Atlanta resolutions pass

At its recent convention the Diocese of Atlanta passed several resolutions of note:

The council handled seven resolutions, two of them sending a message to the 76th General Convention next summer that the Diocese of Atlanta supports "development of appropriate rites for the celebration and blessing of sacred unions for gay and lesbian persons" and the repeal of General Convention Resolution B033, which, authors said, had "run its course" and brought pain to the gay community. Hearings held on both matters revealed few objections, and the resolutions passed without floor discussion by substantial margins.
The council also "Also approved was a new canon (39), which gives the bishop authority, when warranted, to declare an emergency in a parish." The new canon (39) states, in part,
In the event that the vestry or other authorities of a parish are unable to function adequately due to natural disaster or other emergency, loss of personnel, or abandonment of The Episcopal Church (TEC) by parish officials, the Bishop, in his discretion, may declare an Emergency in the parish. Disputes among parish officials who remain within TEC shall not in themselves constitute an Emergency within the meaning of this Canon.
In explanation:
Emergencies of this type have arisen in most of the dioceses of Province IV in the last few years, and it is thought to be valuable to have the emergency powers of the Bishop in such a situation recognized and incorporated into the Canons of the Diocese. These situations frequently have legal implications with possible court interpretation by a judge who probably will not be an Episcopalian.
...
Examples of where emergency powers have been needed recently in various dioceses in the Church include situations where the vestry has been scattered by natural disaster, and where vestry members have abandoned the church en masse, leaving no Episcopal Church authority in the parish.

Posted by John B. Chilton on November 19, 2008 12:00 PM | |
Comments (2)

Great news from Atlanta.

I would like to see the whole emergency canon. There should be some kind of role for the standing committee in the canon, don't you think?

I trust Bishop Neil implicitly, but due process should always be put into the canons to prevent the potential for future abuse.

I'm not saying it's not in there, but it's not in the bit quoted.

Other than that, I expect that this is a model canon which other dioceses may want to adopt if they don't have one.

Posted by Bill Carroll [TypeKey Profile Page] | November 19, 2008 12:11 PM

Bill, I believe I provided the link in the post. This one:
http://council.episcopalatlanta.org/legislation/amendments.html

If there's more that I should find and link to let me know.

Posted by John B. Chilton [TypeKey Profile Page] | November 19, 2008 12:15 PM

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