wfn.org | Diocese of Atlanta cancels consecration of a bishop

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

For more information contact:
Episcopal News Service
Kathryn McCormick
kmccormick@dfms.org
http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens
2000-052

Diocese of Atlanta cancels consecration of a bishop at last 
minute

by James Solheim

     (ENS) The February 25 announcement was short and terse--the 
consecration of Robert Trache as the ninth bishop of Atlanta, 
scheduled for March 4, was cancelled.

     "The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Atlanta, by 
unanimous decision, has withdrawn its consent to the 
consecration," the statement said. "The withdrawal, made in 
consultation with the office of the Presiding Bishop of the 
Episcopal Church and the professional advisors associated with 
the consecration of a bishop, means the consecration will not be 
ordered."

     The statement cited "very recent discoveries of lack of 
disclosure in personal financial and family matters. The Standing 
Committee is no longer confident in Trache's ability to function 
as bishop of Atlanta."

     Trache, rector of St. James' Church in Richmond, Virginia, 
was elected October 23 by a special council of the diocese on the 
fifth ballot.

     According to news reports, Trache filed for Chapter 7 
personal bankruptcy January 20, three months after he was 
elected, listing his assets at less than $18,000 and his 
outstanding debts at more than $122,000, most of it to credit 
card companies. The diocese would not clarify what it meant by 
"family matters" but it was widely rumored that he had marital 
problems.

     "The issues are not so much what has gone on, but how they 
handled the decisions they made and how they were disclosed to 
the body of the faithful," said the Rev. Richard Callaway, chair 
of the Standing Committee. He told the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, "Anyone can have marital difficulties, can have 
financial problems. Those are not the kind of things that 
disqualify someone."

     Friends and colleagues expressed shock, calling Trache a 
very effective and dynamic priest. He spearheaded multimillion-
dollar building campaigns in the two Virginia parishes he served, 
including $10 million to rebuild historic St. James' which was 
nearly destroyed by fire a few weeks after he arrived in 1994.

     Bishop Peter James Lee of Virginia said that he was "very 
saddened" by the news and told the Washington Post that the 
situation "raises serious questions about the canonical process" 
of electing bishops. Bishop Clay Matthews, director of the 
church's office for pastoral development, said that the 
examination process includes a 15-year background check into a 
candidate's employment, educational, credit and legal history. 
And he said that a two-part psychiatric exam includes "behavior 
screening" and "self-assessment life history" questions that 
might catch personal problems not revealed in the normal 
background checks.

     Lee told the Washington Post that Trache remains a priest in 
good standing in Virginia but he will not return to St. James' 
because the parish has already moved ahead with its search for a 
new rector.

--James Solheim is director of the Episcopal Church's Office of 
News and Information.