2007_12_08_San_Joaquin
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Two articles on San Joaquin, below
Via Media statement, below
Episcopal Life Online
December 8, 2007
San Joaquin votes to leave Episcopal Church, realign with Southern Cone
Some delegates vow to 'Remain Episcopal'; Presiding Bishop comments on action
By Pat McCaughan
[Episcopal News Service, Fresno, California] Delegates attending the 48th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin on Saturday, December 8 overwhelmingly voted to leave the Episcopal Church and to align with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield asked for a moment of silence in deference to those who opposed the change, reminding the gathering that he "knows what it feels like to be a minority" before the vote tallies were read. The results, by orders were: 70-12 clergy and 103-10 vote in the lay order to effectively remove all references to the Episcopal Church from its constitution and describe the diocese as "a constituent member of the Anglican Communion and in full communion with the See of Canterbury."
"The Episcopal Church receives with sadness the news that some members of this church have made a decision to leave this church," said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. "We deeply regret their unwillingness or inability to live within the historical Anglican understanding of comprehensiveness. We wish them to know of our prayers for them and their journey. The Episcopal Church will continue in the Diocese of San Joaquin, albeit with new leadership."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_92524_ENG_HTM.htm
Continuing Episcopalians making plans to reconstitute Diocese of San Joaquin Parishes can choose their future, canon to the ordinary says
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] Local leaders, along with those from the wider church, are already making plans for the continuation of the Diocese of San Joaquin following a vote to disassociate from the Episcopal Church.
Michael Glass, a San Rafael, California-based attorney who represents congregations and individual Episcopalians who wish to remain in the Episcopal Church, told Episcopal News Service (ENS) December 11 that he, local leaders, Chancellor to the Presiding Bishop David Booth Beers, and leaders from Episcopal dioceses surrounding San Joaquin "are coming together very soon to finalize our coordinated efforts to provide for the leadership needs, the legal and pastoral issues, and the financial concerns of our brothers and sisters in San Joaquin, and to provide for the continuation of the diocese."
The Rev. Robert Moore will meet with the group as well. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori appointed Moore "to provide an ongoing pastoral presence to the continuing Episcopalians in the Diocese of San Joaquin,"
said the Rev. Charles Robertson, canon to the Presiding Bishop.
Moore is the husband of Bishop Suffragan Bavi Edna "Nedi" Rivera of Olympia, the daughter of San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield's predecessor, Bishop Victor Rivera.
"The Presiding Bishop wants the people of San Joaquin to be assured of her prayers and also of her support in the coming days," Robertson said.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_92634_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
VIA MEDIA USA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Christopher I. Wilkins, Ph.D., VMUSA Facilitator ciwilkins@viamediausa.org
(301) 863-8046
Via Media USA Web site: http://viamediausa.org
December 12, 2007
Via Media Decries Destructive Actions of Diocesan Leadership in the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin
Via Media USA views with regret the recent decision of Bishop John- David Schofield of San Joaquin to leave The Episcopal Church and join a separate Anglican province. It clearly is an act of abandonment of the communion of the church by the bishop and by those of the clergy who accept certificates declaring them clergy of the Province of the Southern Cone. As individuals, clergy and laity are free to make such decisions, however, and Via Media USA hopes that they will find the spiritual home they now seek.
Our immediate concern is for the continuing Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, whose members have now been abandoned by their leadership and must reconstitute the leadership structure of the diocese. The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin continues to exist. At least five parishes are part of that continuing diocese, and faithful remnants exist in many other parishes. We hope that others will join them, and we were heartened by the number who attended the post-convention meeting organized by Remain Episcopal (a member of the Via Media USA alliance).
Bishop Schofield's attempt to use convention votes to transfer the diocese to the Province of the Southern Cone is destructive. As the Presiding Bishop, the House of Bishops, the Executive Council, the president of the House of Deputies, and even the Archbishop of Canterbury have repeatedly made clear, such an action does not lie within the power of either an Episcopal bishop or an Episcopal diocese to enact. It also denies resolutions about the nature of the Anglican Communion affirmed by the bishops of the Communion at multiple meetings of the Lambeth Conference. The attempt to secede is a violation of the constitution and canons of The Episcopal Church, of the ordination vows of clergy who voted for the measure, and of obligations that every deputy to the convention assumed upon election as a deputy. Much as a state cannot secede from the federal union, or a city secede from its state, or a neighborhood from a city, an Episcopal diocese cannot secede from The Episcopal Church. Dioceses are legally created by the General Convention of the church. They share in its councils, join in its common mission, and abide by its judgments. Those who lead dioceses hold a sacred trust to guard the unity and faith of the church.
This attempt to "realign" the diocese now requires that the faithful remnant reconstitute the diocese. Bishop Schofield's continued occupation of the offices of the diocese and his claim to all financial and property resources of the diocese deprives the continuing diocese of resources built up over the history of the diocese—first as a part of the Diocese of California, and then, for a half century, as a missionary district supported directly by The Episcopal Church, and finally as a diocese OF the church. This unnecessary and willful occupation not only will lead to costly litigation, but shows disdain for others with similar views who honorably departed as individuals from The Episcopal Church because they understood this route to be their obligation under the constitution and canons of the church they were leaving.
Our prayers and support go out to those who will continue the ministries in the ongoing, and, eventually, reconstituted and newly led, Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, and to those throughout the church and communion who will support them in these efforts. We hope that those who have now left The Episcopal Church will, if they persist on this road, walk it graciously under the terms that the law allows, and not force the church to do all that it could to protect the resources dedicated to its ministries, and to the world that a loving God has called it to serve.