2008 - The Year of Exodus for Episcopalians

To date, The Episcopal Church has spent nearly $2 million in legal fees fighting for properties from Virginia to California.

NEW YORK, N.Y. (Virtue on Line) - The skeletal remains of four Episcopal dioceses are vigorously working to reconstitute themselves and to rebuild the infrastructure of their former dioceses following the departure of the majority of the parishes to the Province of the Southern Cone.

The Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, has appointed the Venerable Richard Cluett as pastoral assistant to reorganize the dioceses.A vastly downsized Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh launched its reorganization this week calling a retired bishop from North Carolina to serve as its interim leader, according to newspaper reports.

The Rt. Rev. Robert Hodges Johnson, the retired Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina, has accepted the diocese's call to serve as Assisting Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. This is the second time since his retirement in 2004 that Johnson has stepped in to lead another diocese.

In early 2006, Johnson served as Interim Bishop to help settle a period of upheaval in the Diocese of Southern Virginia. He will now serve as assisting bishop to the newly reconstituted diocese through July 2009.

The Rev. James B. Simons, president of the Standing Committee made the announcement during his speech at a special convention attended by representatives from 28 parishes in order to reorganize, ordain a new priest and elect new leadership.

"Bishop Johnson will help us begin the healing we so badly need," Simons told the convention that gathered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon. Johnson, who was not on hand for the convention, will reside in Pittsburgh two weeks a month.

Simons said the assisting bishop will help rebuild the infrastructure of the diocese, handle administrative tasks and be available for confirmations and other sacramental ministries. The reorganization follows a deep split, in October, that saw more than two-thirds of the parishes in the Pittsburgh diocese vote to leave the national church body and realign themselves with the orthodox Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

Delegates who opted to stay with the Episcopal Church adopted a new budget of $798,198, about 40 percent of the $2.11 million the diocese had budgeted for 2008 before the spilt. The new budget includes a $250,000 line item for litigation costs. But church leaders insist that the money is a contingency and no decision to pursue court action has been made.

Most of the reductions came from shifting to part-time employees and contractual services along with other cuts in the diocese's administrative operation. Despite those reductions, church officials say support for congregations and missions remains a priority and are maintained at 85 percent of the total the larger diocese budgeted last year. Simons, who is rector of St. Michael's of the Valley, Ligonier, called on delegates to move forward.

"It is time to stop casting stones: It is time to realize with humility that we are all sinners saved by the grace of God, that judgment is not ours to render, and that we would do well to drop the stones we now hold and instead open our hands to each other. We need to start gathering a different kind of stones. Stones that will enable us to rebuild what is in disrepair," he said.

DIOCESE OF QUINCY

In the Diocese of Quincy clergy voted 41 in favor with 14 against to leave the Episcopal Church. In the lay order, the vote was 54 to 12. On the resolution to join the Southern Cone, clergy voted 46 to 4 in favor. Lay deputies voted 55 to 8 to approve the resolution.

However, members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Peoria voted on December 4 not be "realigned" or "removed" to the Anglican province of the Southern Cone in a 181 to 35 vote.

The Very Rev. Bob Dedmon, Dean of the continuing Episcopal parish of St. Paul's said after the parish vote, "This vote demonstrates that when people have an opportunity to study the facts they realize that the information disseminated by the ultra-conservative leadership of the Diocese was misleading. Now this parish must get on with our Christian mission and ministry."

Dedmon spoke against realigning with the Southern Cone at the November synod meeting. He said that voting to break away from a parent body is the formal definition of schism and that "historically schism begets more schism."

An Executive Committee was elected to carry out the business of the Steering Committee, particularly to organize a Special Synod to reform an Episcopal diocese in the Quincy area.

Those elected are: The Very Reverend Bob Dedmon - Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral and a former Member of the Standing Committee; The Very Rev. Dr. Canon Laurence Larson - retired Rector, Trinity Church, Rock Island; The Rev Canon John Blossom - priest in charge of Bread of Life, a recent church plant in the diocese; Tom Ewing Esq - St. James, Lewistown, attorney; Kathy Leson - Bread of Life, former Cathedral Chapter member and Synod delegate; Michael Renner - St. Paul's Cathedral Chapter Member and former Treasurer of The Diocese of Quincy; Tobyn Leigh - St. George's Church, Macomb, vestry member.

Two missions of the Diocese of Quincy are also considering staying with the Episcopal Church. They are St. James' Church, Lewistown, and St. James' Church, Griggsville.

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Following the resignation of Quincy Bishop Keith Ackerman, the synod convened without a sitting bishop. The Rev. Canon Edward den Blaauwen, rector of Christ Church, Moline, and a member of the Standing Committee, was appointed to preside at Synod's business meetings.

Bishop Ackerman fully supported those who realigned with the Province of the Southern Cone and are moving forward, as part of the Common Cause Partnership, to build a united, orthodox Anglican province here in the US and Canada. "The new Province I have long supported is now becoming a reality but there are still churches in The Episcopal Church who need care from orthodox bishops," said Bishop Ackerman.

At the opening session of the synod on November 7, Ackerman ceremonially "passed the gavel" to den Blaauwen. Following the votes to realign, a letter was read from Archbishop Gregory Venables, primate of the Southern Cone, appointing den Blaauwen as Vicar General of the new diocesan unit, in the absence of a sitting bishop.

THE DIOCESE OF FT. WORTH

In November, clergy and lay delegates to the 26th diocesan convention of the Diocese of Ft. Worth voted overwhelmingly to leave The Episcopal Church. Clergy voted by orders, 73 for and 18 against. In lay orders, it was 101 for, 26 against. The diocese also made changes to the Canons and Constitutions, and voted to withdraw from General Convention and recognize a new Anglican identity. They then voted to join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

Not everyone was happy with this decision. A group calling themselves The Steering Committee of North Texas Episcopalians, representing about seven groups and an estimated 8,000 communicants from among at least 17 of the diocese's 56 congregations, said they intend to remain aligned with the Episcopal Church.

However, Bishop Iker insisted that any decision to remain could not be made solely by the clergy and that 66% of the congregation would have to vote to leave. Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori said Bishop Iker renounced his orders, which Iker flat out denied. This diocese has elected to become a member of the new Anglican Province of North America.

One objector to leaving TEC, Dr. John Burk of All Saints Episcopal Church in Ft. Worth, the second largest parish in the diocese, said that the propositions are invalid because they are inconsistent with the constitution and canons of The Episcopal Church. "The propositions would violate the interests of generations of Episcopalians who, long before this diocese existed, sacrificed to contribute time, talent, and treasure to build up the body of Christ through the ministry of Episcopal Church, not some other church, in this area."

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Iker concluded that "If something is morally wrong, it is morally wrong in Canada, New Hampshire, Kansas or Texas. The canonical changes speak for themselves. Nothing in our canons says we cannot separate from TEC."

More recently, the Rev. Christopher Jambor, rector of All Saints' Episcopal Church, announced the establishment of the All Saints' Pastoral Center. The center is a response to the concern for isolated and/or estranged Episcopalians throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth who have pastoral/sacramental needs. The Pastoral Center will be a central contact point for those with sacramental needs -- funerals, baptisms, eucharists, etc. - as well as for pastoral services such as hospital visits or visits to shut-ins, he said.

THE DIOCESE OF SAN JOAQUIN

Bishop John-David Schofield, the first Episcopal bishop to remove his diocese from The Episcopal Church, took 90% of his diocese with him when the diocese voted to leave after two extraordinary conventions.

Following his departure, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori placed retired Northern California Bishop Jerry Lamb in charge of the remaining few clergy who opted to stay in TEC. Lamb later charged fifty-two clergy with abandonment of communion.

The start-up diocese has a budget of $595,000, but sources say that as much as 50% of the budget has been set aside for litigation.

LAWSUITS

Episcopal Church leaders have made it very clear that they will litigate against all and every parish and diocese that attempts to hold onto its properties if they leave the Episcopal Church. They base their actions on the 1979 Dennis Canon. The Episcopal Church has always asserted that only individuals may voluntarily leave the church while parishes and dioceses are integral parts of the church, and may not leave without the express consent of the governing bodies of the church.

To date, The Episcopal Church has spent nearly $2 million in legal fees fighting for properties from Virginia to California. Millions more will be spent in 2009 when the national church unleashes its legal team led by David Booth Beers on all these dioceses.

Tens of millions of dollars are expected to be spent in lawsuits trying to keep these dioceses and their parishes in The Episcopal Church. While no litigation has been started as yet against dioceses who have fled TEC there is little doubt that it will begin in 2009 with David Booth Beers, Mrs. Jefferts Schori's attorney carrying out her wishes that all parish properties who flee the liberal denomination will be litigated against as she regards all church properties as the property of the national church held in trust for future generations.

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Regardless of who wins or loses, it will be the biggest public relations disaster in modern ecclesiastical history. In the end, it will bring nothing but scorn and ridicule upon the church, how the church does its business, and above all, the gospel.

Many will rightly ask how is it that an allegedly Christian denomination that is so insistent on sustaining a social gospel of human amelioration can spend tens of millions of dollars on litigation fees while playing up Millennium Development Goals as its primary message of salvation.

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Virtue Online, edited by David W. Virtue, is the Voice for global orthodox Anglicanism.