are connected to one of the external connector elements 46 a u2013 46 d in one embodiment the lead 42 is implanted with the electrodes 50 disposed in the patient 39 s cardiac chambers in an alternative embodiment the lead is implanted with the electrodes 50 disposed subcutaneously within the patient 39 s anatomy similarly particular embodiments of the present invention include a combination of electrodes 50 disposed subcutaneously around the patient 39 s thorax and transvenously within the patient 39 s heart fig2 shows a cross sectional partial view of the shaft of an external connecting member in particular fig2 depicts a portion of the shaft 34 of the shorting plug 30 the shaft portion of the external connecting members is constructed to permit connections between external connector elements for example as depicted in fig2 a shorting element 35 may be provided between external connector elements 36 c and 36 d this design flexibility in particular the electrical interactions between external connector elements permits external connecting members to be used in mechanically programming a cardiac system 10 to have a housing that is active or passive in illustration when the shorting plug 30 is fully inserted into the access hole 22 the external connector elements 36 a u2013 36 d come into electrical contact with the respective housing connector elements 24 a u2013 24 d contained within the access hole 22 if the housing connector elements 24 c and 24 d are coupled to the circuit board 18 and to the conductive portion 16 of the housing 12 respectively when the shorting plug 30 depicted in fig2 is inserted into the access hole 22 the conductive portion 16 of the housing 12 is connected to the board 18 thereby rendering the housing 12 active external connecting members.