[Diocese of Mississippi] The Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray, III announced at the annual diocesan clergy conference at Gray Center in Canton, Mississippi, that Trinity Church in Yazoo City requested the use of the process known as Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight.
At the Oct. 10th meeting Bishop Gray said that he and the Rev. George Woodliff, rector of Trinity, had been in conversation about this issue for many months. Gray agreed to Woodliff's request and wrote the following letter to explain what this decision means for Trinity Church, the Rev. Woodliff and the Diocese of Mississippi.
Over the past decade, the Episcopal Church has been rather creative in helping congregations stay connected to their diocese and the Episcopal Church when there have been serious and seemingly irreconcilable differences – theological and otherwise – with their diocesan bishop.
Beginning with the controversy over the first female diocesan bishop twenty years ago, certain processes have been used to maintain the diocesan bishop’s authority within a diocese while making good faith pastoral accommodation for serious disagreements and differences. The latest effort that has been in place for several years and has been very useful in more than a dozen dioceses is our arrangement known as “Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight.” (DEPO)
Under DEPO the diocesan bishop invites a bishop from another diocese into his/her home diocese to assist in providing sacramental and pastoral care to a congregation whose relationship with the diocesan has been severely damaged. The agreement is worked out between the two bishops and the petitioning congregation in a way that is mutually agreeable.
The affected congregation remains a part of the diocese, its clergy continues to function within the structures of the diocese and its fellow clergy. The one major difference is that the diocesan bishop delegates his pastoral and sacramental oversight to the invited colleague bishop. Regular conversations between the two bishops are an important part of this relationship.
After my announcement at last year’s Diocesan Council of my willingness, under certain prescribed conditions, to lift my ban on the use of the liturgy for the blessing of same gender relationships, a few congregations considered the DEPO option. Recently, one congregation, Trinity Church, Yazoo City, has requested a move in that direction. The conversation between that congregation, the designated bishop and me has only just begun, but all three parties have entered into this discernment in good faith and trust that the details of such a pastoral accommodation can be agreed upon in the near future.
May God forever direct and guide us in this effort and in all things.
