| THE Bishop of San Joaquin, the Rt Revd John-David Schofield, was deposed last week by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the US, Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori. The move follows his diocese’s decision in November 2007 to leave the Episcopal Church, and affiliate with the Province of the Southern Cone (News, 29 February).
Bishop Schofield had already resigned from the House of Bishops before its meeting in Texas last week, where the action was taken. The meeting consented to his deposition, after a majority present voted that he had abandoned the communion of the Church by his resignation.
The bishops expressed themselves as saddened by the action, which they said had been necessary for the “ongoing integrity of the Episcopal Church”.
Bishop Schofield, who insists, “I am still an active Anglican bishop, and I continue to be the Bishop of San Joaquin,” contended after his deposition that the disciplinary process had been misused. “It appears as though the real motivation behind all of this is the use of raw power and coveting property,” he said.
A special convention on 29 March will be asked to confirm the Presiding Bishop’s recommendation of the Rt Revd Jerry Lamb, the retired Bishop of Northern California, as provisional bishop for San Joaquin. Bishop Lamb reportedly drew loud applause at the House of Bishops for his affirmation of women in both lay and ordained ministries. No women have been ordained in San Joaquin hitherto.
AMERICAN BISHOPS as a body have expressed their regret that Bishop Gene Robinson, “alone among bishops ministering within the territorial boundaries of their dioceses and provinces”, has not been invited to the Lambeth Conference (News, 14 March).
In a statement at the end of the House of Bishops meeting in Texas last week, the bishops acknowledged: “Even though we did not all support the consecration of the Bishop of New Hampshire, we acknowledge that he is a canonically elected and consecrated bishop in this Church.”
Beneath issues of sexuality lay a feeling of marginalisation by people of differing points of view, said the bishops, who called for the Lambeth Conference to affirm the “rich diversity” of the Communion. “The health of such diversity is that we are dealing openly with issues that affect the entire global community,” the statement said.
The bishops declared their willingness to “face challenges that precipitate struggle as a means towards reconciliation”.
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