To the people of the Diocese of West Missouri:
Grace
to you,
and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord.
We write to inform you of a process underway to strengthen the mission and ministry of the Diocese of West Missouri.
At the end of May, The
Right Reverend F. Clayton Matthews,
Bishop
of
the
Office of Pastoral Development*
appointed
Mary
Kostel
, Special Counsel, to
visit West Missouri to
listen to the bishop, clergy,
and lay persons
of
the Diocese.
Her appointment
was in response to a
letter written by the Standing Committee
of the Diocese of West Missouri
to
The Most Reverend Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop, requesting mediation of the pastoral relationship between the
bishop and
diocese (pursuant to
Canon III.12.10
of the Constitution and
Canons
of
The
Episcopal
Church).
The
Standing Committee
wrote its letter having been made
aware of
concerns
among members of the
diocese
and
having
decided to seek help
as laid out in the
aforementioned
canon.
This
is a new
canon and a new
process
in the
Episcopal
Church, the aim
of which is
to
restore
pastoral
relationships
in a diocese where such might be
imperiled.
The process provides for
a time
of
mutual and careful
listening.
It is not
about finding or assigning
blame.
Ms.
Kostel
has completed
a
visit to the diocese, has spoken to
the
bishop
as well as
to
several key leaders from
both
our
Diocesan
Council
and
our
Standing Committee, and
has
received open and honest cooperation from all parties. She will now consult with Bishops Matthews and Curry, and we await
our Presiding Bishop's desires and
recommendations for next steps.
In the meantime, if any person has
questions, any and all should
feel
free to
contact the bishop or the Standing Committee.
The
President
of the Standing Committee
will be away for the next several weeks for
vacation and to accompany our
cathedral's choir on
tour; therefore,
to inquire of the Standing Committee, please contact The Rev. Megan Castellan (610-209-5487 or
[email protected]
. To inquire of the bishop, please
contact Bishop
Field
(816-471-6161,
ext
16;
or
[email protected]
).
Through
this process, and with the help and good offices of
our Presiding Bishop,
we hope
to
move forward in the common ministry of our baptisms.
We are confident
that Christ is with us even in times of
disagreement. Even as the two disciples walked and talked with the stranger who joined them
upon
the road to Emmaus-only to discover it had been Jesus all along-so
we
hope
also
to recognize the lively presence
of
Christ among us
in new and fresh ways. To that end, we
call
the people and clergy of the
diocese
to prayer,
and
we
thank you
all
for your many ministries of witness and service
to the Blessed One in whom we will always
be held together in
bonds of
love and care.
Faithfully in Christ,
The Right Reverend Martin S.
Field
Bishop of West Missouri
The
Very Reverend Peter J.
DeVeau
President of the Standing Committee
*The Office of Pastoral Development serves our Presiding Bishop and the Church's House of Bishops in the areas of formation and development of bishops, of pastoral care of bishops and their families, of growing healthy diocesan systems, and of mediation according to canonical mandates.