Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin

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Location of the Diocese of San Joaquin

The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin came into being after separating from the Episcopal Church in 2007. The diocese is headquartered in Fresno, California. The coterminous Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, which did not separate from the Episcopal Church, is headquartered in Stockton, California, and was, until the events surrounding the creation of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, one of the most conservative within the Episcopal Church^{[citation needed]} and one of three that did not ordain women (the others are the dioceses of Quincy and Fort Worth).

On 8 December 2007, at the annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, delegates voted to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church and to align with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. The diocese claims to remain, through the Southern Cone, within the Anglican Communion headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Whether the diocese had the power to take that action is controversial. Those who believe it did not have this power say that the constitution and canons of The Episcopal Church do not permit dioceses to disaffiliate, that there is no provision for a diocese to relate to the Anglican Communion through an overseas province, and that the constitution and canons of the province of the Southern Cone do not permit it to have dioceses outside certain countries in South America.^[1] Those who believe it did have this power say that the diocese is the basic unit of the Anglican Communion and has the inherent power to leave a province, and that the Southern Cone claims it as a diocese under its protection in an extraordinary time of division. Any permanent change would require a change in the Southern Cone's constitution as well as the consent of the Anglican Consultative Council. Neither Schofield nor the province of the Southern Cone have addressed the legality of this violation of the constitution of the Province of the Southern Cone.

The diocesan bishop, John David Schofield, was consecrated 9 October 1988 and became the diocesan on 15 December 1988.

[edit] Dispute

The Episcopal Church disputes the ability of a diocese to transfer from one province to another without the consent of its original province. As a result it considers those who have allied themselves with the province of the Southern Cone to have left the Episcopal Church and has taken steps to preserve a continuing Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. Schofield and many of the former leaders of the Episcopal diocese disagree. Schofield has spoken as if there is a single diocese of San Joaquin, no longer a part of the Episcopal Church, of which he is the bishop and has not recognized the legitimacy of the Episcopal Church's claim of ongoing jurisdiction over this area.

On Friday, 11 January 2008, the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, declared Bishop Schofield inhibited from exercising episcopal authority within the diocese and, on March 12, 2008, he was deposed as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin by action of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church.^[2] The inhibition was disputed by Bishop Schofield who argued that Schori's authority does not extend to his diocese which, he says, forms part of the Anglican Communion but not of the Episcopal Church.^[3] On March 1, 2008, Schofield had tendered his resignation from the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church while claiming to possess continuing authority as the bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin.^[4]

On March 15, 2008, the Bishop of Central Florida, John W. Howe, requested that the Episcopal Church’s three senior bishops review the case, saying he was under “no illusions that the outcome of the despicable vote to depose John-David [Schofield] and William [Cox] will be reversed, but at least we might want to obey the canons.” ^[5]

On March 27, 2008, the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina officially protested the vote to depose Schofield and called for the Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, to abstain from appointing a bishop to the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin until the matter regarding the legality of the deposition could be addressed by the House of Bishops. ^[6]

On March 29, 2008, The Episcopal Church held a special convention in Lodi, California, which "waived any potential defects in notice or other irregularities in the calling the Special Convention; allowed the Dispatch of Business Committee flexibility in presenting the convention agenda so that the chair could call special recesses as necessary, move items on the agenda for good cause, and expedite business; allowed Dispatch of Business to limit debate; as necessary;" and appointed Jerry Lamb as provisional bishop of a reorganized Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.^[7] Whether the convention and the appointment of Lamb was proper is controversial.

The Anglican Communion has supported The Episcopal Church's position by removing the reference to Schofield as bishop after his deposition, and listing the see "vacant".^[8]