P
Patriot Games
Guest
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,322349,00.html
Episcopal Church Suspends Calif. Bishop for Pushing Secession
Saturday, January 12, 2008
FRESNO, California - The Episcopal Church banned a California bishop from
practicing his religious duties until March after he led his congregants to
secede from the national church.
Bishop John-David Schofield drew sharp criticism from the U.S.-based
denomination when he urged his conservative diocese to sever its ties to the
church last month in a fight over the Bible and homosexuality.
Clergy and lay members of the Diocese of San Joaquin became the first full
diocese to break from the U.S. wing of the 77 million-member worldwide
Anglican family when they voted to secede Dec. 6.
Schofield cannot give sermons, do confirmations or perform any religious
rites until the national denomination's leaders meet to determine a final
judgment by March 13, the Rev. Canon Charles Robertson, canon to Presiding
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, said Friday.
"He was aware of the consequences of his action, warned repeatedly, and
there comes a time when it is important for the church to hold its own
leadership accountable," Robertson said.
"This allows him time to recant and to steer off this course," he said.
The bishop gave no signs of changing direction in a statement issued late
Friday by the diocese.
"It is the primary duty of bishops to guard the faith and Bishop Schofield
has been continually discriminated against for having done so," the
statement read. "How is it that over 60 million Anglicans worldwide can be
wrong and a few hundred thousand in the American Church can claim to be
right?"
Despite the secession vote, the national church considers the diocese and
its property to still be a part of the U.S. denomination, a claim Fresno
leaders reject.
"The holdings of the diocese are still holdings of the diocese unless the
court rules something differently," said the Rev. Van McCalister, a diocesan
spokesman, in an interview Thursday. "There isn't any law to deal with this
because nobody foresaw that such a thing would happen."
The San Joaquin diocese's decision to affiliate with the like-minded
Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
will likely kick off a legal brawl over the diocese's multimillion dollar
estate.
The Fresno-based congregation had explored breaking ties with the American
church since 2003, the year Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay
bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Schofield and other conservatives believe Scripture bars same-sex
relationships, and the Fresno bishop counseled his flock that they risked
moral decay by staying within the church.
The diocese serves about 8,500 parishioners in 47 congregations in central
California.
Episcopal Church Suspends Calif. Bishop for Pushing Secession
Saturday, January 12, 2008
FRESNO, California - The Episcopal Church banned a California bishop from
practicing his religious duties until March after he led his congregants to
secede from the national church.
Bishop John-David Schofield drew sharp criticism from the U.S.-based
denomination when he urged his conservative diocese to sever its ties to the
church last month in a fight over the Bible and homosexuality.
Clergy and lay members of the Diocese of San Joaquin became the first full
diocese to break from the U.S. wing of the 77 million-member worldwide
Anglican family when they voted to secede Dec. 6.
Schofield cannot give sermons, do confirmations or perform any religious
rites until the national denomination's leaders meet to determine a final
judgment by March 13, the Rev. Canon Charles Robertson, canon to Presiding
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, said Friday.
"He was aware of the consequences of his action, warned repeatedly, and
there comes a time when it is important for the church to hold its own
leadership accountable," Robertson said.
"This allows him time to recant and to steer off this course," he said.
The bishop gave no signs of changing direction in a statement issued late
Friday by the diocese.
"It is the primary duty of bishops to guard the faith and Bishop Schofield
has been continually discriminated against for having done so," the
statement read. "How is it that over 60 million Anglicans worldwide can be
wrong and a few hundred thousand in the American Church can claim to be
right?"
Despite the secession vote, the national church considers the diocese and
its property to still be a part of the U.S. denomination, a claim Fresno
leaders reject.
"The holdings of the diocese are still holdings of the diocese unless the
court rules something differently," said the Rev. Van McCalister, a diocesan
spokesman, in an interview Thursday. "There isn't any law to deal with this
because nobody foresaw that such a thing would happen."
The San Joaquin diocese's decision to affiliate with the like-minded
Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
will likely kick off a legal brawl over the diocese's multimillion dollar
estate.
The Fresno-based congregation had explored breaking ties with the American
church since 2003, the year Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay
bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Schofield and other conservatives believe Scripture bars same-sex
relationships, and the Fresno bishop counseled his flock that they risked
moral decay by staying within the church.
The diocese serves about 8,500 parishioners in 47 congregations in central
California.