http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3293

In his letter of November 17 to the bishop, David P. Dearing said Fr. Pascoe would retract his previous statement, will advise each donor that their donations do not have the bishop's permission, blessing or acquiescence, and he will inform the vestry that the "New Grace Church" was not created with his blessing or encouragement and he will take steps to distance himself from the "New Grace" fund and its sponsoring organization.

Dearing said Pascoe will not seek to redirect any contributions made to Grace Episcopal Church. "As rector, he does not have the power anyway for it is reserved for the vestry. Further, Fr. Pascoe has no present intention of creating either a new Episcopal congregation or a church of another denomination. Fr. Pascoe and I believe these actions and assertions fulfill the requests made in your pastoral directive."

"I strongly disagree with your assertion that Fr. Pascoe has in any way breached any vows of ordination by the statements of his October 27th letter. The primary purpose of our previous agreement was to provide both clergy and laity with an orderly and above-board departure from the Diocese so as not to detrimentally impact the diocese, its member churches and, most importantly, its parishioners. In order to comply with your request, provisions have to be made in short order. Such provisions necessarily include the dissemination of crucial information to interested persons."

Dearing said that when he was with Fr. Neil Lebhar, the bishop and Canon Dunkle, that he (Dearing) spoke openly about the existence of a fund like the one Fr. Pascoe mentions in his October 27 letter. "Neither you nor Canon Dunkle expressed any objection or reservation about such a fund."

"I also take exception to your assertion that this pastoral directive in any way addresses the doctrine or discipline of the Episcopal Church or Fr. Pascoe's manner of life and behavior, as required by Canon IV. On the contrary, as a member of his parish, I can personally assure you that all of his actions have been ethical, open and without concealment of any kind."

"Frankly, your issuance of this directive breaches our previous agreement wherein you stated you would not take any disciplinary action against any of the sox clergy as they made appropriate preparations for departure from the Diocese."

Dearing concludes: "I trust this directive will not interfere with the progression of our discussions as previously outlined. It is in all our interests to not let this issue to side-track us from our collective goal of a just and charitable resolution of these issues without recourse to litigation."

END