(RNS) An Episcopal Church committee voted Friday (Oct. 17) to oust more than 50 California clerics who left the denomination last year to join a more conservative province in the Anglican Communion.
The 16 deacons and 36 priests have six months to recant and return to the Episcopal Church before they are defrocked by Bishop Jerry Lamb of the Fresno-based Diocese of San Joaquin, according to Episcopal News Service.
Charged with “abandoning” the Episcopal Church, the 52 deacons and priests would no longer be allowed to function as Episcopal clergy.
Diocesan spokeswoman Nancy Key said two clergy have decided to rejoin the Episcopal Church since the committee began considering charges against them.
“It is our hope, actually, that everybody will decide to remain part of the Episcopal Church,” Key told ENS.
In late 2007, 42 of 47 parishes in the diocese left the Episcopal Church and joined the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Bishop John-David Schofield, who seceded with his diocese, was defrocked by the Episcopal Church last January, though he remains a bishop in the Southern Cone.
The Episcopal Church has since worked to rebuild the San Joaquin Diocese, appointing Lamb to oversee the estimated 1,500 Episcopalians who stayed with the denomination.
Last month, a conservative majority in the Diocese of Pittsburgh also split from the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and aligned with the Southern Cone. Two more dioceses — Fort Worth, Texas, and Quincy, Ill. — are poised to make similar moves next month.
Conservatives, a minority in the 2.2-million member Episcopal Church, have agonized for decades over the denomination’s liberal drift on sexual morality and biblical interpretation. The consecration of an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 hastened their withdrawal from the Episcopal Church.
By Daniel Burke
Copyright 2008 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
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posted October 20, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Strong arm tactics pure and simple.
posted October 20, 2008 at 6:57 pm
How can one be ousted for leaving?
posted October 20, 2008 at 8:20 pm
cknuck-
Long time no see!
I disagree that this is “Strong arm tactics”….they left the Episcopal church. TEC is not condemning them to hell…TEC is simply saying that they are no longer part of TEC.
The article is a little misleading and missing an important points. These same dioceses have been add odds with TEC from more than two decades over the ordination of women to be clergy, bishops, etc. The last straw for many was the election of our current presiding bishop.
Do not misunderstand, I completely support full inclusion of lesbians and gay in TEC….I am just stating that the article seems to make the whole problem seem to be about sexuality.
Peace!
posted October 20, 2008 at 8:37 pm
If you abandon a large organization, in this case, the Episcopal Church, guess you must pay the price. They left the denomination(went south!) and really expected to be considered priests and deacons representing the official church? Doesn’t work that way. In the military, deserters used to be shot during war time, and jailed during peace time.
posted October 21, 2008 at 11:01 am
Well, they are no longer the rootin’ tootin’ “Cowboys” of TEC, they are now “gringo gauchos” of the Southern Cone. Basically this is an administrative move that simply slides their files from one office to another, They are still part of the larger Anglican denomination. I do wonder if the whole Anglican Church wants folks so easily manipulated in their organization, but that is their call. I wish the Archbishop well with dealing with this group. So how soon do you think it will be before the Southern Cone churches put the touch on the Gringo Gauchos of the TEC for some much needed dollars? It would not be so much of a shakedown as a polite, but pointed, invitation to join is some missionary projects that require significant funding in advance (and in small unmarked, nonsequential bills, perhaps?)
posted October 21, 2008 at 5:00 pm
“The Cause” (the civil war for control of TEC) is over, the Right lost, and it’s time for everybody to go their own way.
GAFCON was a failure; Lambeth was a success; TEC is here to stay, and the clergy of San Joaquin need to make a decision to stay or go.
All the anger and finger-pointing is tiresome, at this point – let’s tie up loose ends, make decisions, and get on with life.
Are you in, or out? If in, let’s get to work. If out, then stop whining and move on.
posted October 21, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Readers: Don’t be fooled. pagansister and Maplewood’s ignorance of Anglican theology and polity are dazzling. (I’ll chalk it up to misinformation, not political bias). Here’s the story: these priests, deacons and bishops, and their congregations, are very much recognized as in good standing within the world-wide Anglican Communion. (It really tears up Episcopalians to admit that!)
In fact, these people and the members of the congregations (after much prayer, study and secret ballot) have deliberately and publicly realigned themselves with other members of the Anglican Communion. The fact that The Episcopal Church (membership equals something like 8% of Anglicans world-wide, but it has many bishops and LOTS of money) doesn’t like it means SQUAT, theologically.
The ONLY reason TEC is at all interested is because they hope to hang on to the property (paid for by the congregations); everyone is waiting with bated breath for California’s Supreme Court to issue several very important rulings in the next month or two.
So, these good folks are definitely ‘in’ — as ‘in’ the vast, vast majority of Anglicans world-wide. Within a few years there will be in the US and Canada an entirely separate Anglican province for those who wish to remain Christians; and at last TEC will be ‘left’ to go its merry way, further into the irrelevance of liturgical unitarian thought, New Age ‘theology’ and lack of members (it continues to dwindle each year).
posted October 21, 2008 at 10:23 pm
How absurd! These clerics have already left the Episcopal Church. They have joined the Anglican Church.
The laity started to leave years ago. Now the clergy is leaving.
Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” The EPUSA has separated itself from Jesus and can do nothing. People know this and are leaving.
‘
ap
posted October 22, 2008 at 3:31 pm
If a split, L. Cabbage, solves the situation, would that be so bad? Many churches have different branches and this may become one too. After all, thanks to Henry VIII, there is a Anglican community. The RCC and the Greek, Russian etc. Orthodox churches can’t get along, so why should the Episcopals and the larger Anglican community be any different? Personally, I’m with the group which allows women priests, bishops, and same gender marriages. But that’s just me.
As to anyone reading here being “fooled” by my post…this is a smart group of folks who post here. They know where I come from.