Proposed
Misconduct Changes Would Compel Testimony from Accused
by Steve Waring and
Terri Othling
A "fundamental shift" in the proposed revision to The Episcopal Church's misconduct
canons would require accused persons to testify, said Sallie Johnson, chancellor
to the President of the House of Deputies, during a question-and-answer session
with Executive Council on June 14.
Discussion and a presentation of the proposed canonical revision, which for the first time will propose making lay leadership subject to the Canons and Constitution of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church, consumed about an hour of the afternoon plenary session.
Council members asked a number of questions about the rationale and potential for abuse of making lay leadership subject to the misconduct code. That decision has proven controversial, and helped lead to defeat of a previous revision of the code at the 75th General Convention in 2006. Under the latest proposed revision to the misconduct code, complaints against laity have been removed from Title IV and incorporated into Title I. A procedure for dealing with impaired clergy will be included in Title III.
In addition to serving as chancellor to the president of the House of Deputies, Ms. Johnson is also an ex officio member of Executive Council and the Title IV Task Force II, which is charged with presenting draft for consideration by General Convention next year. Steve Hutchinson, chancellor for the Diocese of Utah and chair of that task force, showed a flow-chart presentation to demonstrate how a misconduct case would proceed from complaint to verdict.
Under the proposed revisions, refusal to testify under oath can be used by the ecclesiastical court to infer guilt, Ms. Johnson said. The emphasis on "truth-telling" may well lead to earlier and better settlements of complaints and possibly reduced costs, she said.
The current misconduct canons make it arguably impossible for anyone other than the diocesan bishop to remove a member of the laity from a position of parish leadership and only in a very limited number of instances possible for someone outside the diocese in which the priest is canonically resident to bring a complaint.
Under the proposed changes, anyone can make a complaint in any form to a newly created position of "Intake Officer," Mr. Hutchinson said. He advised that another newly created group, known as the "Reference Panel," charged with doing background investigations of misconduct complaints, ought to be composed of professionals as opposed to diocesan volunteers. In a previous interview with The Living Church, Mr. Hutchinson suggested that dioceses might want to consider creating a single reference panel as a way of defraying the entire cost of hiring additional officers of the ecclesiastical court.
"We want to be responsive
to input received through June, Mr. Hutchinson said. "All input will be considered
and are looking at having one last meeting before General Convention." The
final draft of their work will be published in the so-called "Blue Book" of
pre-filed resolutions and legislation for General Convention which meets next
July in Anaheim.
—Steve Waring is news editor of The Living Church. From that
publication's Web site.
