Message from the Standing Committee
The Standing Committee is grateful to the Steering Committee and to the Rt. Rev. Mary Gray Reeves, our consultant, for all the work they did from August 2025 through the 158th Annual Convention of the Diocese of Easton to begin to address the needs for healing and reconciliation in the diocese.
To accomplish this, the Steering Committee held three Gather-Listen-Connect events between November and the end of January and facilitated a plenary session at Convention. In their report, presented to the diocese at Convention and available on the diocesan website at https://dioceseofeaston.org/gatherlistenconnect/, they noted there is general agreement that reconciliation is still needed across the diocese but that the process is complex and takes time. They also found that there is a genuine desire to continue the work of healing and reconciliation as we implement policies and procedures designed to support more unity, collaboration, open communication, and radical transparency.
With the initial phase of reconciliation and healing completed, the work of the Discernment Committee will begin in earnest. Watch for more information from them in the near future.
The Standing Committee has also been busy. Since becoming the Ecclesiastical Authority in mid-October 2025, much of our work has been “behind the scenes” consulting and coordinating with the many committees and individuals to maintain and support the work of the diocese. At the same time, we have been looking to the future.
Although our Assisting Bishop Bud Shand’s original Letter of Agreement expires at the end of May, we signed an extension through which he will continue to serve in a consultant capacity until September from his summer home in Canada and to be available “in case of emergency.” We have also begun prayerful conversations with the Presiding Bishop’s office regarding the next steps.
One option is to call for a convention to elect a Bishop Provisional (TEC Canon III.13). The candidate standing for election to that position must be someone who is an active Bishop in another diocese or is recently resigned as a bishop in another diocese and who has been recommended to us through consultation with the Presiding Bishop. Since bishops must resign at age 72, just like parish rectors must resign at age 72, the candidate to serve as Bishop Provisional must be under age 72. Another option is to continue as we have been with the Standing Committee as the Ecclesiastical Authority and Bishop Shand or someone else as the Assisting Bishop for pastoral support until by act of convention the diocese chooses a different path.
We ask for your prayers and support as we engage in these important conversations and listen to the Holy Spirit who is alive and well in the Diocese of Easton.
Yours in Christ,
The Rev. Dr. Darcy Williams, Standing Committee President