Will the Episcopal Church Survive the Year?

The Church of England newspaper made this comment in its issue of Friday, July 28:

Episcopal Church on verge of split
Number: 5830 Date: July 28
By George Conger

The Episcopal Church retreated further into ecclesiastical anarchy this week with fears mounting that the institution as it now stands will not survive the year. The latest development concerns four California bishops who have filed legal charges against a fifth — the Bishop of San Joaquin — seeking to depose him out of fear he may lead his diocese out of the Episcopal Church.

Other dioceses and parishes have already made clear their intention to quit, including the Diocese of Fort Worth in Texas, while a parish in the Diocese of San Diego has quit the Church in protest at the actions of last month’s General Convention. The largest parish in the Diocese of West Texas has warned it may quit, while the Bishop of Central New York has filed a lawsuit and is seeking an emergency injunction to gain control of a Syracuse parish’s assets for fear it may leave as well. Meanwhile the Bishop of Arkansas has given permission to his clergy to begin performing blessings of same-sex unions, so long as the blessings are pastoral and not sacramental. In the California case the Bishops of San Diego, Los Angeles, California and Northern California have charged that Bishop John-David Schofield, California’s only Forward in Faith bishop, will “abandon the communion of this Church.”

The Diocese of San Joaquin rejected the charges, saying “these allegations are neither relevant nor justified.” In April 2005, Christ Church, Kansas’ largest congregation, seceded from the Episcopal Church, purchasing its property from the diocese for $1 million, and moving under the oversight of the Church of Uganda. On July 24, the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Fort Worth, voted to withdraw “its consent … to be included in the Seventh Province of the Episcopal Church.” The American Church’s 110 dioceses are divided into nine geographical provinces. Under the constitution of the Episcopal Church, a diocese must give its consent to be included in a Province. Fort Worth’s vote this week effectively removes the diocese from the Province. Critics of Fort Worth have objected to this, arguing that while the constitution allow for a diocese to give its consent to membership in a Province, it is unclear if the diocese has the power to withdraw that consent.

Across the state in San Antonio, Texas, the rector and vestry of Christ Church — the Diocese of West Texas’ largest congregation, announced they are making plans to disassociate themselves from The Episcopal Church over the actions of the last two General Conventions, as soon as the Primates and Archbishop of Canterbury provide a way forward. In the Diocese of San Diego, St John’s Church in Fallbrook, California, voted at a parish meeting on July 17 to secede from the diocese and move under the oversight of the Church of Uganda, citing The Episcopal Church’s innovations of doctrine and discipline that put it at odds with the majority of the Anglican Communion and Christian world. The defections are likely to continue as the divisions in the Church show no sign of being healed. On July 19, Bishop Larry Maze of Arkansas controversially wrote to his clergy giving them permission to bless same-sex unions. While Bishop Maze conceded that sacramental blessings of same-sex unions violated Church law and the recommendations of the Windsor Report, a pastoral provision for blessings did not.

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So, what is going to become of us? It is really very, very sad that a handful of dissident parishes seem dead set on wrecking our church.