Reach out to one another and walk together, urges Bishop Dorsey

Bishop Dorsey McConnell, Acting Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, has written to the diocese following last week’s development in the Canon 54 process.

The letter appears below in full.

Dear Friends in Christ

It was announced last week that the PPC have forwarded to the Scottish Episcopal Church’s internal procurator complaints against Bishop Anne Dyer.  It will now be the procurator’s decision as to whether these matters require the Canon 54 process to continue, or are dismissed.

Whatever the procurator’s eventual decision, the ruling of the PPC means that our difficulty as a diocese will go on for some time. Though I have been in seat only a few days, everywhere I go I sense the anger and heartbreak, the frustration over the length of time that the matter hangs over us, the suspense due to a lack of closure, all of which will continue to be part of our daily lives in Aberdeen and Orkney, with no end in sight.  How are we to live, then, in and through the coming weeks?

First, I am aware of the cost this is having at an individual level. Those involved may be faithful and resilient but I am always concerned for their health. Please continue to keep those most affected by the current process, directly or indirectly, in your prayers.

Second, it is clear that the PPC’s decision will not resolve the divisions in this diocese.  I have spoken frequently of reconciliation.  But I believe reconciliation can only take place once the underlying conflict has been brought to a point of resolution, a resolution that continues to be out of our hands while the canonical process takes place.

This means that we are left with the only solution our Lord commands:  that we love one another as He loves us. There is nothing harder than long obedience to this commandment, to love those for whom we feel no love, to love those who we suspect feel no love for us, to love not with human affection but with the love of Calvary. It is this love alone that can transform our hearts and bring into being a community ready to be reconciled. This must be our practice, in every possible way, during our continuing time in this wilderness.

In my introductory letter to you, I promised a lot of tea, a lot of visiting and listening, and I have been keeping this promise. In addition to hearing from you one-on-one over a cup of something, I shall be in a different congregation every Sunday and have personal time with as many as wish it.  And of course, I will be doing what bishops do: praying, teaching, ministering as best I can to the wounds of Christ’s Body. I ask you please to join me in this work. Reach out to one another and let us see if we can begin to walk this road together rather than apart.

Yours faithfully

Bishop Dorsey