Bishop Ted Gulick of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky will likely serve as caretaker of a Texas diocese following the decision by that diocese’s bishop and many of its members to leave the denomination for a more conservative Anglican province.

Gulick was nominated by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church to be “provisional bishop” of the Diocese of Fort Worth. If approved at a special meeting of what remains of the Fort Worth diocese on Feb. 7, Gulick would serve until this summer while continuing to lead the Kentucky diocese.

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On Thursday, Jan 22, the Rt. Rev. Jack Iker, Bishop of Fort Worth, conducted a hearing under diocesan Canon 32 with members of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Fort Worth. Parishioners were invited to the meeting in a Jan. 12 pastoral letter. The meeting was held in the parish hall of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles because, as Bishop Iker’s letter explained, parish attorney Frank Hill had sent a letter on Dec. 31 warning the Bishop not to “trespass on All Saints’ property.”

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The crux of the problem seems to be that some have believed the continual pronouncements from TEC that parishes and dioceses cannot leave TEC, only people can. From this premise follows all the conflict in the EDFW. It is important to check the premise of any argument in order to arrive at a correct result. If the premise is wrong, the result will be wrong. Each time TEC is challenged to defend their position concerning who can leave TEC, they are silent. Their only response is that the Constitutions and Canons of TEC do not allow a diocese to leave TEC. In fact, there is nothing in the Constitutions and Canons of TEC that even address a diocese leaving TEC, let alone prohibiting such action. The rule of law is that any act that is not prohibited in the governing document is, therefore, allowed.

If the founders of PECUSA had intended to prohibit dioceses from leaving PECUSA, they could have placed such a prohibition in the Constitution and Canons of PECUSA, but they did not. In the intervening 200 years, if the Bishops and clergy and lay delegates to General Convention had desired to place such a prohibition in the Constitution and Canons of PECUSA, ECUSA, or TEC, they could have amended those documents. The have not. It not as if this has never been an issue. During the Civil War, the dioceses of the Confederate States left PECUS, and after the war, they returned to PECUSA. No question was raised about whether they could leave PECUSA. The president has clearly been established that a diocese can leave TEC. There is no issue now, except in the mind of the Presiding Bishop of her supporters, about diocese leaving TEC. So far, no court has been asked to settle this question, so that remains to be resolved, but the law appears to be on the side of the diocese in this conflict.

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A recent column claims that confusion reigns in North Texas over the status of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.

But why?

It is still centered in Fort Worth, as it has been since its inception in 1982. It is still led by Bishop Jack Iker, the elected choice of the diocese since 1993. It still holds title to its property in its corporation pursuant to state law.

But here’s what has changed. After decades of being systematically attacked for its orthodox biblical viewpoint, the diocese voted overwhelmingly (almost 80 percent to 20 percent) in November to separate from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States (TEC) led by Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori and affiliate with a different province within the Anglican Communion, the umbrella group for both.

Of course, there were some parties who didn’t agree.

Instead of respecting the conscience and vote of the majority, they organized themselves into the Steering Committee North Texas Episcopalians (the “Steering Committee”), under co-chairs Father Courtland Moore and Walt Cabe, in an attempt to take over the name of the diocese and, with it, our assets.

We wish them no harm and would welcome a peaceful realignment should they so choose.

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(ENS) Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said January 7 that she will convene a special meeting of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth convention on February 7.

Jefferts Schori will ask the convention to elect a provisional bishop for the diocese. The agenda will include the election of lay and clergy representatives for various diocesan leadership positions and adoption of a budget. It will also include approval of governance and organizational resolutions, including ones that would declare null and void certain amendments to the diocesan constitution and canons that were advocated by former diocesan leadership as a means to take the diocese out of the Episcopal Church.

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Meanwhile, the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth continues its ministry as an integral part of the Episcopal Church.

Many Episcopalians in the diocese never supported Iker’s aims. Months before Nov. 15, they began planning to reorganize and refocus the diocese ”” not to organize a new one, as Iker’s office has recently claimed ”” to carry on the work of the church. They formed the mostly lay-led Steering Committee North Texas Episcopalians, made up of representatives from the remaining Episcopal congregations.

Since Nov. 15, 15 intact and reorganizing parishes and somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 Episcopalians in North Texas, some meeting in their parish property and some in temporary space, have continued to worship and explore new and effective ways to carry out the church’s mission of reconciling the world to God and all humankind to each other through Jesus Christ.

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“Look at the language (which I have quoted above). Canon III.12.7 says by its own terms that it cannot be used in the case of any person who ‘is subject to the provisions of Canon IV.8.’ The canons in Title IV all deal with punishment for violations of the Canons. The canons in Title III, however, have to do with the ordinary life and ministry of the clergy, not with punishment.

“By first invoking Title IV against the Texas bishop, she charged him with a presentable offense. Then, however, she resorted to Title III so she could get rid of him a little sooner. That was ‘a big no-no’, as you Americans are wont to say, because by using Title III she exonerated him of the charges she had made under Title IV—without actually announcing that she had done so, and without apologizing for invoking Title IV in the first place.

Read it all (and make sure to note the interaction in the comments between A.S. Haley and Thomas Woodward).

From here:

Forward in Faith is appalled by TEC Primate Jefferts Schori’s continued attack upon Bishop Jack L Iker, a bishop of the Province of the Southern Cone. The actions of Jefferts Schori are an embarrassment to Christians and all of Anglicanism. Her actions clearly demonstrate her disregard for other provinces of the Anglican Communion and the canons of her own denomination. Clearly her statements misrepresent the facts. Bishop Iker has not renounced his orders, nor has he abandoned the Communion.

FiF is appreciative of Bishop Jack Iker’s leadership and willingness to stand for biblical truth and the faith and order of the undivided Church. Forward in Faith applauds Bishop Iker’s leadership in the Diocese of Fort Worth, in our worldwide Forward in Faith organization and in the further establishment of the Anglican Church of North America. We offer prayers of thanksgiving for Bishop Iker’s faithfulness and ask our Lord Jesus to continue to bless his ministry as a bishop for the further spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

–(The Rt. Rev.) John Fulham is Chairman, Forward in Faith International

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said December 5 that she had accepted Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker’s renunciation of his orders in the Episcopal Church.

The Presiding Bishop’s office released a one-page notification on December 5 saying Jefferts Schori had accepted Iker’s renunciation with the “advice and consent” of her advisory council. The document says that Iker made his renunciation in writing on November 24; however a spokesperson for Iker denies that such a renunciation has been made.

“I have chosen to follow this course rather than seeking consent of the House of Bishops to Bishop Iker’s deposition for abandonment of the Communion of this Church because I believe it to be a more pastoral response to Bishop Iker’s clear expression of his desire not to be a part of the Episcopal Church at this time,” the Presiding Bishop wrote in a letter to the House of Bishops. “I believe this course best expresses my hope and prayer that reconciliation in the future can be achieved by God’s love and grace.”

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Realistically, how viable is the new denomination?

Historically, in the Anglican Communion, to form a new province required four existing dioceses to organize it and put forward a constitution. We have those four dioceses in Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, [San Joaquin, Calif.; and Quincy, Ill.]. ”‚.”‚.”‚.

I think the figure they were using [Wednesday] is .”‚.”‚. 100,000 average Sunday attendance. So it’s certainly viable financially, and it’s certainly viable in terms of number of dioceses involved because there are four already existing dioceses.

What do you foresee, legally and financially, for the local congregations that want to remain in Episcopal Church? Are lawsuits likely?

The congregations in this diocese that want to remain in TEC [Episcopal Church] will have to organize a new diocese or join an already existing diocese such as our neighboring Diocese of Dallas. I have offered my assistance to help them achieve this, as has the bishop of Dallas.

I certainly hope that lawsuits over property will be avoided and that a negotiated settlement will satisfy the interests of all parties. Sadly, the TEC authorities have been all too eager to litigate in disputes like this. However, unless the local churches want to litigate against the Diocese of Fort Worth, there isn’t much that the TEC leaders can do about it. Charity and forbearance are required on both sides.

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Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori on November 21 inhibited Diocese of Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker for abandoning the communion of the Episcopal Church.

In the text of the inhibition, the Presiding Bishop wrote that “I hereby inhibit the said Bishop Iker and order that from and after 5:00 CST Friday, November 21, 2008, he cease from exercising the gifts of the ordained ministry of this Church; and pursuant to Canon IV.15, I order him from and after that time to cease all ‘Episcopal, ministerial, and canonical acts, except as relate to the administration of the temporal affairs of the Diocese of Fort Worth,’ until this Inhibition is terminated pursuant to Canon IV.9(2) or superseded by decision of the House of Bishops.”

Jefferts Schori acted the day after the Title IV Review Committee certified that Iker had abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church.

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“I treasure the splendid diversity and tolerance of the Episcopal Church and how marvelously our liturgical life knits us together,” said Prescott, an attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Fort Worth. “And I love the way we manage to combine our rich catholic heritage with an understanding that God’s revelation to us continues.”

The group, made up of worshippers formerly from St. Francis of Assisi, Willow Park; All Saints, Weatherford and Holy Apostles Church, chose the McCall Elementary School because “it is located in one of the fastest-growing areas of Texas and we do intend to reach out to the community,” said Prescott.

The Rev. John Keene, a retired priest who led the congregation’s worship, invited the congregation truly to engage all of the Bible. “When you regard the Bible, don’t ignore your queasiness or uncertainty if you run across something that puzzles you or bothers you. God has given you a mind and I ask you to use it. It’s when you start to get fundamentalist about it, that you have a problem.”

The quote from Father Keene says so much about TEC right now–define yourself negatively, say what you are not (without, of course, ever really defining the buzzword used). Read the whole thing.

“We do not agree with the innovations of the national church,” said the Rev. John Phelps, who conducts the services at St. Peters, St. Luke’s and Holy Spirit in Graham.

He said there are no changes in the services, the prayer books, the beliefs or the dedication to that which the church believes.
“It was a step taken to preserve the church,” he said.

“By voting to change our diocesan Constitution and Canons, we have withdrawn from the General Convention, dissociating ourselves from the moral, theological and disciplinary innovations of The Episcopal Church,” a letter distributed to parishioners throughout the diocese read Sunday. “We have realigned with another Province of the Anglican Communion. This is a change in affiliation, not a change in worship or doctrine. Our bishop, clergy and congregations have been received into the fellowship of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. We are deeply grateful to Archbishop Gregory Venables for this provision, which he has made on a temporary and emergency basis, in response to the crisis in The Episcopal Church. We now look forward to the formation of an Anglican Province in North America.”

Read it all.

Among the diocese’s voting clergy, 72 voted to leave the General Convention of the Episcopal Church while 19 voted against, VirtueOnline.org reports. Among the diocese’s voting lay delegates, 102 voted to leave while 25 opposed the proposal.

Similar numbers voted to join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, whose archbishop, Gregory Venables, sent a message to the diocese, saying:

“In spite of the tragic circumstances which have made your costly decision necessary we rejoice with you at the opportunity to serve God together in His ongoing and glorious mission to extend His Kingdom.”

Read it all.

[Bishop Godfrey]…Lambeth 1998 was my second Lambeth Conference. We passed Lambeth Resolution I.10 by an overwhelming margin of bishops from around the world. The Episcopal bishops from your country said they were going to ordain and marry gays anyway. Why not just tell us that they don’t care what we think? The bishops from my continent thought this behavior was appalling.

We believe we must consult each other and act more like a family. Submit to common discernment. TEC’s behavior is scandalous. Now, I suppose, Bishop Iker will be deposed by supposed adherence to canon law. Its scandalous.

Bishop Iker: Bishop Wantland, would you like to make a statement?

Bishop Wantland: Yes, I would. My father had a phrase: “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should. When in doubt, don’t.” I used that phrase all the time when I was a practicing lawyer and judge. The problem that led us to this point is not just a problem for TEC or the Anglican Communion. It is those who want to impose their will on others. It seriously concerns me that our House of Bishops has disregarded our own canons with regard to deposition.

Bishop Iker: Judy would you like to make a statement? [Judy is a member of the Standing Cmte, beginning her third year.]

Yes, I would. I want to state how hard the many members of the Standing Committee and members of the Bishop’s staff have listened to each parish in this diocese. We made a plan with the Diocese of Dallas for temporary oversight of those parishes that do not want to come with us to the Southern Cone. That plan was rejected by the national church. I feel real excitement in going forward. God is with us and will guide us. It is good to get to this point with the decision behind us. Now is the time to move forward. It may be difficult for a while. To those who choose to go another way, we will say “God Speed.” The new Province will be good, but there is sadness to it, too. It is sad to know that we tried to work with the General Convention and TEC and gotten to the point that each is traveling on two roads that do not converge. We need to be honest about that. Our differences are real and substantial.

Read the whole thing.

Our 26th annual convention has taken action to secure our future as a diocese.

During the Nov. 14 & 15 diocesan convention, your clergy and elected delegates have taken a stand as faithful members of the worldwide Anglican Communion. They have heeded the call to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” (Jude 3)

What has changed?

By voting to change our diocesan Constitution and Canons, we have withdrawn from the General Convention, dissociating ourselves from the moral, theological, and disciplinary innovations of The Episcopal Church. We have realigned with another Province of the Anglican Communion. This is a change in affiliation, not a change in worship or doctrine.

Our Bishop, clergy, and congregations have been received into the fellowship of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. We are deeply grateful to Archbishop Gregory Venables for this provision, which he has made on temporary and emergency basis, in response to the crisis in The Episcopal Church. We now look forward to the formation of an Anglican Province in North America.

Where we stand….

Read it all.

When the Diocese of Fort Worth voted Nov. 15 to become the fourth American diocese to leave The Episcopal Church, the leadership of the Common Cause Partnership (CCP) scheduled a constitutional convention in the Chicago area Dec. 3 to form a new North American Anglican province. The event will be followed by “a province-by-province visitation and appeal for recognition of the separate ecclesiastical structure in North America.”

Significant details about the plan were revealed in a short AnglicanTV internet video clip containing remarks delivered by Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh and Bishop Bill Murdoch, a missionary bishop to the U.S. consecrated by the Anglican Church of Kenya.

Read the whole thing and please take the time to view the video interview here.

The Anglo-Catholic movement in America is dead, the Rt Rev Jack Iker said following the secession of the Diocese of Fort Worth from the Episcopal Church on Nov 15.

By a margin of almost four to one, the 225 members of the Fort Worth Synod meeting at St Vincent’s Cathedral in Bedford, Texas, on Nov 14-15 passed the second readings of five constitutional amendments severing America’s last traditionalist Anglo-Catholic diocese from the Episcopal Church and adopted a motion affiliating with the Province of the Southern Cone.

Over the last 12 months three other American dioceses: San Joaquin, Pittsburgh and Quincy have quit the Episcopal Church over its innovations in doctrine and discipline to take temporary refuge in the Province of the Southern Cone, pending the formation of a Third Province in North America for traditionalist Anglicans. Fort Worth was the last diocese in the Episcopal Church, after the defection of Quincy last week and San Joaquin in 2007, to decline to license or ordain women to the priesthood.

Its departure marks the end of the traditionalist Anglo-Catholic movement in the US church Bishop Iker said. “The Anglo-Catholic branch is more than just wearing fancy vestments,” he explained. “It is the use of the Vincentian Canon;” the fifth century monk St Vincent of Lerins taught the mark of the Catholic Church was that it held a once-for-all received faith, witnessed everywhere and by all. [Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est.]

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The departure of Quincy and three other conservative dioceses raises questions about the future of the Episcopal Church. The church, led by Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, represents the U.S. branch of the 77-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion. However, leaders of the conservative breakaway dioceses are pushing for a second province in North America. Approval of an additional province by the archbishop of Canterbury would be unprecedented and pose a strong challenge to the Episcopal Church.

“You have some significant, traditionalist Episcopal dioceses that no longer feel that they have a future in the Episcopal Church. That’s a tragedy,” said Rev. Kendall Harmon, a theologian in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina. “Now, we also have a bigger group that’s trying to organize, link with the Global South and compete as Anglicans within the same territory. It will be interesting to see how the leadership of the Anglican Communion responds to this.”

Read the whole article.

“We’re delighted, we’re ecstatic, we’re so excited to move forward now,” said Cora Werley, spokeswoman for Remain Faithful, a local orthodox laity group that supported Iker’s stance. “We have an incredible gospel to spread. Now we can do it without all this hanging over us.”

Others, saying they will remain with the Episcopal Church, expressed resignation and sorrow.

“It’s certainly no surprise,” said Walter Cabe, president of the Steering Committee North Texas Episcopalians, an umbrella group of conservatives and liberals who opposed the split. “But more than ever, we have a great deal of respect for rectors and parishes who have identified themselves loyal to the Episcopal Church regardless of pressure.”

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The Fort Worth diocese amended its constitution to shift allegiance from the Episcopal Church to the Anglican Communion, its parent body. The measure passed by a vote of 72 to 19 among the clergy and 102 to 25 among the laity, at the diocese’s 26th annual convention at St. Vincent’s Cathedral in Bedford, Tex.

The diocese was welcomed Saturday into the Province of the Southern Cone, based in Argentina, but the realignment is expected to be temporary while the diocese works to establish a conservative province of the Anglican Communion in the United States, diocese leaders said.

Bishop Jack L. Iker laid blame for the split on what he described as “a church that is increasingly unfaithful and disobedient to the word of God, a church that has caused division and dissension both at home and abroad, a church that has torn the fabric of the communion at its deepest level, a church that acts more and more like a rebellious protestant sect and less and less like an integral part of the one holy catholic and apostolic church. It is time to say enough is enough.”

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Specifically we will vote against, and we urge you all to vote against, the propositions which purport to amend our diocesan constitution and canons and the resolution regarding membership in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Those of us who will remain in the Episcopal Church respectfully but profoundly disagree that passage of these propositions will in fact “remove” the Diocese itself, as well as church property in the diocese, from the Episcopal Church.
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1. The propositions are invalid because they are inconsistent with the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, such as the requirements that each diocese maintain an unqualified accession to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church and for church officials to act consistently with their fiduciary duty to the Episcopal Church, including recognition of the express trust interest of the Episcopal Church in church property.

2. The propositions violate the fundamental conditions under which the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth was created from within the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas and by which the new diocese assumed the use of and control over Episcopal Church property. These conditions include conformity with the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, as our diocesan officials expressly acknowledged in the primary convention of the diocese in 1982 and as they have judicially admitted on behalf of the Diocese in the declaratory judgment entered in 1984 and again in the Holy Apostles litigation in the mid 1990s.

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Clergy and lay delegates of the Fort Worth Episcopal Diocese, which is theologically conservative, voted overwhelmingly Saturday to leave the Episcopal Church, which is more liberal.

The vote by 219 valid delegates was nearly 80 percent in favor of leaving. The vote was taken at St. Vincent’s Episcopal Cathedral in Bedford, where a vote also is scheduled on whether to temporarily align with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, a conservative entity that includes parts of South America.

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Delegates to the 26th annual diocesan convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth voted Saturday to realign the diocese with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

With little debate or emotion, delegates voted by order, 73 votes in favor, 20 against, among clergy and 98-28 among the laity for realignment. After the vote Bishop Jack Iker read a letter from Archbishop Gregory Venables, welcoming Fort Worth into the Southern Cone.

In a statement, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said after the vote that the church “grieves the departures of a number of persons from the Diocese of Fort Worth. We remind those former Episcopalians that the door is open if they wish to return.

“We will work with Episcopalians in the Diocese of Fort Worth to elect new leadership and continue the work of the gospel in that part of Texas. The gospel work to which Jesus calls us demands the best efforts of faithful people from many theological and social perspectives, and The Episcopal Church will continue to welcome that diversity.”

Read it all.

I realize that for some of you this means that at the conclusion of this Convention, you will no longer recognize me as your Bishop and that the House of Bishops of TEC will initiate plans to depose me as a Bishop of TEC. However, it is important to understand what such an action can do and what it cannot do. I cannot be un-ordained any more than I can be un-baptized. Holy Orders, like Holy Baptism, bestows an indelible character and imparts a grace that is irrevocable. A deacon, priest or bishop who is deposed may be deprived of exercising his ordained ministry in congregations of The Episcopal Church, but he is not thereby un-ordained or removed from Holy Orders. The clergy of this Diocese were ordained not just for The Episcopal Church, but for the one holy catholic and apostolic church. We are deacons, priests and bishops of the Church of God, not an American denomination. As the Preface to the Ordination Rites says on page 510 of the Prayer Book, “The threefold ministry is not the exclusive property of this portion of Christ’s catholic Church.” I can assure you that all the clergy of this Diocese, under the authority and protection of the Province of the Southern Cone, will continue to exercise our ordained ministry as deacons, priests and bishops in good standing in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Our Province will change, but the validity of our sacred orders will remain unchanged.

I am certain that in the months ahead, leaders of TEC will move to depose not only me, but every deacon and priest here present who votes for realignment at this Convention. Sad to say, some of you here in this Convention hall will cooperate with and facilitate those plans. It is my belief that such a course of action is not only unreasonable and uncharitable, but violates our ecclesiological understanding of what the Anglican Communion claims to be. If we are a worldwide Communion of Provinces who share a common faith, practice and ministry, then it does not make sense to depose clergy who move from one Province to another. No one is abandoning the Communion of the Church by realigning with another Province. The far better way to proceed would be for TEC to accept the fact that a realignment has occurred, to recognize the transfer of this Diocese to another Province of the Anglican Communion, and to wish us well in the name of the Lord. There is something deeply disturbing about a Church that would prefer to litigate and depose rather than to negotiate a peaceful, amicable separation among brothers and sisters in Christ who can no longer walk together.

I call upon the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and her colleagues to halt the litigation, to stop the depositions, and to cease the intimidation of traditional believers. Instead, let us pursue a mediated settlement, a negotiated agreement that provides for a fair and equitable solution for all parties, and let us resist taking punitive actions against our opponents. Christians are called to work out our differences with one another, not sue one another in secular courts.

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The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth follows the California-based Diocese of San Joaquin as well as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Quincy, Illinois, in disassociating itself from the Episcopal Church.

IRD Religious Liberty Director Faith J.H. McDonnell commented:

“Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has stated that the worst is behind the denomination. Saying so ignores the continued departure of parishes, and even more so, the decline in Sunday attendance.

“Suing four different dioceses simultaneously is going to be the least of Jefferts Schori’s problems if Episcopalians continue to die off, stop going to church or leave for more vibrant communities of worship.

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The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, is expected today to become the fourth theologically conservative diocese to break away from the national Episcopal Church, part of a long-running dispute between conservatives and liberals.

The debate among the 2.2 million members of the U.S. Episcopal Church has raged over issues ranging from interpretations of the Bible to ordination of gay priests and blessing of same-sex unions.

The vote will be held today during Fort Worth’s 26th annual diocesan convention. It is expected that 80 percent of the delegates will vote to leave, reflecting a vote held last year, part of a long “discernment” process, Bishop Jack Iker explained.

Read it all.

Lanette Carpenter can’t say enough about the people of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Hurst, especially choir members she has sung with for years.

“They’ve walked with me through the best and worst times of my life,” she said.

But the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, including St. Stephen’s, is to break officially from the Episcopal Church today, becoming the fourth diocese in the nation to leave since last year over such issues as the ordination of female priests and the acceptance of an openly gay bishop.

Though Ms. Carpenter doesn’t agree with everything the Episcopal Church does, she loves it, and doesn’t want to leave.

So on Sunday, she and other Episcopal Church loyalists from St. Stephen’s plan to hold services at a local women’s club.

“It’s like a man and woman getting a divorce, and now they have to have two households,” she said. “It saddens me greatly.”

Read it all. This is not mainly over “social” issues, but theological ones, the nature, authority and intepretation of the Bible, how the church makes decisions, marriage, Christology and yes, even soteriology, the nature and means of salvation.