This Sunday, October 26, I will be visiting St. Peter’s by the Sea, Sitka. It will be the Rev. Julie Platson’s final Sunday as the Rector of St. Peter’s. The Platsons are leaving Sitka and moving to Montana where they will be closer to children and grandchildren. I am so very grateful for the witness, ministry, and presence of the Platsons, Julie and Loyd, in Sitka and the Diocese of Alaska. I’m also grateful that Julie will remain Canonically a Priest of the Diocese of Alaska even while living in retirement in Montana. In other words, though she will be leaving to live in a home in Montana, her ordained ministry will remain home here in Alaska.
What does that mean?
For priests and deacons, it means that they cannot exercise the gifts of their ordained ministry without the oversight of a bishop; but not just any bishop, priests and deacons can only canonically (legally) exercise their ordained ministry under the oversight and authority of the bishop of the diocese where they are serving. For clergy in the Episcopal Church “home” is not just where the heart is but where their bishop is.
There is a formal process in the Episcopal Church for clergy to transfer there official canonical home to another Diocese, to another bishop. Priests and Deacons officially transfer to another Diocese by Letters Dimissory (why does the Church have to have a crazy name for everything?). If a priest or deacon moves from the Diocese where they have been serving to a different diocese and wants to serve on a regular basis in the new Diocese, they will request that their previous bishop send a Letter Dimissory to the bishop of the priest of deacon’s new diocese. The letter serves as a formal transfer of authority over the ministry of that priest or deacon.
A Letter Dimissory is required if a priest or deacon is going to take a formal position within a parish or congregation in their new diocese. To serve as a Rector or Priest-in-Charge (other than as an “Interim”) a priest is required to be canonically resident in the diocese, which is to say formally under the oversight of the Diocesan Bishop. Deacons by virtue of their ministry “directly under the bishop” are also required to have letters dimissory if they move and intend to continue to serve as a deacon in their new diocese.
However, when a priest or deacon retires and moves to live somewhere within a different Diocese a Letter Dimissory is NOT required if that priest or deacon does not intend to exercise their ordained ministry on a regular basis, or to serve in elected leadership in the new diocese. Retired or relocated clergy can, and often do, provide Supply ministry after retiring and relocating to a different Diocese, but even this ministry is subject to license by the Diocesan Bishop. (Did you know that an Episcopal priest cannot conduct a wedding or baptism outside of their home diocese without license/permission from the Diocesan bishop where the service will occur? The exception to this is if they are doing the service by invitation and participation of the rector or priest-in-charge of a parish within the Diocese.)
Julie will maintain her “canonical residence” here in Alaska despite the Platsons move to Montana. That is good news for us. While it means that she will not be able to serve as a rector or priest-in-charge in Montana or be able to serve in most of the Diocese of Montana’s elected leadership roles (Standing Committee, General Convention Deputy, etc.), it does mean that she may continue to serve her term on the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Alaska.
The following Sunday, November 2, I will be at Holy Spirit, Eagle River, celebrating the Rev. Lauran Pifke’s final Sunday as their Rector. Lauran and her faithful husband, Fred Hanson, are not moving from the Diocese of Alaska following Lauran’s resignation for Holy Spirit–they will continue to live in Anchorage near their children and grandchildren. Lauran, therefore, will remain both resident AND canonically resident in the Diocese of Alaska. I give thanks for Lauran and Fred’s ministry in this Diocese.
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.
And speaking of home, my trip to Sitka will allow me to spend a few days with Patricia at my home in Juneau.
