SAN JOAQUIN: St. Paul's members break away from current Anglican church

[david at virtueonline.org]

SAN JOAQUIN: St. Paul's members break away from current Anglican church

Staff reports 
Visalia Times-Delta 
http://tinyurl.com/2epf8v 
April 1, 2008

About 40 former members of Visalia's St. Paul's Episcopal Church have decided to break away from the current Anglican church and reform their congregation as the Continuing Congregation of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Visalia, Calif.

The new congregation has been meeting in the cafeteria of Pinkham School. About 30 members attended services on Easter Sunday and about 40 last weekend.

The larger St. Paul's Anglican Church remains with the San Joaquin Anglican Diocese.

A split among the Visalia congregation emerged over the issue of recognition of openly gay individuals in the ministry. In December, the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, under Bishop John-David Schofield, became the first full Anglican diocese to secede from the denomination in the debate over the Bible and homosexuality. Schofield aligned the diocese under the conservative Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, based in Argentina.

St. Paul's Church in Visalia voted 160-97 to remain with the Anglican diocese and Schofield.

But in the past few weeks, members of the St. Paul's congregation have decided to return to the Episcopal church, aligning themselves with other churches in the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, which last weekend elected as its new head the Reverend Jerry A. Lamb as Provisional Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.

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