>>I sure hate to bit bang this but I may have to.

you do not have to, PBP has done the work for you.

>>two adjacent pins connected together

another thought - no need for adjacent pins - use SEROUT for 8N1 and SEROUT2 for 7N1 ... using the same output port pin.

If PORTA.1 = 1 then ; check jumper
SEROUT PORTB.0, .... ; need 8N1
else
SEROUT2 PORTB.0, ... ; need 7N1
ENDIF

will that work?

Also, I do not see why you keep mentioning CCS??? We are taking PBP here