Primus hits back after open letter criticises the appointment of Scotland’s first female bishop

Jan 9, 2018 by Jill

from ACNS:

The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church has hit back after a group of clergy in the Diocese of Aberdeen criticised the appointment of the province’s first female bishop. The Revd Canon Anne Dyer will be consecrated as the new Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney on 1 March. She was selected by an Episcopal Synod, in accordance with the Church’s canons, after the diocese twice failed to complete the process of selection. Bishop Mark Strange says he “deplores” the publication of the Open Letter, saying, on behalf of the College of Bishops: “we are dismayed at the invidious position in which it places Canon Dyer as the Bishop elect of the diocese.”

The open letter, signed by 18 clergy and lay leaders says that Canon Dyer’s appointment “directly goes against the established wishes of the Diocese on the views it would hope that our new Bishop would hold, and minister to us from the perspective of them.” They say: “our protest is not in any way personally directed at Canon Anne and should not be construed in that way” but ask that their concerns about the process be “discussed at the next General Synod as the action of the bishops in our case have caused unnecessary anguish and distress in a Diocese which had been largely united in its hopes and aspirations for the years ahead.”

In his response, Bishop Mark said that the process by which Canon Dyer was appointed was “entirely in accordance with the procedure set out by Canon 4.” He said that the diocese went through “two complete processes under which it had full opportunity to elect a bishop” and was “unable to produce a shortlist of the required minimum of three candidates.” He added that “There is no provision in Canon 4 for election by the Episcopal Synod to be subject to any subsequent vote on the part of the Diocese. To introduce such a vote would be at odds with the canonical procedure.”

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