Anglicans who left the Episcopal Church in California’s San Joaquin Valley to reject [partnered] homosexual clergy are waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Will they lose the churches where they worship as a result of their split with the national church and Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin? The answer could come any day over the next two months.
The stakes are high after more than 40 churches from Lodi to Bakersfield and from the coast to the Nevada border left the Fresno, Calif.-based diocese. They joined the Anglicans because of differences with the national Episcopal body over same-sex blessings, the ordination of a gay bishop and the authority of Scripture.
It occurs to me to ask: if TEC were to corporately merge with another body, say the ELCA, and become a new entity with a new name, what would it do to the argument that buildings, trusts, etc, were intended for the sole use of “the Episcopal Church”?