STOCKTON, CA: Episcopal Church fires 61 Central Valley priests
Bishop Lamb says they quit when they aligned with conservative group

http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=12078
May 27, 2009

The Episcopal Church has fired, or in its words "deposed," 61 priests and deacons in the Central Valley who followed former Bishop John David Schofield when he rebuked the national church and aligned with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, a conservative group based in South America.

"I find the actions I was forced to take last Friday and Tuesday to be heartbreaking," says the Rt. Rev. Jerry Lamb, Episcopal Bishop of San Joaquin in written comments Wednesday. "I have known a few of these clergy personally and others by the stories I have heard about their ministry. But, the fact is, they chose to abandon their relationship with the Episcopal Church."

Bishop Schofield was deposed in March 2008.

He and the various priests and deacons objected to the Episcopal Church's ordination of women and gays to the priesthood, "refusing to recognize the authority of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church and of the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church," as the church puts it.

The clergy who have been fired had six months to deny their abandonment, recant, or renounce their ministry in the Episcopal Church, according to the diocese.

"They declined to ask for a release from their ordination vows, and I had no option but to bring the charges of 'Abandonment of the Communion' to the Standing Committee last year and take these final steps today," says Mr. Lamb. "It is a sad day."

END

SAN JOAQUIN: Final depositions for 61 disaffiliated clergy
Bishop: "a sad day" for Central California diocese

By Pat McCaughan,
May 27, 2009
[Episcopal News Service]

Bishop Jerry Lamb of San Joaquin has sent final deposition notices to 61 priests and deacons who disaffiliated from the Central California Valley diocese and The Episcopal Church.

Lamb described the actions as "heartbreaking," on May 26, after finishing the last of the letters, which were to be mailed out to clergy who, along with former Bishop John-David Schofield, realigned themselves with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

"I have known a few of these clergy personally and others by the stories I have heard about their ministry," Lamb said in a prepared statement.

"But, the fact is, they chose to abandon their relationship with the Episcopal Church. They declined to ask for a release from their ordination vows, and I had no option but to bring the charges of Abandonment of the Communion to the Standing Committee last year and take these final steps today. It is a sad day."

Schofield and the deposed clergy refused to recognize the authority of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church and of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, according to the statement.

Schofield was removed from office in March 2008. The clergy who followed Schofield refused to acknowledge Lamb's authority and were determined to have abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church in October and November 2008.

They had six months to deny their abandonment, recant, or renounce their ministry in the Episcopal Church or face removal or deposition from the ministry of the Episcopal Church.

The action taken by Lamb on May 22 and May 26, with the support of the diocesan Standing Committee, deposes and removes these clergy from the rolls of the Episcopal Church. As a result they are no longer active clergy and may not serve in the Episcopal Church. "I find the actions I was forced to take last Friday and Tuesday to be heartbreaking," said Bishop Lamb.

-- The Rev. Pat McCaughan is Episcopal Life Media correspondent for Provinces VII and VIII and for the House of Bishops. She is based in Los Angeles.


Here is the official announcement: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/content/Lamb_Deposition.pdf