The Living Church has a report by Timothy Roberts describing the events which took place over the weekend as the Episcopal Church took action to reconstitute the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. (We have other reports here.)
The article in the Living Church points out that the actions that were taken by the Episcopal Church in this situation are possibly going to serve as a model to be used in other similar situations:
“About 500 people from 18 congregations gathered at St. John the Baptist Church in Lodi, Calif., March 29 to declare themselves the representatives of The Episcopal Church in California’s Central Valley and to elect a provisional bishop.
Delegates were certified from 17 congregations previously belonging to the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin and one new mission congregation; 42 former Episcopal congregations had no delegates certified.
The action by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the remaining parishioners could become a model for dealing with breakaway dioceses, Bishop Jefferts Schori told TLC during a break in the convention.
‘This is the first time this has happened, but it could become a pattern for other places,’ she said.
The convention voted unanimously by voice vote to reverse the actions taken by delegates to the annual convention last December that made the Diocese of San Joaquin the first entire diocese to leave The Episcopal Church in its 219-year history. In December, delegates voted overwhelmingly to affiliate with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone which has its metropolitan headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina.”
Read the rest of the Living Church article here.