Posted on 12/08/2007 4:08:01 PM PST by Zakeet
FRESNO, California (Reuters) - An entire California diocese of the U.S. Episcopal Church voted to secede on Saturday in a historic split after years of disagreement over the church's expanding support for gay and women's rights.
Clergy and lay representatives of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno in central California, voted to leave the church, which has been in turmoil since 2003 when U.S. Episcopalians consecrated their first openly gay bishop.
"We've seen a miracle here today," Bishop John-David Schofield said after the vote. "We are already outside the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church."
The head of the U.S. Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, said the church had received word of the decision "with sadness."
"We deeply regret their unwillingness or inability to live within the historical Anglican understanding of comprehensiveness," she said in a statement.
There are about 2.4 million members of the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the 77-million-member global Anglican Communion, as the worldwide church is called.
Delegates voted 173-22 for secession, far more than the two-thirds majority needed.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Bishop John-David Schofield (center) speaks to reporters after his diocese
voted to secede from the U.S. Episcopal Church in Fresno, California
December 8, 2007. An entire California diocese of the U.S. Episcopal
Church voted to secede on Saturday in a historic split following years of
disagreement over the church's expanding support for gay and women's rights.
I find it amazing that the folks in California got fed up with the garbage. :)
OTH, the Catholic church does not promote homosexuality but has an ongoing problem with homo priests.
This is above my paygrade.
Anglican ping
Diocese breaks with Episcopal Church in rift over role of gays in the church
Breaking: Diocese of San Joaquin votes to leave Episcopal Church, Join Southern Cone
Reuters wordsmiths at work again.....its not about gay and woman's rights. Its about sanctioning gay marriage & rostering gay pastors. As far as the women's rights reference goes - I don't see its connection to this dioceses opposition to the church's effort to eliminate any reference to God in the masculine in all literature.
It would never happen in Coastal California. Inland California ( with certain exceptions) is still part of America. Those of us on the coast live under the domination of the lunatic fringe.
Two questions; does the Protestant Bible use to Book Of Leviticus? And if it does, isn't this issue spelled out there rather plainly?
Bishop Tinkerbell was unavailable for comment, as he was busy at a truck stop.
(..and the only reason I am trying to joke about it is so I do not vomit. This WAS my church, long ago, and I miss it.)
Everyone has their limits. Sounds like they reached theirs.
Of course, both the King James and NEB did not expunge it!
Nor did they expunge the heavy admonition not to do so at the very end, either.
The argument I heard advanced (And I am not offering to argue, or anything) is that the Old Law was fulfilled. Fulfilled, maybe, but not deleted.
Does this mean the church loses it’s property—buildings, etc.?
An entire California diocese of the U.S. Episcopal Church voted to secede on Saturday in a historic split after years of disagreement over the church’s expanding support for gay and women’s rights.
__________________________________________________________
It is not a womens right to murder her unborn child.
No, it is a disagreement about the authority of Scripture and Tradition and the redefinition of sin as not being sin.
All of the churches, property and cathedrals that the Episcopal church manages to keep will not help them one iota to gain access to heaven.
Think a minute. WHY would the liberal media want to attack the Episcopalians, who support every single liberal cause you ever heard of, including 'gay rights', New Age paganism, the UN, 'peace activism', etc. etc.?
On the other hand, WHY would the liberal media NOT want to attack the Catholic Church? It is the last large organized body opposing the homosexual agenda, abortion, lib/rad feminism, and other causes dear to the liberals' hearts.
There's your motive.
Here are the facts:
1. The Catholic problem is mostly in the past. The overwhelming majority of the incidents took place in the 60s and 70s, fewer in the 80s, almost none in the 90s and beyond. The Vatican (which has traditionally been reluctant to interfere within a bishop's jurisdiction, especially in the U.S.) got involved directly -- the worst offending bishops (with the exception of a couple who are well entrenched and are going to be difficult to dislodge) were removed or kicked upstairs. Most bishops also cleaned house -- there were two offenders in this diocese in the late 70s, and the diocese lowered the boom on them both. One was sent to a remote monastery where he died of a heart attack, one went to prison and was laicized. The Church is taking this very seriously - the problem is not "ongoing" as you state.
2. I used to be an Episcopalian, and I can tell you there is a serious problem with homosexual priests hitting on parishioners, especially underage ones. BOTH male and female. There have been some big insurance payouts.
But you will never hear a whisper from the liberal newsies about the actually ongoing problem in the Episcopal Church, while the Catholics have done a pretty thorough housecleaning and have called in an outside investigation firm to audit their efforts.
As a matter of fact, according to the United States Supreme Court, it is.
I think the problem is the culture at large is rotting from within (since this sort of thing isn’t limited to just religious instituions, e.g. the epidemic of school teacher abuse as well.) We live in sad and desperate times.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.