Mark Lawrence

Who is Mark Lawrence?

Mark Joseph Lawrence is an American bishop. He became the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina in 2008. In November 2012, the diocese under his leadership withdrew from the national Episcopal Church to become an independent Anglican diocese. The national church did not recognize this diocesan withdrawal, instead considering Lawrence to have abandoned the Episcopal Church and his position as diocesan bishop. According to the official website of the Anglican Communion, the independent diocese under Lawrences's leadership is not a member of the Communion. Despite this fact, in 2012 the Steering Committee of Anglican Primates of the Global South did recognize Lawrence as bishop over a diocese "within the Anglican Communion." The Episcopal Church in South Carolina is now the diocese of the national church, and a new bishop of that diocese was chosen to succeed Lawrence. Lawrence remains bishop of the independent diocese.