Columbia: New Episcopal bishop suspends dean of Trinity Cathedral
Philip Linder, suspended dean of Trinity Cathedral (photo: Trinity Episcopal Cathedral website)
Columbia
New Episcopal bishop suspends dean of Trinity Cathedral
The new bishop of the The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina has suspended from office the dean of Trinity Cathedral, the large and prominent Episcopal church in downtown Columbia SC with which the bishop shares administrative offices, creating shock and consternation among the church members.
The Rt. Rev. W. Andrew Waldo, bishop of the 28,000-member diocese, announced his suspension of Philip Linder, dean of the 4,200-member church, in a letter dated tomorrow, July 18 , addressed “Dear People of Trinity Cathedral”. Trinity is the mother church of the diocese and comprises 15% of its entire membership. Waldo and Linder share offices in the joint church/diocese administrative complex on Marion Street in downtown Columbia with the cathedral edifice located in the same city block.
The suspension prohibits Linder from speaking to his church’s staff or membership about any matter, effectively freezing Linder out of all contact with his flock of 4,200 parishioners at Trinity, where he has been dean for 11 years.
Waldo’s action follows a resolution addressed to him adopted by the cathedral’s governing body and lay leaders (called the vestry and wardens) and signed not only by the vestry and warden members but also by numerous former wardens and members of the Trinity Foundation Commission. They form a long list of prominent Columbia residents including such names as Belser, Edmunds, Gibbes, McKay, Mullins, Ravenel, and Zeigler.
Trinity Cathedral (photo: Trinity Episcopal Cathedral website)
The exact reasons for the suspension were not announced except by reference to an alleged violation by Linder of a “pastoral directive” issued by Waldo directing Linder not to speak to his church’s staff or membership about a certain matter. Instead, Linder engaged in “numerous contacts with parishioners and staff, with and through his wife, Ellen, [that] has put the health and wholeness of the Cathedral community at great risk”, according to the bishop’s announcement.
The suspension includes a prohibition against Linder speaking to his church’s staff or membership about any matter, the announcement stated. Resolution of the situation is expected to be adjudicated in an ecclesiastical court.
“Those of you who are puzzled or angered by my decision to suspend the Dean are asking many questions, some of which can only be answered with replies we are unable to give you for privacy reasons”, Waldo’s letter said. “What must firmly be said, however, is that your wardens and chancellor came to me with a call for a special vestry meeting, signed by themselves and 16 vestry members, to consider the dissolution of the pastoral relationship between the Cathedral and Philip Linder. That the level of support was so high indicated to me that there was an acutely strained relationship between the Dean and his lay leadership.”
W. Andrew Waldo, bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina (Photo: Diocese website)
Both Waldo and Linder were contenders last year to be chosen as the new bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina with Waldo emerging the winner from a slate of six candidates. Waldo was elected eighth bishop of Upper South Carolina on December 12, 2009, at Trinity Cathedral and consecrated on May 22, 2010 at Christ Church, Greenville. Linder had been dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral since 1999 until his suspension by Waldo this week.
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral is located on the corner of Sumter and Gervais streets, across from the South Carolina State House. The Cathedral occupies the entire block bordered by Sumter, Gervais, Marion, and Senate Street. Administrative offices are located in the Administration Building on the Marion Street side. Offices for The Diocese of Upper South Carolina are also located in this complex, according to Trinity’s website.
According to the website, “From its beginnings as a country church of fewer than twenty-five communicants, Trinity has grown to an urban parish numbering more than 4200 baptized members (communicants). Throughout its history the parish has played a leading role in the affairs of the city, the state, and the church. Six of her rectors have become bishops, and she has numbered among her congregation congressmen, judges, legislators, and governors.”
“Under the ancient oaks and magnolias of Trinity’s Churchyard are buried some of South Carolina’s most distinguished sons and daughters: General Wade Hampton, General Peter Horry, and Private Robert Stark (all Revolutionary heroes); Dr. Thomas Cooper, president of the South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) and friend of Thomas Jefferson; General Wade Hampton and numerous others who fought so gallantly for the Lost Cause; Henry Timrod, Poet Laureate of the Confederacy; six governors: Wade Hampton, Richard Irvine Manning, John Lawrence Manning, Richard Irvine Manning, Hugh Smith Thompson, and James F. Byrnes; and eight bishops of the Episcopal Church: Ellison Capers, Kirkman G. Finlay, Henry D. Phillips, C. Alfred Cole, Louis C. Melcher, John A. Pinckney, George M. Alexander, Gray Temple and William A. Beckham.”
Shock and incredulity have become a staple in the affairs of The Episcopal Church over numerous issues, leading to the prediction that the liberal and conservative wings of the denomination are headed for an inevitable and permanent formal schism not only locally and nationally but within the entire worldwide Anglican Communion. Whether these issues are at the heart of the problems which have led to Linder’s downfall are unknown to the public because of a lockdown on details by the bishop and the Trinity Cathedral leaders with Linder muzzled by the bishop.
- Letter from Bishop W. Andrew Waldo to the people of Trinity Cathedral
- Resolution of the vestry and wardens of Trinity Cathedral Parish
- Most recent pastoral letter from Philip Linder titled “The problem is poverty, not welfare”
- Trinity Episcopal Cathedral website
- The Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina website
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