Reflection and hope in the life of our diocese
Dear People of the Diocese of Vermont,
We on the Executive Council and the Standing Committee greet you in the joy and hope of these seasons of Easter, Ascension and Pentecost.
Executive Council, brought into being by the canonical changes made by the 2023 Diocesan Convention, has met and has begun functioning well. The council is chaired by the bishop, and it includes lay and clergy members from diocesan bodies and appointees of the bishop. The Standing Committee, a long-established canonical body of the diocese, has incorporated new lay and clergy members who were elected upon the retirement and resignation of others.
Both groups at their recent separate meetings have discussed the situation of the diocese in the context of the Mission Leadership Review that was presented at Diocesan Convention and subsequently published for the entire diocese, and in the context of the Truth and Reconciliation Day that was held on March 16 at Trinity Church in Rutland.
The lay and clergy members of both groups agree unanimously that we support Bishop Shannon MacVean-Brown and look forward to her having a long tenure as our bishop. We rejoice in the considerable contributions she has made during her first five years as bishop. These include launching her ministry successfully during the pandemic, meeting frequently with clergy and other leaders, establishing Green Mountain Online Abbey, initiating financial changes, and launching constellations as a way both to pastor congregations and provide full-time opportunities for clergy.
The events that led the president of the 2023 Standing Committee to seek support from the Bishop for Pastoral Development are complicated. As part of that process, both the Bishop for Pastoral Development and Bishop Shannon requested assistance from VISIONS Inc. to “facilitate conversations” between the bishop and the president of the Standing Committee. Two other members of the Standing Committee joined that process. In a session facilitated by VISIONS Inc., two members of the Standing Committee made clear they were not interested in pursuing reconciliation with the bishop, and preferred instead that she resign.
Since that time, significant discussion has occurred with individuals whom the former president of the Standing Committee stated had made complaints about Bishop Shannon. These conversations have established that none of those people had made a formal complaint about her with the president of the Standing Committee or with the Standing Committee. Moreover, none of the issues that were discussed rise to the level of the Episcopal Church’s Title IV canons regarding clergy discipline. At no time did the former Standing Committee vote under Title III to initiate the process to dissolve the pastoral relationship between the diocese and the bishop. In the event, a majority of the Standing Committee supported the bishop’s decision to initiate a Mission Leadership Review, as recommended by VISIONS Inc.
In the wake of these events, a planning team convened by Bishop Shannon invited Kaleidoscope Institute to facilitate a day of conversation and reconciliation. Executive Council and the Standing Committee have a mixed assessment of the March 16 Truth and Reconciliation Day. Some attendees came to know of the 2023 conflict for the first time, so awareness became more widespread. Dynamics in the earlier history of the diocese were explored, which helped people relate the current situation to the past. However, while a timeline of the conflict was set forth, the day was not managed in a way that enabled attendees to hear or discuss details of the 2023 conflict, still less to begin a process of reconciliation. As a result, the work of the day was far from complete, and many attendees left wondering, “What’s the next step?”
Bishop Shannon, the Executive Council and Standing Committee are committed to lead our diocesan household into deeper understanding of the roots of conflict, gain skills with difficult conversations, explore the roots of racism in our state and church, and work toward understanding, healing, and mutual love.
Understanding race and racism has consistently risen to the surface as a priority in our diocese. Bishop Shannon is a Black woman bishop leading a diocese that is predominantly White. She is our bishop, so the intersection of race, gender and authority is a matter that must be engaged in all discussions and events that flow from the Mission Leadership Review. The diocese has received a Becoming Beloved Community grant from the Episcopal Church to assist us in this work.
In this season we hope that the renewing power of Christ’s resurrection will freshen the springs of reconciling love in our diocese as together we seek to live out God’s mission in our common life and in the world.
Yours in Christ,
Executive Council members: Ms. Rebecca Boucher, Ms. Sarah Cowan, the Very Rev. Greta Getlein, the Rev. Sarah Ginolfi, Ms. Jennifer Knowles, the Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, the Rev. Scott Neal, the Rev. Dr. Titus Presler, Dr. Lisa Schnell, Ms. Collins Sennett, the Rev. Amy Spagna, Mr. C. J. Spirito
Standing Committee members: The Ven. Stannard Baker, the Rev. Rachel Field, the Rev. Sarah Ginolfi, Ms. Nanci Gordon, Ms. Jennifer Knowles, Ms. Catherine Merrihew, the Rev. Paul Olsson, Ms. Judith Rogers
Letter from the four members of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Vermont who served as members of the former Standing Committee
Dear People of the Diocese of Vermont,
We write as the four continuing members of the Standing Committee who served as members of the former Standing Committee. The purposes of this letter are to witness to the positive and productive ways that we as a diocese are finding a path to emerge from previous conflict, to attest to our full support of our bishop, Shannon MacVean-Brown, and to express our regret for any part we played in past events. This is a companion letter to a broader letter from the Executive Council and Standing Committee describing additional steps to take in the process of reconciliation.
It has been brought to our attention that many, if not all, of the individuals named by the former president of the Standing Committee as having formal complaints about Bishop Shannon were not corroborated by those individuals in follow-up conversations. Members of the previous Standing Committee were not given access to all the details of those issues which we now realize should have been an essential part of understanding any tensions or misperceptions that existed. Ideally these concerns would have been addressed to the bishop, so that she could take reconciling action on them as needed. We especially acknowledge that the bishop was negatively impacted and caused pain by the conversations and actions of the Standing Committee members who sought her resignation without being fully transparent with the whole committee.
We are now agreed that our work is to focus on the recommendation of the recent Mission Leadership Review to engage Beloved Community and examine issues of racism lying at the core of much of what took place. Our work on racism in Vermont and in our diocese — past and present — is especially important because our bishop is a woman of color, who directly experiences racism in her day-to-day life, and in her work as Bishop of Vermont.
We also wish to attest to the important and innovative work that Bishop Shannon MacVean-Brown has done since she began her time as the eleventh Bishop of Vermont. That work includes: putting new processes in place to clarify the financial status of our diocese; creating – by initiating and inspiring the work of the THRIVE task forces – new diocesan governance and financial entities; inspiring needed and essential work on racism in the history and current practice of our diocese; leading us with pastoral love and care through the pandemic; forming the Green Mountain Online Abbey; beginning work with the Dioceses of Northern New England (Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine) on ways to collaborate to increase efficiency, and so much more.
The four of us who were members of the previous Standing Committee regret our part in past events that took place. We are deeply committed to the process of reconciliation, desiring to alleviate remaining tension and misunderstanding. We are totally committed to continuing a process of reconciliation to ensure there is healing, and a pathway to continued success in our common mission as a people of faith.
Yours in Christ,
The Rev. Sarah Ginolfi
The Ven. Stannard Baker
Ms. Jennifer Knowles, M.Ed.
The Rev. Paul Olsson
