| THE Rt Revd Jerry Lamb (pictured above) has been confirmed as the Episcopalian Provisional Bishop of San Joaquin, after Bishop John-David Schofield’s decision in November to align the diocese with the Province of the Southern Cone.
Bishop Schofield was officially removed by the Episcopal Church in the United States last month, after a review committee decided that his action constituted an abandonment of the communion of the Church (News, 20 March).
San Joaquin is the first diocese to leave the Episcopal Church in the long-running row over homosexuality. Bishop Schofield also resigned from the US House of Bishops after his move to the jurisdiction of the South American province.
Bishop Lamb, who retired as Bishop of Northern California last year, aged 67, was confirmed in the post amid cheers at a diocesan convention on Saturday. The Presiding Bishop Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, was in attendance, and said that the appointment offered “new hope for a reconciled community”.
On the evening before the convention, Dr Jefferts Schori held a service of healing at St Anne’s, Stockton. Addressing the convention, she acknowledged that the diocese had been through “trying and traumatic months”, but said: “I believe you are already discovering that God is healing old wounds as you work together.”
The convention was attended by 400 Episcopalians. At a roll-call of congregations, it was found that 18 of the total of 47 were represented. Among the representatives were 21 clergy.
The legal position of the old diocese, and much of the historic property, remains in dispute. And when the convention attempted to elect a new standing committee, the Revd David Eaton protested that he had never resigned from the former standing committee, and should therefore not have to contend his seat.
See Dave Walker's blog |
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