Episcopal Church: Bishop to Be Punished 19 Years After Affair
Episcopal Church court may decide fate of Montana's Charles Jones next week.
Douglas LeBlanc | posted 2/05/2001 12:00AM
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The bishops wrote in their ruling: "The court understands [Jones's] argument that he participated in a 'process' or 'proceeding' of some type in his interactions with the Presiding Bishop in 1993 and 1994. Two members of the court agree with that argument. By a vote of eight to one, however, the court concludes that [Jones] has not met his burden of proving the defense of double jeopardy."
The same court, meeting in 1996, ruled that the Episcopal Church has no doctrine of marriage that would forbid bishops from ordaining homosexual people, including those who engage in sexual relations outside of marriage. But married heterosexual clergy who engage in extramarital relations may face a day of reckoning in a church court—even, in this case, 19 years later.
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Related Elsewhere
The Episcopal News Service offers more information on the trial.
The Courier-Journal
of Louisville, Kentucky also covered the charges against Jones, and Tampa Bay Online ran an Associated Press story about the trial.
You can read about Jones's replacement at the Diocese of Montana homepage.
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