A Woodbridge church has voted to pull out of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church USA in part over issues involving gay people.
The 200-member Christ Our Lord Church is the third Northern Virginia Episcopal church to withdraw from the diocese and affiliate with the Anglican Province of Uganda. South Riding Church in Loudoun County left the diocese in November 2005, and the Church of the Holy Spirit, also in Loudoun County, left in February.
Two other Northern Virginia Episcopal churches are winding up a 40-day discernment period and soon will decide whether to leave the denomination. They are Truro in Fairfax and Falls Church in Falls Church.
Conservative Episcopal congregations have been upset with their denomination since the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop by the national church. Another factor is the election this summer of the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, bishop of Nevada who has supported the blessing of same-sex unions in Nevada, as the church’s next presiding bishop. She is the first woman to hold the church’s top office and is considered progressive by conservative congregations.
The Christ Our Lord congregation voted Oct. 15 to leave the Episcopal Church and also to relinquish its property to the Diocese of Virginia. In the Episcopal Church, all property and buildings are owned by a diocese, according to a news re- lease from the church. The exact vote was not available.
“Our members are choosing to stay an active and faithful part of the worldwide Anglican Communion because the Episcopal Church has abandoned us,” said the Rev. George Beaven, vicar of the church. He has submitted his resignation and announced his retirement from the Episcopal Church. He will pastor the new Christ Our Lord Anglican Church, which will hold Sunday services at 10 a.m. at the Woodbridge Seventh-day Adventist Church.