Earlier, we reported on a wave of improper and canonically illegal Title IV dismissals against bishops by intake officer Barb Kempf. Now, Anglican Watch has learned that the national church has bollixed the Title IV complaints against Easton Bishop Santosh Marray, thus further cementing our conclusion that clergy discipline under Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe is dead on arrival.
In an email to the Easton Diocese today, Marray trumpeted his claim that the reference panel ultimately found no Title IV violations against him. To be clear, this is a lie.
Indeed, we have seen irrefutable evidence that Marray has engaged in a series of Title IV violations that imperil the very existence of the Easton Diocese. This misconduct brings discredit to the entire denomination and undercuts the Episcopal Church’s claim to be “loving, liberating, and life-giving.” (Indeed, we snarkily point out that the “three L’s” should be “Lying, losing, leaving.” As in, it’s okay for clergy to lie, resulting in members losing trust in the church and leaving the denomination as a result.)
Even worse, the national church’s arrangements for delegated Episcopal pastoral oversight appear to have been rescinded. That spells trouble, as the persons and parishes Marray previously bullied and abused are now no longer firewalled against his misconduct.
In other words, this is less a case about whether there are Title IV violations and more about a lack of backbone and integrity at the Disciplinary Board of Bishops. Indeed, Marray’s conduct to date is egregious, ugly, damaging, and inconsistent with any claim to be a Christian—but it is fine for the national church.
That raises the question: Why is the national church not taking Marray’s actions seriously? Just a small portion of his ugly antics would be enough to get someone fired in any well-run organization, whether for- or non-profit.
The answer, we think, is that the national church runs on the basis of denial, avoidance, and refusal to hold people accountable. That, even as it panders to a coddled group of narcissistically indulged but often corrupt bishops.
Indeed, in a recent series of dismissals, intake officer for bishops Barb Kempf (who, again, refuses to follow church canons by dismissing Title IV complaints without authorization and on pretextual bases) has repeatedly stated that a bishop who refuses to follow the Title IV canons does not violate Title IV.
That includes a bishop who refuses to provide a pastoral response to the victim of child sexual assault. That begs the question: Why even have Title IV if bishops are free to ignore it at will? Let’s instead call it what it really is: “Mealy-mouthed suggestions for clergy discipline.”
Title IV certainly is not a canon in any practical sense since, under Rowe, Title IV is held only to offer optional suggestions.
Nor does Kempf have any issue with illegal behavior by clergy.
Indeed, in one written decision, Kempf articulates her new, self-created standard: Criminal conduct by clergy is unactionable under Title IV absent a criminal conviction. (Yes, we have it in writing.)
Moreover, Kempf is dismissing Title IV cases on the basis that there is no evidence to support the claim. In doing so, she does so with the following knowledge that neither she nor the reference panel has the authority to make a finding of fact. And there’s one small sticking point in all of this, which is that Kempf has neither interviewed the complainant nor asked for evidence. So yes, there’s no evidence.
That brings us full circle to the issue of findings of fact. Specifically, a Title IV reference panel cannot make findings of fact. Only a hearing panel can do so. Thus, it is a flagrant fabrication on Marray’s part to claim that the Disciplinary Board found that he committed no Title IV violations because the case never reached that stage, and because the intake officer and reference panel lacks any fact-finding authority.
Instead, the reference panel didn’t care to pursue the matter further, which is a huge missed opportunity for the Episcopal Church.
Specifically, the complainants offered the church the chance to heal a festering wound in the Body of Christ. But instead of taking the complainants up on their offer, the national church slapped a bandaid on things and called it a day, leaving a high likelihood that the wound would ultimately be septic/deadly.
As a snarky aside, Marray’s conflation in his letter of “dissolution” with “disillusion” is mildly amusing. Many of the restrictions on Marray’s behavior have undergone “dissolution.” The result is, for us and many, “disillusion” due to the confirmation that the Episcopal Church doesn’t take clergy misconduct seriously.
And while Sean Rowe talks a good game, things are no different under him than under the toxic auspices of Michael Curry.
Folks, the current meltdown of what little remains of Title IV and clergy discipline in the Episcopal Church makes clear: The church neither can nor wants to turn around its flagging fortunes.
And from our vantage point, the Episcopal Church probably shouldn’t try to turn things around. The corruption within the denomination is so entrenched, and the level of narcissistic entitlement within the denomination so extreme that there’s no real point in continuing.
Further, instead of recognizing that critics often are an organization’s best friend, the Episcopal Church continues to demonize truthtellers as agents of Satan, domestic terrorists, and more. Even worse, judicatories are so clueless they cannot even discern when their conduct crosses into the realm of the unethical.
Simply put, Sean Rowe’s tenure increasingly seems to mark the end of the Episcopal Church as we know it.
Marray’s mendacious letter to the Diocese is below.
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