DWTX from Anaheim — The 76th General Convention has approved an overhaul of the Episcopal Church’s ministry discipline canons, moving them away from a court-oriented system towards one based on safety, truth-telling, healing, and reconciliation.
The revision of Title IV, Ecclesiastical Discipline, applies only to clergy and not laity. It will be effective on July 1, 2011.
The House of Bishops concurred on July 14 with action taken July 13 by the House of Deputies. The deputies accepted a version of the revision, contained in Resolution A185, which had been amended by the legislative committee on canons.
Among the significant amendments made by the canons committee was the elimination of a requirement that a member of the clergy report “all matters which may constitute an offense … including his or her own offenses.”
The Title IV Task Force II on Disciplinary Policies and Procedures Blue Book report to convention had said that “fundamental” to its work had been “the need for truth telling, honesty and acknowledgement of responsibility, which is arguably inconsistent with some constitutional rights citizens hold.”
The canons committee also changed the proposed standard of proof required for finding that a person had committed an offense from “preponderance of the evidence” to “clear and convincing evidence.” The latter is defined as “proof sufficient to convince ordinarily prudent people that there is a high probability that what is claimed actually happened.” The definition notes that proof beyond a reasonable doubt is not required.
This was the second attempt to revise Title IV. At the 75th General Convention, the first proposed revision ran aground over a controversial provision that would have subjected certain lay leaders to the disciplinary process.
The task force that proposed the second revision to the 76th convention said in its report that “the time is not yet propitious for the inclusion of disciplinary provisions for the laity other than as already provided in the Book of Common Prayer, and no inclusion of laity is contemplated at this time.” Those provisions, referred to on page 409 as “Disciplinary Rubrics,” involve the process for refusing Communion to people.
Diocesan Chancellor Drew Cauthorn, who is also a deputy at this General Convention, said he is pleased with the new canons. “This really does fit the theology of our church,” he said. “There is an element of pastoral care for victims as well as perpetrators and their families.”
The new canon also will allow legal matters to be settled more promptly and less expensively. “For instance,” said Cauthorn, “the new canon allows for the participation of fewer persons than did the previous one, and it allows for the sharing of expertise and resources across dioceses.”
He said the diocese will now have to bring our own canons into conformity, “but the canon gives a sufficient amount of local leeway, and it is not effective until July 2011.
– Marjorie George
Communication Officer
–The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg contributed to this report.