Beers turned up the heat saying, "If your diocese has indeed adopted such an amendment, then, on behalf of the Presiding Bishop, I want to express the hope that your diocese will promptly begin the process of amending its Constitution to declare clearly an "unqualified accession" as Article V of the Church's Constitution plainly requires. If your Diocese should decline to take that step, the Presiding Bishop will have to consider what sort of action she must take in order to bring your diocese into compliance."

Reached at his office by phone, VOL asked Beers what exactly he meant to do with this information, he responded saying; "I can't discuss it with you."

Bishop Jack Iker (Ft. Worth) sent the letter to VOL and said such changes were not new and that they go back to 1989. He said it was all done "in the open" and news of it was made widely available at that time. He said he had kept the Presiding Bishop informed at every step.

"We are still contemplating our response, but I think we will refuse to take the 'bait' by responding in kind," Bishop Iker said. "We will probably refer him to our website where our constitution and canons are published," he told the Living Church.

"Pretty incredible, since I have heard from several people in the past 24 hours that they heard from him ten years ago when we amended our Constitution. And now it seems he thinks it just a rumor he is checking into. Our Constitution is on the web at www.fwepiscopal.org/resources/resources.html," wrote Fr. Christopher Cantrell, a diocesan priest at his website.

"A plain reading of Article V indicates that unqualified accession is required for a new diocese to be admitted into union with the General Convention. It says nothing about the maintenance of said accession," he said.

Bishop Keith Ackerman is in the Holy Land and was unavailable for comment.

One diocese that publicly changed its canons and constitution was the Diocese of San Joaquin, but when VOL called the diocese, a spokesperson said they had not received the letter from Beers.

All three dioceses refuse to ordain women to the priesthood and all three have asked for Alternative Primatial Oversight (APO) from the Archbishop of Canterbury. To date they have not heard back from him. Recently Bishop John-David Schofield survived an attempt by four bishops to have him thrown out as bishop, accusing him of abandoning the communion under Canon IV.9. They said he was making changes to his diocesan constitution that amounted to separation from The Episcopal Church. The Title IV Review Committee dropped all the charges made by the four bishops of California.

Bishop Iker questioned whether it was possible for the PB to interfere in the life of a diocese because in September, Bishop-elect Schori told him to his face at a special meeting in New York City called by the Archbishop of Canterbury, that she has no jurisdiction or oversight of a diocese under Episcopal Church Canons and Constitutions.

This was a repeat of something PB Frank Griswold had said on an earlier occasion. When he was in the Diocese of Western Louisiana he said all legal disputes over the ownership of parish property are internal diocesan matters and there is nothing in the so-called Dennis Canon that prevents a diocesan bishop from reaching an amicable settlement with a congregation that wants to leave the Episcopal Church and retain its building.

The Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson, Bishop of Western Louisiana, confirmed this by saying, "Basically he said it was up to the individual diocese. It [the Dennis Canon] provides room for the bishop, standing committee and the local congregations to decide what they think is best. It leaves room for conversation."

PB Frank Griswold has argued that diocesan decisions are passed by Standing Committees and he cannot interfere with what a diocese does. Furthermore the PB has no real authority as he has no diocese under his control. That, however, did not stop Griswold telling the Archbishop of Canterbury recently that could not interfere in the internal policies of the Episcopal Church by offering APO to any of the TEC's orthodox dioceses.

END