Friday, September 19, 2014

Dagnall Free: The Return of a Breakaway Priest to TEC in South Carolina

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I was honored and thrilled to recommend, as a member of
the Standing Committee of TEC in SC, the reinstatement
of Dagnall Free to the Episcopal Priesthood. It was a unanimous
decision.
CH +
 
The following is borrowed from The Episcopal Church in
South Carolina website.

Returning priest welcomed, reinstated through new path for reconciliation


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September 18, 2014

Bishop Charles G. vonRosenberg has welcomed a returning member of the clergy back into good standing as a priest, hailing the reinstatement of the Reverend H. Dagnall Free, Jr. as an important day for The Episcopal Church and an encouraging step toward reconciliation in South Carolina.

On Tuesday, in a brief liturgy led by Bishop vonRosenberg, Fr. Free reaffirmed the vows he took at his ordination in 2010 and signed a formal declaration promising to conform to the doctrine, discipline and worship of The Episcopal Church.

Fr. Free was a priest serving at St. John’s Episcopal Church on John’s Island in 2012, when a breakaway group under Bishop Mark Lawrence announced it was leaving The Episcopal Church. After the schism, a number of clergy remained with The Episcopal Church. However, Fr. Free stayed at St. John’s, which followed the breakaway group under Mark Lawrence.

Yet in the eyes of The Episcopal Church, he remained under Bishop vonRosenberg’s authority. Over a five-month period in 2013, the Bishop made efforts to contact each breakaway clergy member. In most cases there was no reply. In August 2013, with the advice and consent of the Standing Committee, the Bishop formally removed Dagnall Free and more than 100 other priests and deacons from the ordained ministry.

  read the rest here.........Episcopal Priest from Breakaway Parish Reinstated

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