Dear Friends,
As you may know, in November, 2020, our then-Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal, retired after a serious illness, during which time he admitted that he was addicted to alcohol. Upon his retirement, the Standing Committee of the diocese assumed ecclesiastical authority according to the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church
On August 15, 2021, The Right Reverend Wayne Smith became Bishop Provisional of the Diocese of Southern Ohio. He visited with us on October 31. His agreement to serve our diocese in this way came with the stipulation that he have all the authority given to a Bishop Diocesan. Since then, he has engaged the diocese in one of the primary responsibilities of the Church. He is working to help the diocese heal from not only Bishop Breidenthal’s admission of alcoholism, but also, and primarily, from the systems and structures long-present in the diocese that may have contributed to addiction, and may actually be our own addiction as we hold fast to those same ways of life
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