The Anglican Communion Office website has been very slow to update their directories of diocese to reflect actual leadership of the actual dioceses of Pittsburgh, Fort Worth and Quincy.
Lionel Deimel wants the ACO to change that now.
I was distressed that, even after Bishop Duncan was deposed, the convention of the Diocese of Pittsburgh voted to “realign,” and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori acknowledged new leadership in the continuing diocese of The Episcopal Church, the official Anglican Communion Web site’s page about the Diocese of Pittsburgh did not change. I wrote to the Anglican Communion Office about the page, and I was reassured that The Episcopal Church had requested changes as well. When I checked today, however, more than three months after Bob Duncan was deposed and two-and-a-half months after Duncan’s supporters voted to leave The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion page on the Diocese of Pittsburgh is unchanged.
Mark Harris writes:
Lionel Deimel has taken up the question I have raised on several occasions, namely the fact that the Anglican Communion website has not updated the listings for Pittsburgh, Quincy and Fort Worth to indicate that in each case the bishop has left. In the case of Pittsburgh by deposition, in Quincy by retirement and in Fort Worth by declaration of renunciation.
But most particularly in the case of Pittsburgh it is outrageous that the Anglican Communion website has not changed to reflect the fact that Robert Duncan is no longer bishop. That, tied with the fact of his being received by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth following deposition and without any comment from the ABC’s office as to the nature of the visit or the ABC’s acknowledgment of the fact of his deposition, and the continued inability of the British religious press to state that Moderator Duncan, whatever other titles he may carry is as well a deposed bishop.
Here is the letter that Lionel wrote:
I find it distressing that your page about the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh still lists Robert Duncan as bishop and Henry Scriven as assistant bishop. It also lists the wrong address, the wrong telephone numbers, and the wrong URL for the Web site (which, as it turns out, is redirected to the proper site). Bishop Duncan was deposed by The Episcopal Church in September, and his followers voted to “join” the Southern Cone in October. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, a few days later, recognized a diocese quite distinct from the “diocese” you list on the official Anglican Communion Web site. The Anglican Communion Office has had ample time to correct this page.
I and others have tried to get the page changed to no avail. More than two months after Bob Duncan led members of the diocese out of The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion Web site still does not recognize the real Diocese of Pittsburgh. After this much time, one begins to wonder if the failure to update the page is deliberate. Surely, this failure is yet another indignity visited upon The Episcopal Church by an Anglican Communion obsessed with appeasing whoever whines the loudest. Your “Diocese of Pittsburgh” page can only encourage Bob Duncan and his schismatic followers. The Communion will not be better for it.
Your unacknowledged brother in Christ,
Lionel Deimel
St. Paul’s, Mt. Lebanon
Diocese of Pittsburgh (in The Episcopal Church
Here is the link to the Comments page of the ACO website.
Here is the contacts page including the following:
Anglican Communion Office ,
St Andrew’s House,
16 Tavistock Crescent,
London,
W11 1AP
England.
Telephone Numbers:
Telephone: + 44 (0) 20 7313 3900
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7313 3999
Email: aco@anglicancommunion.org