Check them all out.

After extensive consultation, and with the consent of the Standing Committee, I am moving the time and place of the 143rd Annual Convention of the Diocese to Saturday, October 4th, 2008, at St. Martin’s Church, Monroeville.

Registration of clerical and lay deputies will be from 7:30 – 8:30 a.m. The Convention Eucharist will begin at 8:30 a.m. The business session of Convention will begin immediately following the Eucharist. Lunch will be served at midday. It is anticipated that all matters required to come before the Annual Convention will be complete during the afternoon, with adjournment at the completion of said business.

The date and place of the Annual Convention having been previously set, I am announcing this change under the provisions of Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution of the Diocese. The expressed threat of deposition of the Diocesan Bishop at a September meeting of the House of Bishops is the “sufficient cause.”

Read it all.

In the Episcopal Church, every man or women ordained as a deacon, priest or bishop publicly states: “I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation.” (BCP) As your bishop, I take this declaration as part of the ordination vows very seriously. I believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are not only the Word of God, but the living Word of God that continues to speak to us to this day and for all time.

In so saying, I am very much aware that the Bible as we know it today is a compilation of works, representing various literary styles, written by human authors over hundreds of years. While parts are intended to be interpreted literally, other parts are figurative, and some are poetic or history. Underlying all of it, however, is God’s inspired truth, as referenced by Paul in II Timothy.

To argue as some have tried, that whatever prohibitions God may have had toward homosexual behavior, as revealed in Leviticus 18 or Romans 1, only applied to the people to which the original text was written, and therefore does not apply to today’s culture, and modern societies’ enlightened understanding of sexuality, would seem to suggest that somehow God was limited in His understanding of human sexuality. I might remind us of the faith we proclaim every time we say the Nicene Creed: “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.” If God is Almighty and if He created all that is, as we proclaim, and as Holy Scripture attests to, how can we say that we are more enlightened in this generation that God was when he first inspired Moses and Paul to write the words He gave them?

Read it all.

The Diocese of California has overhauled its canons, saying the action will make its operations more transparent and its leaders more accountable.

At a special convention May 10, delegates voted to eliminate the bishop’s complete control over property and created an executive council to replace a more complicated, less transparent administrative structure.

The actions were the culmination of a process set in motion by California Bishop Marc Andrus about 10 months ago. But the actions of the neighboring Diocese of San Joaquin also served as inspiration, and Bishop Andrus contended that opposition to that move might have been greater had the structure of the diocese been more transparent.

“Some have said that people who might have acted to prevent the actions in San Joaquin didn’t do so because they were not kept fully aware of what was happening,” Bishop Andrus said after the convention.

Read it all.

Delegates to a special convention in the Diocese of California will consider far-reaching structural changes when they meet May 10 at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.

The change was proposed by Bishop Marc Handley Andrus in his first address to the diocesan convention, according to Sean McConnell, communications officer of the diocese.

“The intent is to create a body of governance that is transparent and accountable to the people of the diocese,” Mr. McConnell said. “I think there was concern that [under the corporation sole model] major decisions could be made by one person with very little consultation. There was also very little interaction between the existing diocesan organizations and concern about a lack of transparency.”

Under the proposed revisions, an executive council would become the board of directors of the diocesan corporation and would be responsible for the operation of the diocese and strategic planning when convention is not in session. The executive council and a newly created investment committee (reporting to the executive council) would assume the responsibilities currently held by diocesan council and the board of directors.

Read it all.

Take the time to read it all.

he 159th gathering of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas will begin with a keynote address by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Galveston-Houston Catholic Archdiocese.

“It makes our hearts glad that he, the first cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in Texas, will preach at the opening service,” said Ron Pogue of Galveston’s Trinity Episcopal Church. Pogue is one of the host pastors for the meeting.

Getting along with Catholics hasn’t always been a hallmark for Anglicans. The movement began when King Henry VIII broke with the pope in 1534 and founded The Church of England. That became the basis for the Anglican Communion, which later produced the American branch, the Episcopal Church. More recently, relations have been cordial between Windsor and Rome. And passing attempts at merging the two churches have been repeatedly floated.

The high-profile conflicts in this century are no longer between Anglicans and outsiders, but instead have come from within: between the liberal and conservative wings of the American Episcopal Church, as well as between the U.S. church and many of the other 40-plus member churches of the Anglican Communion worldwide.

During the past few years, a number of U.S. parishes have broken, or threatened to break, with their American bishops. In order to avoid leaving the Anglican movement entirely, they have chosen to report to more conservative bishops overseas.

Read it all.

Read it all and and the resolutions are here.

There are those who simply have to leave The Episcopal Church for conscience sake. I understand that. I don’t agree, but I don’t believe we should punish them. We shouldn’t sue them. We shouldn’t depose the clergy. Our brokenness is a tragedy. The litigation that is going on in so many places is a travesty.

And although some seem to be trying to do so, I don’t think you can hold a Church together by taking everybody you disagree with to court.

One year ago I stood before you and said, “This is my promise: if there are those who decide to leave I will be more fair-minded and generous to them than any policy that could possibly be established. And I don’t have to ask you to believe that; I’ve proven it.”

Well, Dear Friends, we have proven it, again (and again, several times). As I promised we would, we have said to those leaving, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

You all know that personally I am no happier than those who are departing about some of the recent decisions of The Episcopal Church. But I am committed to staying the course for as long as it is possible to remain both an Episcopalian and an Anglican. And the Archbishop of Canterbury has given me, personally, and all the world, assurances…

Read it all.

Take the time to watch it all.

A diocese engaged in the Gospel mission of Jesus Christ locally, domestically and globally must be a diocese consistently centered in corporate and private prayer. It must be a diocese that sees its parishes as being part of the whole mission of the diocese and the larger church and not just a diocese where parishes are “stand-alones” living into the concept of independent contractors and local franchises. For any parish to be an active agent of the mission and ministry of the Gospel in the 21st century, it must come to recognize that its ministry must extend beyond the local, regional and domestic environment, but must be connected to the global community as well. The diocese provides the very best and most visible way in which to do this. The Internet, satellite communications and almost instantaneous email access throughout the world makes our international neighbors as close to us as our neighbors who live in the house next door to us. We must not become a diocese or a church in isolation interested only in local parish issues.

There are a few occasions when I travel around the diocese when during a parish visit someone will say; “Bishop, we just can’t compete with the non-denominational mega churches that seem to be surrounding us on every side. We just don’t have the resources that they have.” At first glance this observation would seem correct. Non-denominational mega churches have parking lots jammed packed on Sundays, and are almost filled during the week, often with local police directing traffic. Some of these churches have seating capacities of 3000. But for a moment, don’t think parochially; think about the diocese as the church. In the Diocese of Washington if you were to see the diocese as the church and our parishes as supporting congregations, over 24,000 persons attend Episcopal services on average every Sunday. Unlike mega, non-denominational churches, we are linked together by a Common Lectionary, mostly common hymns, and the Book of Common Prayer that is the same in every congregation with very few variations. When I think of the diocese as the church and our parishes as the congregations that make up the diocese as church, then we become much larger than any mega church on any given Sunday or on any given day. In fact through the diocese, we are connected throughout the Episcopal Church nationally and with our Episcopal Church neighbors in Mexico, The Caribbean Basin, Central and South America. But, we are even larger than that, and stronger than any non-denominational community for we are partners with the 77 million member world wide Anglican Communion.

Read it all.

Finally, I want to say something about the peculiar point in our life as Episcopalians and Anglicans that we presently inhabit. I believe the Windsor Report offers us the way forward as we work to repair the common life of the Anglican Communion. At our 2007 Convention, clergy and delegates resolved that “the findings and recommendations of the Windsor Report represent the best way forward for the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Communion”. In addition, the Diocese re-affirmed a commitment to being a “full and active part of the Anglican Communion, in unity with the See of Canterbury, and the Episcopal Church USA; forgoing our own local desires for the sake of the greater Anglican Communion; and a conciliar approach to decision-making in the life of the Church and the Anglican Communion by working with and heeding the collective wishes of the Communion before making unilateral decisions”. These graceful words of connection I have made my own on a number of occasions, and I do so again today.

As Bishop of Tennessee, I am committed to the so-called Camp Allen principles of compliance with the recommendations of the Windsor Report, principles that the Archbishop of Canterbury identified in his recent “Advent Letter” as making obvious “that such dioceses and bishops cannot be regarded as deficient in recognizable faithfulness to the common deposit and the common language and practice of the Communion”. I hope that you know that I am committed to a traditional understanding of Christian marriage, and that that I believe the Church’s traditional teaching on sex and sexual relationships. I have been saying this consistently and publicly, I believe, since the year 2000, when it suddenly seemed necessary (at least to me) to say so. I will follow through with the discharge of my responsibilities as bishop, but you should also know that I am not planning on taking my beliefs and commitments and using them as a weapon against anyone, a tool in some war of separation that I do not believe will serve the Gospel or the Church.

I reaffirm these commitments in regard to the Windsor Report that I have made on a number of occasions before. I plan to attend the Lambeth Conference, one of the four “Instruments of Unity” that we have as a Communion. I believe that we are called to life together, as a Communion and as a Diocese, to unity in the midst of difference. Can we model in the Diocese of Tennessee a life together, where we can recognize the life of the Risen Christ present within each other, even when we disagree about important and even fundamental things? There are other voices that have put before us a different view of the situation, in which the church is defined by separation from those with whom we disagree. These voices identify the errors of others and then continue on a separate way. I believe that the end result of this process is the end of the church as a community of faith, faith that overcomes difference in the Risen Lord. We need to seek a common mind in the Church, that’s absolutely correct; there is no virtue in difference for difference’s sake when we can seek agreement, especially about fundamental things that might now divide us. But in order to seek a common mind we are going to have to show up in the same place and share the same life. That’s the life I’m committed to. It is the way of death and resurrection, the pattern we have learned from Christ; it is the way of bearing one another’s burdens, though I am acutely aware that the burden I bear may be small in comparison to that of others; it is the way of self-giving, of sacrificial offering, so that others may live. It is not the easy way, but I think it is the Gospel way, in this time and place, for us now in the Diocese of Tennessee.

Read it all.

Watch and listen to it all.

The diocese officially does not ordain homosexual clergy, although a resolution is on the table for today’s meeting that would change that policy.

It also does not conduct “blessing” ceremonies for same-sex unions. However, a diocesan committee report, issued yesterday, said there was an “emerging consensus” among committee members to eventually allow such blessings.

“Scripture addresses lifelong committed relationships characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect and the holy love” among homosexuals, the report said. A new commission will “identify practical steps” on how the diocese can minister to homosexual couples, it said.

The Episcopal Church has had multiple splits over sexual and theological issues, all of which have drained numerous dioceses of funds. The Virginia diocese’s budget is up by 4.5 percent this year, but that has come at the expense of maintaining a staff of only 24 full- and part-time workers.

It’s the smallest staff of the nation’s five largest dioceses, said Bishop Lee, adding that there will be “unwanted turnover” unless larger salary increases are forthcoming.

“That was a departure for him to be that forthright,” said Steve van Voorhees, a council teller. “He’s never put money in his pastoral address before.” Diocesan treasurer Mike Kerr said some churches have curtailed their giving out of fear that the money may go toward the lawsuit and have asked whether they can restrict where their funds go.

Calling restricted giving “a slippery slope,” Mr. Kerr said that the $70,000 needed to service the $2 million line of credit is coming out of an endowment fund, not out of the diocese’s $4.7 million 2008 budget.

Read it all.

Check it out.

It’s not easy being the Episcopal bishop of Newark, where a third of diocesan churches have money problems, membership is declining, and the monster shadow of Jack Spongs 24-year tenure always hangs over you.

For Mark Beckwith, who on Monday celebrates his one-year anniversary as the dioceses 10th bishop, the financial troubles are likely to be around for a while. But tonight, at the annual diocesan convention at the Hilton Hotel in Parsippany, he signaled he would not recommend consolidating or closing urban churches, a prospect that has worried some in recent years.

Fifty years ago, he said in his address, Newark had 17 Episcopal churches. Today it has three. Jersey City had 12 in 1958, and three now. Paterson had five, and two now.

“I suppose an argument could be made that our three largest diocesan cities were over-churched 50 years ago, but I wouldn’t make that case now,” said Beckwith, 56. “We have had enough church consolidation in our cities.”

Read it all.

Resolution:

Be it resolved that the 217th Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina dissociates itself from the affiliation of The Episcopal Church (TEC) with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC).

Explanation:

On the 12th of January 2006, the Executive Committee of The Episcopal Church voted to formalize the relationship between The Episcopal Church and the RCRC, a registered political lobby, which advocates for unlimited abortion rights in the political realm. The literature and website of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice reveal that it advocates positions specifically at odds with those of the Episcopal Church as expressed by a resolution of the 1994 General Convention declaring that, “As Christians, we believe strongly that if [the right to abortion] is exercised, it should be used only in extreme situations. We emphatically oppose abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection, or any reason of mere convenience.” Further on this the final day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it must be noted that this affiliation represents yet another divergence from the normative moral teaching of Catholic Christianity.

[b]Update (from elfgirl):[/b]
For those readers who may have been unaware of the Episcopal Church’s formal affiliation with the RCRC, we’ve compiled a pretty extensive list of links which will provide much background and commentary on the topic, which has (in our opinion) flown much too far under the radar in many dioceses and much of the debate about TEC’s current beliefs and actions.

Here’s the link: http://new.kendallharmon.net/wp-content/uploads/index.php/t19/article/9529/#175687

–elfgirl

The link is here.

Read it carefully and read it all.

[i]Remain Episcopal is the Via Media chapter in the Diocese of San Joaquin and opposes the San Joaquin vote. Here is their statement on today’s vote:[/i]

San Joaquin Diocese Will Continue With or Without Bishop Schofield

FRESNO, CA — There’s no such thing as squatter’s rights in the Episcopal Church.

That’s the lesson Bishop John David Schofield will learn if he follows through with his threat to quit the Episcopal Church and take as many members of the San Joaquin Diocese with him as he can, according to national church officials. Schofield claims that he will still be the diocesan bishop after the Dec. 7-8 convention in Fresno in which a majority of delegates are expected to vote to leave the church with him. But national church officials point out that, ecclesiastically speaking, he will be a bishop without a diocese. He can go, but the diocese remains.

The national church’s Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, has publicly notified Schofield, along with the handful of other bishops who are actively seeking to withdraw their dioceses from the Episcopal Church (TEC), of the theological, canonical and legal issues involved, as well as the ramifications of voting to leave the church. [Full text of this warning from TEC can be found at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_91480_ENG_HTM.htm]
If Bishop Schofield does quit the church, the 14-county Episcopal diocese in central California will continue. It will have the support of the national church, surrounding dioceses and those individuals, parishes and groups that remain with the church. Many of the latter are members of Remain Episcopal, a group of clergy and lay people formed in 2003 for the sole purpose of assuring that the Episcopal Church remains alive and
well in this diocese. Speaking on behalf of the Remain Episcopal Board, President Cindy Smith said:

[blockquote]We in Remain Episcopal choose to continue the long-established relationship and affiliation we have with the Episcopal Church in the United States.
We are deeply troubled that Bishop John-David Schofield is aggressively pursuing leaving the church. Remain Episcopal admits that it does not know what his exact plans are, whether to set up his own denomination, affiliate with one or more American splinter groups, or even align with a group in Africa or South America. Even more troubling is his desire to take as many Episcopalians with him as he can.
If Bishop Schofield and the majority of the delegates do vote in December to leave, the Episcopal Church will still be alive and well in San Joaquin, although somewhat smaller. The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin existed long before Bishop Schofield was elected and will continue to exist after he leaves. While he is a bishop, he is not the church, he is not the diocese, nor, by leaving, can he define whether or not the Episcopal Church will continue in this diocese.
Episcopalians in San Joaquin will still gather to pray and worship and celebrate the Eucharist together as part of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.[/blockquote]

The press release can be found here.

[i]The second half of the latest article in the TLC on the Diocese of San Joaquin vote today highlights the legal complexities that are likely to arise following today’s decision[/i]

There are also new legal complications in the U.S. Some congregations and clergy in the Diocese of San Joaquin do not want to leave The Episcopal Church and it appears likely that Bishop Jefferts Schori will attempt court enforcement to ensure that all property and other assets remain with the loyal minority. Some members of the minority have organized as Remain Episcopal San Joaquin. They were scheduled to meet at Holy Family, Fresno, at the conclusion of convention.

After the results to affiliate with the Southern Cone were announced, a lay delegate from Holy Family Church, Fresno, rose on a point of personal privilege to ask who the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese would be if Bishop Schofield were to be inhibited. One of the two diocesan chancellors responded that since the convention no longer recognized the authority of The Episcopal Church, Bishop Schofield could only be inhibited by the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone. Toward the conclusion of convention, Bishop Schofield announced that certificates from the Southern Cone were available for clergy to display in their offices.

Just how complicated the legal environment is likely to become was highlighted toward the end of the meeting during debate over a motion to permit Holy Family, Fresno, to begin the process to file incorporation paperwork with the State of California. One of the diocesan chancellors left the convention podium and from one of the microphones set up for delegates inquired whether the convention had the authority to grant the parish’s request given the fact that Holy Family had already stated that it wished to incorporate as an Episcopal parish.

Despite some misgivings that approval of the request would add to the complex legal situation the votes had created, delegates approved the request after one of the delegates reminded the convention that Bishop Schofield had previously said both he and the diocese would do all in their power to assist any congregation or member of the clergy who wanted to remain with The Episcopal Church.

The whole article is here.

Here’s an excerpt:

Today we stand at a critical juncture in history. It would be myopic to imagine that the rest of
Christendom, let alone the Anglican Communion, is not watching and praying as we deliberate.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will lead us in the momentous decisions that lie before us.

It is only natural to experience fear, for what we are considering takes the Diocese of San Joaquin
into unchartered waters. The leaders of the General Convention have expended enormous energy
to spread their mantra: “Individuals may the leave the Church, but Parishes and Dioceses cannot.”
No one seems to know who dreamed up this idea. What we DO know is that it is simply not true!
During the time of the Civil War in the 1860’s when this nation was torn apart, dioceses in those
states called the Confederacy withdrew from what was then known as The Protestant Episcopal
Church. During the war years they held their own conventions, developed their own Constitution,
had there own House of Bishops, elected a Presiding Bishop, and consecrated a bishop for one of
their dioceses. Nothing could be clearer. The southern dioceses had departed and had created a
separate church. Today we might call it their own Province.

Unlike many of the Protestant denominations, however, it didn’t make sense to Episcopalians to
maintain the separation when the war ended. Not only were the southern bishops and their dioceses
welcomed back, the newly consecrated bishop was recognized, and no punitive action was taken
against anyone. Presumably the southerners had taken their property with them when they left.
And, they would not have been the first to do this.

Centuries before, King Henry VIII, with the help of Parliament prevented all English money from
going to Rome. This action was followed up by taking all the property of the churches, including
the monasteries and shrines ”“many of which he dismantled and sold. Today, were you to go to
Ireland in search of a name or a tombstone of anyone buried before 1540, your search would have
to be in Anglican ”“not Roman Catholic”“ churches and cathedrals. Somehow the Pope never asked
that they be returned to him…and they weren’t.

Colonial churches, especially those in Virginia, whose existence pre-date not only The Episcopal
Church but the United States itself, were never given back to the Lord Bishop of London nor to the
Archbishop of Canterbury when, after the American Revolution, Anglicans identified themselves
as Episcopalians. They took their property with them.

History is replete with instances in which dioceses, too, have moved from one Province to another
”“ no matter how it was accomplished. Liberia moved from The Episcopal Church to the Province
of West Africa, Venezuela moved from the West Indies to The Episcopal Church. Mexico has
moved back and forth from The Episcopal Church more than once.

Historically, Provinces, such as The Episcopal Church, are not, and never have been, an essential
part of Catholic Order. On October 14th this year, Rowan Williams, our present Archbishop of
Canterbury, wrote to Bishop John Howe of Central Florida: “…Without forestalling what the
Primates might say, I would repeat what I’ve said several times before ”“ that any Diocese compliant
with Windsor remains clearly in communion with Canterbury and the mainstream of the
Communion, whatever may be the longer-term result for others in The Episcopal Church. The
organ of union with the wider Church is the Bishop and the Diocese rather than the Provincial
structure as such.” Later, in the same letter, Archbishop Williams strengthened what he had said
already by adding: “I should feel a great deal happier, I must say, if those who were most eloquent
for a traditionalist view in the United States showed a fuller understanding of the need to regard the
Bishop and the Diocese as the primary locus of ecclesial identity rather than the abstract reality
of the ”˜national church’.” (Emphasis added) Abstract realities do not own, nor have they ever
owned, property.

There is no question that what we are considering today will be called Schism. We will be told that
unity trumps theology. We shall be told that we are doing is destructive and against history and
Catholic Order. Once again, the words of J.I. Packer are most helpful. He notes: “Schism means
unwarrantable and unjustifiable dividing of organized church bodies, by the separating of one group
within the structure from the rest of the membership. Schism, as such, is sin, for it is a needless and
indefensible breach of visible unity. But withdrawal from a unitary set-up that has become
unorthodox and distorts the gospel in a major way and will not put its house in order as for instance
when the English church withdrew from the Church of Rome in the sixteenth century, should be
called not schism but realignment, doubly so when the withdrawal leads to links with a set-up that
is faithful to the truth, as in the sixteenth century the Church of England entered into fellowship
with the Lutheran and Reformed churches of Europe, and as now we propose gratefully to accept
the offer of full fellowship with the Province of the Southern Cone. Any who calls such a move
schism should be told they do not know what schism is.”

For those of us who are facing the unknown, Provinces and Property seem to be among the top
concerns. As bishop, I would like to suggest to you that a ”˜NO’ vote at this convention will not
provide the imagined protection needed to get on with our lives uninterrupted. Many do not realize
that for 40 years, with the first twenty under Bishop Victor Rivera, and now nearly twenty years
with me, as bishops we have been able to provide a buffer for our people from the innovations that
abound in dioceses all around us. A quick trip north, south, east or west is all that it takes to wonder
if we’re in the same church with those folks. Years ago, it was the moderate Bishop John
MacArthur of West Texas who first stated clearly that “we are two churches under one roof.”

The full text is here.

If I heard the announcement correctly, the vote on the three amendments was as follows:

clergy 88 present, 72 yes, 12 no
laity 113 present, 103 yes, 10 no

You can follow the live video with discussion here.

NOTE: We’re making this entry “sticky” — it will stay at the top of the blog for awhile. Look for new entries below. We will use this post as a “roundup” of links for the news on the San Joaquin vote.

The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno in central California, voted to leave the church, which has been in significant upheaval since 2003 when U.S. Episcopals consecrated the first openly gay bishop in the church’s more than four centuries of history.

The vote was 173 lay and clergy convention delegates in favor, with 22 against.

Read it all.

Update: A Fresno Bee story is there also.

The unofficial vote tally is here.

=========

Update 2: The ENS article is here. Here’s the opening. But DO read it all.

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.”

==========
Update 3 The stories are now flying fast & furious.

[b]New York Times:[/b] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/us/09episcopal.html?hp
Episcopal Diocese Votes to Secede, By NEELA BANERJEE
[also carried by the International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/08/america/09episcopal.php ]

FRESNO, Calif., Dec. 8 ”” The Diocese of San Joaquin voted on Saturday to cut ties with the Episcopal Church, the first time in the church’s history a diocese has done so over theological issues and the biggest leap so far by dissident Episcopalians hoping to form a rival national church in the United States.

——
[b]The Associated Press[/b]: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jDZX3K59yZ25znkruveYwlCs3VmgD8TDFV502
Diocese Breaks With Episcopal Church, By JORDAN ROBERTSON

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (AP) ”” An Episcopal diocese in central California voted Saturday to split with the national denomination over disagreements about the role of gays and lesbians in the church.

Clergy and lay members of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin voted 173-22 at their annual convention to remove all references to the national church from the diocese’s constitution, according to spokeswoman Joan Gladstone.

——
[b]BBC[/b]: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7134835.stm
US Church splits over gay rights

A Californian diocese has voted to become the first to break away from the US Episcopal Church in protest at its support for gays in the Church.

Delegates of the San Joaquin diocese in Fresno voted 173-22 to secede. It follows years of disagreement with Church authorities triggered by the consecration of a gay bishop in 2003.

——
[b]Radio New Zealand:[/b] http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200712090956/california_diocese_leaves_episcopal_church_over_gay_rights
An entire California diocese has voted to leave the American Episcopal Church in an historic split over the church’s expanding support for gay and women’s rights.

——
[b]KCBS, San Francisco[/b]: http://www.kcbs.com/Rift-in-California-Episcopal-Church/1306022
SAN JOAQUIN, Calif. (KCBS) — An historic religious vote took place in the Central Valley today, where the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin has voted to remove all references to the national church from the diocese’s constitution.

——
[b]Christianity Today[/b]: http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2007/12/entire_diocese.html
Entire diocese jumps out of Episcopal Church, by Ted Olsen

Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin votes 173-22 to remove all references to the national body from its constitution.

Dozens of churches and groups have left the Episcopal Church in recent years. Today is the first time that an entire diocese has voted to officially split from the national body. The votes weren’t close: the clergy in California’s Diocese of San Joaquin voted 70-12 to withdraw, and laity voted 103-10.

——
[b]Los Angeles Times[/b]: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-episcopal9dec09,1,1604034.story?coll=la-headlines-california
Episcopal diocese secedes in rift over gays

The Diocese of San Joaquin in Central California is the first to break from the U.S. church over its relatively liberal views on homosexuality and biblical authority.
By Rebecca Trounson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

FRESNO — The Central California Diocese of San Joaquin today became the first in the nation to secede from the Episcopal Church, taking the historic, risky step as part of a years-long struggle within the church and global Anglican Communion over homosexuality and biblical authority.

Delegates to San Joaquin’s annual convention then also formally accepted an invitation to align the largely rural 14-county diocese with a conservative Anglican leader overseas, Archbishop Gregory James Venables of Argentina.

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[i]I’m sure there will be MANY more stories. Stay tuned![/i]

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[b]UPDATE 4 (11:30 p.m. Eastern)[/b] [i]This will be our final update for the night. In the morning, we will unsticky this post and it will drop way down the blog. It might be worth bookmarking if you want to continue to follow the discussion here. There are now two new SJ-related threads below this one as well. –elfgirl[/i]

Here are some of the most important new links:

Press Release from “Remain Episcopal” (the Via Media chapter in San Joaquin). Note: Posted as a separate entry below.

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The Living Church: Presiding Bishop Eyes New Leadership for Diocese of San Joaquin (also posted as a separate entry below)

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The Telegraph (UK)

Diocese splits from Church in gay row
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s hopes of averting a schism have been left in tatters following a historic split in the Anglican Communion in its row over homosexuality.

A diocese yesterday voted to break away from the US Episcopal Church following years of disagreement over the church’s support for gay clergy.

It is the first diocese in the Anglican Church to take such drastic action and the move seriously dents the attempts of Dr Rowan Williams to keep the communion together.

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San Francisco Chronicle

Episcopal fold loses 1st diocese – in valley
Ellen Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

The Diocese of San Joaquin, a conservative fold that serves California’s Central Valley and has long chafed under what it considers the increasing liberalism of its fellow Episcopals, on Saturday became the first in the nation to separate from the U.S. Episcopal Church, voting overwhelmingly to take a strong and definitive stance against how the church deals with homosexuality and other controversial issues.

The diocese, which serves nearly 9,000 parishioners in an area stretching from Lodi to Bakersfield, has effectively seceded from the American wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and has placed itself in the hands of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone of America, which oversees the dioceses in six South American nations.

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[b]Bakersfield Californian[/b]

Diocese votes to split from church
Decades-long rift caused by national sect’s liberal views

The central California Episcopal diocese voted Saturday to split with the national denomination over disagreements of interpretation of Scripture, most recently regarding homosexuality.

Clergy and lay members of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin voted 173-22 at their annual convention in Fresno to remove all references to the national church from the diocese’s constitution, according to the Rev. Van McCalister, a diocesan spokesman.

In a later vote, it accepted an invitation to join a conservative South American congregation of the Worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is the U.S. member.

The Fresno-based unit is the first full diocese to secede because of a conservative-liberal rift that began decades ago over the interpretation of core Christian beliefs, McCalister said. Recently, that divide has widened over differences of opinion of what the Bible says about homosexuality.

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And last but not least, [b]Get Religion’s[/b] Terry Mattingly has a brief blog entry here where he touches on some of the early coverage.

[i]More tomorrow. Twelve hours of blogging is enough for one day![/i]

OOPS: Forgot to mention, somehow we’d not had a “TEC Conflicts: San Joaquin” category (don’t know how on earth we missed that one!). We’ve rectified our category lapse. You can now find all the recent San Joaquin stories going back to September here.

Anglican TV and Stand Firm will be live streaming the San Joaquin Diocesan Convention.

Here’s the Anglican TV thread.

Here’s the Stand Firm thread:

If you watch and appreciate the availability of the livestream, please consider contributing to Kevin Kallsen’s expenses. Go to the Anglican TV site and look for the “Chip In” link in the upper right corner. Kevin is currently raising money to cover Mark Lawrence’s consecration, but we understand he is still short in terms of having his expenses for San Joaquin covered.

–elfgirl

On Dec. 8, clergy and lay delegates of the San Joaquin Diocese of the Episcopal Church will meet in Fresno for their 48th annual convention and to vote on whether or not to remain a part of the Episcopal Church of America.

“This is a landmark convention for us,” said the Rev. J.P. Wadlin of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Ridgecrest. “This is the second part of a two part process. Any move must be ratified by two successive conventions to become canon law. If it passes and we do remove ourselves from ECUSA, we have to belong to some branch of the Anglican Church. The Archbishops and Bishops of the Province of the Southern Cone in South America have extended an invitation to us to come under their protection. The move would be temporary, pastoral and reversible.”

If ratified, the Diocese of San Joaquin, under the leadership of Bishop John-David Schofield, would be the first to make the move. Prior to this, only individual parishes have broken away and joined themselves to provinces in Africa or South America. San Joaquin Diocese, which extends from Stockton to Bakersfield and Rosamond to Mammoth, would become part of the Southern Cone, along with up to five other conservative dioceses, which are expected to make the move in the next six months.

Read it all.

Finally, I want to add to our Diocesan photo album an affirmation that we are part of a larger family, with a larger photo album. As members of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, we currently find ourselves in a place of challenge and some anxiety, due in large part to theological and ecclesial disagreements with regard to human sexuality. We have been in similar places before. Part of what is different this time is the reality of globalization, the challenge of information management and the pace with which we carry on conversations across the internet.

For example, I keep shaking my head and wondering how did the Windsor Report, a report that started out as a committee report, become in such a short time the sacred text and standard of “right” moral and ecclesial behavior that it is for many today! In my judgment, calls to be “Windsor compliant” are premature at best; and do a disservice to our Anglican heritage of faithful engagement with one another around complex issues and to the special Anglican charism of the via media, the middle way.

On this day when we remember in our liturgical calendar the great Anglican theologian, Richard Hooker, we would do well to take to heart the words of the collect appointed for his commemoration. “Grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth.” As noted in the recent publication, Communion Matters, from the Theology Committee of House of Bishops: “Comprehension for the sake of truth has served us well. Perhaps it is our unique and essential charism as a Church.”

In the spirit of that heritage, I will continue to labor for a church that is welcoming and inclusive of all in every aspect of its life, governance and ministry. In particular, this means that I will continue to champion the justice ministry toward full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons in our church, including their full access to all orders of ministry and the liturgical blessing of the church on the committed, life long relationships of gay and lesbian couples.

Read it all.

Via email from a participant:

I’m not sure where I can post this, but here are the results of the various votes at Convention today, where I was a delegate: we basically approved all the constitutional amendments put forward by the Diocese (its Committee on Constitution and Canons), by a majority of about 80% in each case. In more
details:

Article 1, Authority of Gen Con, amendment to repeal to qualification to the accession clause, was defeated by 83% of clergy, 80% of lay delegates (71 and 99 votes respectively).

Article 14, Title to Church Property, amendment to say all property is held in trust for TEC, defeated by 88% of clergy, 87% lay (75,107).

Preamble, removal of reference to TEC and geographical boundaries, adopted by 83% clergy, 79% lay (71, 97 votes).

Article 1, Anglican Identity, instead of accession to TEC, approved by 83% clergy, 77% lay (69, 95 votes).

Art. 12, Delegates to Extra-Diocesan Conventions or Synods, approved by 83% clergy, 80% lay (69, 98 votes).

Art. 18, Canons, removing “consistent with Constitution and Canons of TEC”, approved by 83% clergy, 78% lay (69, 96 votes).

We also approved by 88% clergy, 82% lay to amend our Canon 32, Controversy between rector and vestry, to add controversies between a parish and the diocese, to provide an amicable way for a parish to leave the diocese.

We also approved a resolution to express our thanks for the welcome extended by Southern Cone, and asking our Bishop and Standing Committee to create a report on the implications and means of accepting such an invitation. And a resolution thanking the Panel of Reference for its report about the permissive rather than mandatory nature of ordination of women.

Update: An ENS report is here.

After years of rancor and recriminations, the Fort Worth Episcopal Diocese could take the first step this weekend to severing ties with the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
Though some delegates to the diocese’s annual convention remain supportive of the national church, a standing committee of the 24-county diocese has recommended giving tentative approval to leaving the more liberal Episcopal Church and joining with another province in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Episcopal Church — the U.S. body of the Anglican church –is at odds with some of its own members and the worldwide church over such issues as the national church’s confirmation of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003. Conservatives within the Fort Worth Diocese have other differences with the Episcopal Church, including the 2006 election of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. Opponents say a woman in that position is unbiblical.

The matters of ordination of women and gay men and of same-sex unions have also caused turmoil in other mainline denominations.

Fort Worth is one of three Episcopal dioceses in the United States that do not ordain women as priests, diocese leaders say.

About 350 lay delegates and clergy will vote Saturday on committee recommendations during the convention at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth.

A second, final vote will be taken in November 2008, said Suzanne Gill, communications director for the Fort Worth Diocese.

Read it all.

The link is here

For the agenda and documents, see the Convention page on the diocesan Web site.