NO JURISDICTION BECAUSE
THE REQUESTING GROUP HAD NO STANDING
This docket item was
sent in by an activist group in the West Africa Central Conference. The Council does quite well telling
about what happened and who brought the matter to them. It even cited the concerns of the
Council of Bishops who challenged the African group’s request in support of the
bishop that the group said was improperly elected.
Again calling this a
“decision” instead of a memorandum despite ruling that it had no jurisdiction,
the Judicial Council pointed out that the group raising the challenge had no
standing to do so under the Discipline.
They said there were irregularities that did not have “legal
merit warranting a judicial (Note: “Judicial Council” is intended by the word
“judicial”) decision.”
I wish they had said, “While these irregularities warrant
legal attention, unfortunately, this is not the forum to handle that.” Someone needed to let the activist
group know about attending the central conference meeting and raising their
questions there. And they could
have brought written complaints against the person in question so that the
person’s annual conference could investigate and perhaps try the person
involved. Occasionally, there are
political factions that protect one of their own from such investigation and
that faction might have included the bishop who would have received and dropped
the complaints that may have been sent in. The Council of Bishops might want to be a little more
discreet about how they approach the Judicial Council because they could have
been triangulated into a bad situation and they really should avoid appearing
to rule on a church law matter where potential complaints may be involved.
What is left for this activist group is to challenge any
misconduct they see after the newly elected bishop in question commits a
chargeable offense.
The Council provided
some understanding of the situation by sharing the information that it
did. Hopefully, this commentary
supplements that for the consideration of the activists involved.
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