San Joaquin Episcopalians place their future in context of healing
Episcopal News Service, Stockton, California. March 29, 2008 [032908-01]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The reorganization of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin officially began on the evening of March 28 in a church partially illuminated by the Paschal Candle.
Officiant Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, began the service at the Episcopal Church of St. Anne in Stockton, California, with the Easter acclamation: "Alleluia, Christ is risen." After the Prayer for Light and the rest of the candles were lit, she and the congregation recited the three Easter Lucernaria, or anthems.
The service was based The Book of Common Prayer's Order of Worship for the Evening.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori led the congregation of about 300 in the Litany for Healing, praying in part that God would "heal our wounds received at the hands of our friends, our fellow parishioners, and the clergy of this diocese, and help us to know the joy of your saving help."
The litany also included a prayer that God would "remove the darkness of our anxiety and despair over what has been done in our parishes and in our diocese, and let us see the glories of new possibilities, new friendships, and new ways of serving you." And the litany included the prayer that God would help the people of the diocese to know that God is always present "guiding us to Easter hope and resurrected life."
Following the litany, Jefferts Schori anointed Anderson and six priests with healing oil. They in turn anointed members of the congregation at stations throughout the church, praying over people for just more than 10 minutes.
The Presiding Bishop pronounced the Easter blessing and the service concluded with the Peace.
Question-and-answer session follows service
Jefferts Schori, Anderson and Bishop Jerry Lamb -- whom the Presiding Bishop has recommended to become San Joaquin's provisional bishop -- spent 45 minutes after the service answered questions from the congregation.
Asked how members of the diocese can go about the work of reconciliation, Lamb said there will need to be many more opportunities such as the March 28 gathering "to see each other on a very real face-to-face basis." He also said that he suspects there are many people in the diocese who are "feeling very much on the edge" and need to know that there will be safe and supportive places for them in the reorganized diocese.
One questioner asked about criticism of the way Jefferts Schori articulates her belief in Jesus Christ as savior.
"Do you believe Jesus died for the whole world?" she asked the questioner in reply.
"Yes, m'am," the woman replied.
"So do I," said Jefferts Schori. "If I can say with you that Jesus died for the whole world, then I think the mechanism [of salvation] is up to God."
God wants to be in relationship with all human beings, she said. "I am not too worried about how God does that," she added.
In response to a question about the status of church property in the diocese, Jefferts Schori said that one of the first tasks of the diocese's new leadership will be "to recover the corporate sole" of the diocese. This process will involve removing control of the property from deposed San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield.
"We believe since John-David Schofield has been deposed, he has no right to claim the property of the diocese as the corporate sole," she said.
The Presiding Bishop said that the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church say that parish and diocesan property is held in trust for the entire church. "We believe those properties are a legacy" given by generations of Episcopalians for the use of generations yet to come, she said.
"We don't have the fiduciary or moral responsibility to simply walk away," Jefferts Schori told the audience. "They're meant for mission and we'll do what we can to recover them."
Answering a question about reports of problems with the March 12 consent by the House of Bishops to her request for authority to depose or remove Schofield from his diocesan position, Jefferts Schori said that the vote was conducted in the same way that other such deposition requests have been done.
While the applicable canon (Canon IV.9.2) may have "varieties of interpretation," the Presiding Bishop said that her chancellor and the House's parliamentarian ruled that the canon called for approval by the majority of those bishops present at the meeting. She added that the canon does not allow for a poll by mail of all bishops eligible to vote, as some have suggested ought to have been done.
"We believe that we did the right thing," she said, adding that the consent came from "a clear majority of those present."
When asked whether the House of Bishops will strengthen itself to deal with bishops who mistreat their dioceses, Jefferts Schori, reminding the audience of the Episcopal Church's governance structure, said such discipline is "not technically the responsibility of the House of Bishops."
The House can challenge the conduct of a member, she said, but "the ability to impose sanctions is quite limited, and when a bishop does not participate in the House of Bishops, it's even more difficult."
Schofield has not regularly attended House of Bishops meetings in recent years.
Jefferts Schori said that the fact that the Episcopal Church is made up of "relatively autonomous dioceses in relationship with each other through General Convention" means that discipline in part "depends on people being able to call each other to account," as opposed to having one person able to impose penalties.
The Presiding Bishop predicted that the next meeting of General Convention in July 2009 would be asked to consider ways to change the canons to better deal with such disciplinary matters. Anderson reminded the audience that General Convention deputies, such as those due to be elected by the San Joaquin diocese on March 29, can propose resolutions calling for such changes.
"If you have ideas about canonical changes, you have the authority through your deputies to bring them to General Convention," Anderson said.
Jefferts Schori and Anderson told the audience that the lessons which Episcopalians in San Joaquin have learned can be of help to their counterparts in other conflicted dioceses.
"There's a tremendous amount of wisdom that can be passed along to lay people and clergy in those other disaffected dioceses," Anderson said.
"And we firmly hope they are watching," Jefferts Schori added.
Special convention set to reorganize diocese
Delegates from 17 Episcopal congregations will gather March 29 at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Lodi for a special one-day convention. Unofficial representatives from as many as 20 other congregations are expected to participate.
Delegates will be asked to consent to the Presiding Bishop's recommendation of Lamb as provisional bishop of the diocese.
That request will come in consultation with the Presiding Bishop in accordance with Canon III.13.1, which states in part that "a Diocese without a Bishop may, by an act of its Convention, and in consultation with the Presiding Bishop, be placed under the provisional charge and authority of a Bishop of another Diocese or of a resigned Bishop."
Lamb, 67, is expected to be seated as the provisional bishop during a celebration of Holy Eucharist which will follow the close of the convention. He anticipates serving the diocese three-quarter time for a minimum of 18 months while the diocese searches for and elects a diocesan bishop.
Episcopalians have been at work to reconstitute the Diocese of San Joaquin since the diocesan convention on December 8 when clergy and lay deputies took a vote purporting to realign the diocese with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. The convention also effectively removed all references to the Episcopal Church from its constitution so as to describe the diocese as "a constituent member of the Anglican Communion and in full communion with the See of Canterbury."