, and start teaching your children to value education – that’s when change takes place.”

The Fellowship of South Carolina Bishops is a special ecumenical relationship among churches led by bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal-Zion, Christian Methodist Episcopal, Episcopal (The Diocese of Upper South Carolina and TECSC), Lutheran, Roman Catholic and United Methodist churches.

The bishops collectively have been advocating for public education since April 2014, when they issued a joint pastoral letter pledging “our commitment to support the full flourishing of public education in South Carolina.” They expressed concern after the state Supreme Court in November 2017 dismissed a landmark school equity lawsuit, filed in 1993 to force the General Assembly to improve educational opportunities in the state’s poorest public schools.

The Fellowship has scheduled two “Public Education Advocacy Days” for Feb. 19 and March 21, during which training will be offered for those who want to advocate on behalf of children and their education, and attendees – including bishops, other church leaders and volunteers – will go to the State House and lobby their own elected representatives on the issues.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Gergel has set May 1 as the earliest date when a trial could begin in the federal false-advertising and trademark infringement lawsuit against a breakaway group that left The Episcopal Church.

The order, issued Wednesday, represents a two-month extension from the previous schedule the judge set in August, which had called for a trial "on or after" March 1.

Currently, Judge Gergel is considering several complex motions seeking summary judgment in the case. A motion for summary judgment is a request for the court to rule that the other party has no case, as a matter of law, because there are no facts at issue. If summary judgment is granted, a trial would not need to take place.  

The Episcopal Church in South Carolina and The Episcopal Church have asked the court to issue a ruling and call a halt to the “pervasive” public confusion caused by a group that broke away from the church, yet continues to use Episcopal names and marks.

The lawsuit, known as vonRosenberg v. Lawrence, was filed in March 2013 by Bishop Charles vonRosenberg, who was the only bishop recognized by The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina at that time. Bishop vonRosenberg retired in 2016, and his successor, Bishop Gladstone B. Adams III, was added as a plaintiff in the case. The Episcopal Church and its local diocese, TECSC, also joined the case as plaintiffs.

In April 2018, Judge Gergel ordered the expansion of the lawsuit, adding as defendants to the case the diocesan organization and trustees who are operating under Bishop Mark Lawrence, and the 54 parishes that followed him after the 2012 split. Those groups have been operating under the names “The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina” and "Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina," and the confusion created by that is part of the trademark infringement and false-advertising claims.  

In a separate case in state court, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled in August 2017 that property of the diocese and 29 parishes must be returned to The Episcopal Church and TECSC. That decision resulted from a state lawsuit filed by the breakaway group in 2013 against The Episcopal Church and TECSC.

Bishop Adams has named clinical psychologist Dr. deRosset Myers, Jr. to work with the Diocesan Commission on Ministry, performing evaluations required during the discernment process for people who are seeking to enter or return to the ordained ministry of The Episcopal Church.


In making the announcement, Bishop Adams expressed gratitude on behalf of the diocese for the work of Dr. Amy Webb of Holy Cross Faith Memorial, Pawleys Island, who recently retired from the post, having served the diocese and the Commission on Ministry since 2013.


Dr. Myers earned his AB in Sociology from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of South Carolina. He completed his internship at the Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, and a post-doctoral residency in pediatric oncology at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Myers is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. He worked with hospitalized children and adolescents at the W.S. Hall Psychiatric Institute and with adults, children, and adolescents as outpatients at the University Specialty Clinics for the 25 years. He has been active in the W.S. Hall Psychiatric Institute pre-doctoral Clinical Psychology Internship Training Program where he served as Director of Training from 2005 until 2010 when he joined Lake Psychological Services, a small private practice in Columbia. He also sees patients at the Bishop Gadsden Retirement Community in Charleston and has conducted evaluations of candidates for holy orders for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston for the past 20 years. 


Dr. Myers is married to Felicity Myers, who is also a clinical psychologist; they live on Wadmalaw Island. Dr. Myers is a lifelong Episcopalian whose brother and father-in-law are priests. The Myers are members of Grace Church Cathedral in Charleston.