AN AGREEMENT to end a long-running disciplinary case against a former Florida bishop, without any disciplinary action or an admission of guilt, has led to fear among LGBTQ+ clergy, one of the original complainants said.
The Revd Elyse Gustafson has published an open letter disagreeing with the decision by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Dr Sean Rowe, to end the Title IV case against the former Bishop John Howard, who was facing complaints about discrimination against gay and lesbian clergy, as well as a separate complaint about financial improprieties (News, 2 May).
Mr Howard retired in October 2023, after serving the diocese for 20 years, and the complaints were lodged shortly afterwards (News, 9 February 2024). He has since requested that he be released from ordained ministry.
In a letter published last week, Dr Rowe said that he had reached an agreement to end the disciplinary case before it reached hearings, which were scheduled for later this month, in order to spare the diocese more pain and cost.
The agreement was reached without any action taken against Mr Howard, or any acceptance of wrongdoing on his part.
In a letter to Episcopalians in Florida, Dr Rowe said: “Your diocese’s continued healing and vitality is my highest value in this matter, and I believe that ending these Title IV processes is the best possible way for you to continue the extraordinary progress you have been making in fostering unity, transparency, and shared governance.”
The cost of investigating the allegations had already reached $100,000, he said, and any penalty following a hearing panel “would have had little practical effect”, as Mr Howard had already retired.
After signing the accord, the then Bishop Howard requested that he be released from ordained ministry, meaning that he is no longer a priest in the Episcopal Church.
Ms Gustafson, who is a priest in Jacksonville, Florida, said that she was due to be “Witness One” at the scheduled disciplinary hearing, with six other clergy due to testify against Mr Howard. “I would have liked for the diocese of Florida and the Church to hear them,” she said. “We would be better people serving a better Church for having heard them.
“None of that will happen now. The loss takes my breath away. It would have helped us. It would have helped any future Bishop of the diocese of Florida. Light and air would have done us so much good.
“Now we are left to the same confusion, distrust, and shame that we had before, characteristics that always, always, embolden those willing to abuse power, while leaving people like me without recourse or protection. Only it is worse now, because I no longer have Title IV as an option. The disappointment is suffocating, and it is quickly and predictably evolving into fear.”
Another LGBTQ+ Christian in the diocese, Philip Cushman, posted on Facebook in response to Ms Gustafson’s words: “Like many other LGBTQ members of the Diocese of Florida I am heartbroken, unbelievably angry, so disappointed and dozens of other descriptive terms expressing the pain from Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe’s forgiveness of former Bishop John Howard and dismissal of charges against him.
“Several years ago I also bequeathed a significant portion of my estate to the church upon my death but I will probably redirect that money to a place that respects LGBTQ people and will appreciate it.”
Episcopalians in Florida have faced a series of crises in their leadership, and they are still without a bishop, two years after Mr Howard’s retirement. Two attempts to appoint a successor, Charlie Holt, failed, after being blocked by objections filed by some clergy and lay leaders (News, 28 July 2023).
A timeline has now been set up for a new bishop, but a consecration is not likely before 2027.
