Bishop Iker Writes His Clergy about TEC's Proposal

To the clergy:

As many of you are aware, the Episcopal News Service today released the contents of a proposal for the Presiding Bishop to appoint a "Primatial Vicar" for the eight APO-requesting dioceses. Earlier this afternoon, a response quoting Bishop Duncan was posted via the Network Web site.

Here are links to both items:

Episcopal News Service story

Anglican Communion Network response

Below is a brief statement from Bishop Iker with his thoughts on the proposal.

Suzanne Gill
Director of Communications

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While I am grateful for the efforts of those who crafted the proposal, I find it unacceptable and unworkable in its present form.

Perhaps it needs to be clarified that we have not requested someone to serve as “the Presiding Bishop’s designated pastor” to us; we have appealed for an alternative primate. Nor has this appeal been made to the Presiding Bishop, but to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the primates of the Anglican Communion. We expect a suitable response from them at the primates’ Meeting in February.

This new proposal is deficient in that it seeks to reinforce the PB’s authority over us rather than provide an acceptable alternative. We cannot accept a Primatial Vicar appointed by her and accountable to her, who “could” function for her only when so delegated by her. In addition, the provisional nature of the proposal does not meet our needs for a long-term solution to our irreconcilable differences.