In a unanimous decision, the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has agreed to release the text of the diocese’s request to the Anglican Primates of the Global South for Alternative Primatial Oversight.  The document, which was delivered to these Anglican leaders during a November meeting in Virginia, restates the diocese’s longstanding commitment to stand with “that part of the Episcopal Church that remains ‘a constituent member of the Anglican Communion in communion with the See of Canterbury.’”

The Standing Committee believes that the drafting of an Anglican Covenant, chaired by Archbishop Drexel Gomez at the request of the Archbishop of Canterbury, will be a key element in helping the Anglican Communion come to a formal conclusion about the status of the majority of The Episcopal Church.  The Standing Committee sees Alternative Primatial Oversight as an interim measure granting temporary relief while that work is being done.

“As we await clarity regarding the consequences of the recent theological disputes between much of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, all in the diocese need to know that we will remain who we are and where we are.  We have no plans to be anything but the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh as we seek spiritual oversight from a primate committed, as we are, to the historic faith and order of the church catholic,” said Bishop Robert Duncan.

The Rev. John Heidengren, president of the Standing Committee, agreed:  “We have a duty as Pittsburgh Episcopalians to find a way to maintain the constituent membership in the Anglican Communion that our constitution requires as the Windsor and Covenant processes run their course.  Further, as leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion prepare to meet in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to discuss these and other issues, all Pittsburgh Episcopalians are best served by first hearing directly from us what we have asked for during this interim period.”

Beyond repeating the diocese’s request for an alternative primate to provide spiritual oversight and pastoral care, the Standing Committee asks that those in the Episcopal Church, as well as those who have left or been forced out of it, be regularly assembled to carry forward the “mission and ministry in the period of transition,” and that “when the time is right,” the alternative primate convene an organizing convention for the purpose of forming a permanent constituent Anglican body in the U.S.

The document goes on to ask that if the primate given responsibility for all those dioceses who have requested Alternative Primatial Oversight comes from a province of the Anglican Communion that does not ordain women to the priesthood, a way be found “for a Primate whose Province also ordains women to have a significant role” in Pittsburgh.  

“Our request, as well as the independent requests from the other six dioceses who have asked for Alternative Primatial Oversight, are now in the hands of the entire leadership of the Anglican Communion.  We cannot predict with any certainty the exact form of the response we will receive, but Pittsburgh Episcopalians can be confident that whatever happens, we will continue to be who we have been and stand where we have stood. We are the Episcopal Church in this place,” said Bishop Duncan.  

“All of these matters are theological, ecclesiastical matters. They have nothing to do with the property of the diocese. The property of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh will continue to be held and administered for the beneficial use of the parishes and institutions of the diocese,” continued Bishop Duncan.

The full text of the Standing Committee’s request to the Primates is available here.