Earlier this year, the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church passed a resolution committing itself to upholding General Convention Resolution D034, which suspends for three years the canon that limits to a period of ten years the initiating of proceedings in cases of clergy sexual misconduct against adults. The church has no time limit on reporting clergy sexual misconduct against children and youth under age 21. On June 13, the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Vermont endorsed the House of Bishops’ Action with the following Resolution:
Resolution
The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Vermont unanimously agrees to commend and endorse the March 2019 action of the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church in adopting its Resolution responding to concerns about the meaning and scope of actions taken at the 2018 General Convention to amend Canon IV.19.4 of the Canons of The Episcopal Church, the canonical “statute of limitations” for clergy misconduct, as follows:
Whereas, our canons provide that “[b]y virtue of Baptism, all members of the Church are called to holiness of life and accountability to one another,” and “[t]he Church and each Diocese shall support their members in their life in Christ and seek to resolve conflicts by promoting healing, repentance, forgiveness, restitution, justice, amendment of life and reconciliation,” (Canon IV.1),
Therefore, it is
RESOLVED that this House, meeting at Kanuga Conference Center March 12-15, supports the commitment of its members to providing a “robust pastoral response” to allegations of sexual misconduct regardless of how long ago such alleged misconduct occurred.
The undersigned Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Vermont certifies that the above Resolution was duly adopted by majority vote of the Standing Committee on June 13, 2019.
Scottie Emery-Ginn, Secretary