SAN JOAQUIN: Diocese invited to join Anglican Church of the Southern Cone
Episcopal News Service. November 16, 2007 [111607-07]
Matthew Davies
The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin announced November 16 that the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone has "extended an invitation to offer the diocese membership on an emergency and pastoral basis."
The announcement comes three weeks before the diocese is scheduled hear the second and final reading of constitutional changes that would delete all references to the Episcopal Church and state that the diocese is "a constituent member of the Anglican Communion and in full communion with the See of Canterbury."
The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth has received a similar invitation from the Southern Cone and will vote on its affiliation during its November 16-17 convention.
San Joaquin Bishop John-David M. Schofield has welcomed Southern Cone's invitation, saying that it "assures the Diocese's place in the Anglican Communion and full communion with the See of Canterbury."
Schofield has requested that a pastoral letter be read in churches throughout the diocese on Sunday, November 18, outlining the plan to secede from the Episcopal Church and align with the Southern Cone province, which is led by British ex-pat, Archbishop Gregory Venables.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has made public two letters calling on the bishops of Pittsburgh and Fort Worth, both of whom are actively seeking to withdraw their dioceses from the Episcopal Church, to reconsider their intentions. A similar letter is expected to be sent to Schofield before San Joaquin's convention commences.
The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh November 2 gave the first of two approvals needed to enact similar constitutional changes to those proposed in San Joaquin, and the Diocese of Fort Worth will hear the first of two readings at its November 16-17 convention. Delegates of the Peoria, Illinois-based Episcopal Diocese of Quincy decided October 21 to remain part of the Episcopal Church for the time being while they wait "to see what actions other dioceses take at their annual gatherings."
If the constitutional changes go forward, the Presiding Bishop could ask the Episcopal Church's Title IV Review Committee to consider whether the diocesan bishops who have proposed and supported these changes have abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church. If the committee agreed that abandonment had taken place, the bishops would have two months to recant before the matter went to the full House of Bishops. If the House concurred, the Presiding Bishop could depose the bishops and declare the episcopates of those dioceses vacant. There is no appeal and no right of formal trial outside of a hearing before the House of Bishops.
Members of congregations remaining in the Episcopal Church would be gathered to organize a new diocesan convention and elect a replacement Standing Committee, if necessary. An assisting bishop would be appointed until a search process could be initiated and a new bishop elected and consecrated. A lawsuit could be filed against the departed leadership and a representative sample of departing congregations if they attempted to retain Episcopal Church property.
The 2007-2009 Title IV Review Committee consists of Bishop Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina (president), Bishop Suffragan Bavi E. Rivera of Olympia, Bishop Suffragan David C. Jones of Virginia, Bishop C. Wallis Ohl Jr. of Northwest Texas, the Rev. Carolyn Kuhr of Montana, the Very Rev. Scott Kirby of Eau Claire, J.P. Causey Jr. of Virginia and Deborah J. Stokes of Southern Ohio.