Schism

So the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin (in California) has seceded (due to all that nassssty gay stuff)  from the Episcopal Church, instead choosing to be aligned under the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone (don’t look at me — I didn’t name it).  More properly (though this isn’t how they see it, of course) the bishop and clergy (except for those who choose to opt-out, which is a strange way of framing it)  have decided to quit the Episcopal Church and be ruled out of a different Anglican province.  The diocese isn’t going anywhere — the folks in the diocese are. 

That it was one of those fly-by-night actions is clear (to me) insofar as they waited until the Diocesan Convention to finalize a change to their diocesan constitution to remove references to TEC from it — and then immediately (before the Episcopal SWAT teams could kick in the door, one imagines) voted  to add a new canon that accepted an invitation from the Southern Cone to join their club.

So … what does this all mean?

From the Episcopal standpoint, it means the bishop of San Joaquin will be charged with abandonment by the Episcopal Church (at which charges he will either laugh or claim persecution).  Once that paperwork is all filed and processed, then the TEC will rule the diocese vacant and arrange for a new bishop — under which any Episcopal loyalists will be associated.  (With any luck, it will be someone willing to ordain women, fergoshsakes …)

The big question, of course, is (duh-duh-DUUUUUH) property.  Expect lawsuits and the like to ensue, as TEC claims that diocesan property belongs to the national church, and the schismatics say nuh-uh. While these sorts of legal wranglings are a scandal (even for the “right” side), at least it’s better than the olden days, when such matters were settled by armies marching in and tossing the losing side in the dungeon.

San Joaquin is the first, but by no means the last, diocese that will go this route.  Pittsburgh and Ft Worth are waiting in the wings, among others, waiting to follow the right forms to do the (IMO) wrong things.  Meanwhile, sadly, there are still poor to feed, sick to comfort, etc., none of whom seem to get either the press or the attention of the folks bickering over (eek!) homosexuality and the church.

More info here.

Ironically, I was in Ft Worth only a few weeks ago, and this week will be driving very close to the San Joaquin diocese.  I hope I don’t get Schism Cooties.  Also ironically, I’m actually doing edits on the Wikipedia pages about this, since folks don’t seem willing or able to get their links right.  Yeesh.