Posted on 11/25/2006 6:05:57 PM PST by sionnsar
The ripple effects of the American Episcopal Church having ordained an openly gay bishop three years ago continue, and the Diocese of San Joaquin could decide next weekend whether to split from the church because of it.
The bishop of the Fresno-based diocese, John-David Schofield, will introduce amendments to the diocesan constitution at its convention next weekend calling for such a split.
He will call for the organization of more than 50 parishes from Lodi to Bakersfield and eastward to Nevada to become affiliated with the parent church in England instead of the American church.
But the national office of the Episcopal Church says such a move is not allowed.
“It’s not realistic at all. They want something that doesn’t exist,” said Jan Nunley, a spokeswoman for the Episcopal Church.
Schofield sent a letter to members of the diocese earlier this month in which he called the church heretical for its willingness to ordain gay clergy. The England-based Anglican Communion asked the Episcopal National Convention to stop ordaining gay clergy, which the American church has not done.
The diocesan office did not return calls seeking comment, and Schofield has denied repeated requests for interviews from The Record .
Read it all and there is another article there.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. K, I don't disagree with your concluding statement -- but as a cradle Anglican I will say that for such as us cutting ties with the world-wide Anglican Communion can be a very difficult thing to do. Couple that with the generally slow pace of matters Anglican, well... this is our Entish disadvantage.
I am unaware of *any* PECUSA/ECUSA/TEC/whatever-they-are-today dioceses having broken with "815" (New York, TEC); there has been talk but no action -- though individual parishes have left, and I know others are preparing to do so.
There are those of us Continuing Anglicans who are not in any way whatsoever in communion with the heretics of 815. We might also be considered also the un-Entish/Anglican hasty ones, but for us enough was enough.
However, on the ECUSA/TEC diocesan level San Joaquin is breaking the ground in this direction. And I will also say I've known +Schofield for a couple of decades and more; he may make a dramatic stand if he really has to, but otherwise "showboating" is simply not his style.
K, I would just like to remind you that our tangled history is the reason we Anglicans are slow to respond, by the assessments of others. I could wish we had the quick trigger fingers of the Orthodox -- but we don't. We'd shoot too many of our own if we did.
This thing is playing its way out, and I suspect there will be enough action in short order to satisfy everyone's interest (even the Orthodox *\;-) -- stay tuned!
I have come to believe that Bishop John-David is a truly great Christian. I now pray for him daily. He bears his sufferings as a witness to Christ. I am deeply convicted to pray for him and his flock.
"K, if you take a look at my blog you'll see I am in no mood for sarcasm: in our parish we buried a saint yesterday, the second such I've known (in my estimation) in my lifetime."
May his memory be eternal! By the way, I was kidding, s. I enjoy your gentle sarcasm!
"I am unaware of *any* PECUSA/ECUSA/TEC/whatever-they-are-today dioceses having broken with "815" (New York, TEC); there has been talk but no action -- though individual parishes have left, and I know others are preparing to do so."
I meant foreign dioceses or national churches.
"I could wish we had the quick trigger fingers of the Orthodox -- but we don't. We'd shoot too many of our own if we did."
Ah, well you should try it. We have a long history of hurling anathemas and sometimes a little communion breaking is good for the Body, like a good purgative.
"This thing is playing its way out, and I suspect there will be enough action in short order to satisfy everyone's interest (even the Orthodox *\;-) -- stay tuned!"
Well I hope so. We do worry about the Anglicans. As I have observed before, Anglicans are certainly, at base, the most "Orthodox" in mentality of all Westerners. Its almost as if we have a family stake in what happens.
Ah. That is a different matter, then. The tearing apart is clearly underway, though it's proceeding much more slowly than anyone could have guessed.
One thing that's hard to foresee is just where it's going. I see an increasing likelihood of the end of the "Elizabethan Compromise" -- of the permanent separation of the Anglo-catholic from the Evangelical wings. Even the one attempt to re-join the two elements outside ECUSA, the merger of the APA and the REC, is apparently stalled and going nowhere.
The Anglo-catholics outside are not likely to try to re-join the wwAC, particularly if the Evangelicals are predominant (as they will be if +Sentamu becomes AoC). There might be a shift towards Orthodoxy among those groups.
"I could wish we had the quick trigger fingers of the Orthodox -- but we don't. We'd shoot too many of our own if we did."
Ah, well you should try it. We have a long history of hurling anathemas and sometimes a little communion breaking is good for the Body, like a good purgative.
It's still too risky for Anglicans; as noted separations can be extremely difficult to impossible to end. Even out in the Continuing world there have been but few mergers -- though talks go on, I am told.
"This thing is playing its way out, and I suspect there will be enough action in short order to satisfy everyone's interest (even the Orthodox *\;-) -- stay tuned!"
Well I hope so. We do worry about the Anglicans. As I have observed before, Anglicans are certainly, at base, the most "Orthodox" in mentality of all Westerners. Its almost as if we have a family stake in what happens.
Thank you, and keep praying.
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