"And your little dog, too."
The Bishop of San Joaquin has been inhibited by PB Jefferts-Schori. That means he is no longer a bishop. The trouble is, he left The Episcopal Church, USA for another jurisdiction. That indicates to me that the Episcopal Church is now so shatterred that normally compliant bishops are willing to face the fuss and cost of major court battles. That also involves its world-wide communion since the Archbishop of Canterbury has pope-like authority to invite, convene, condemn, absolve.
From Virtue Online:
"As a point of clarification, there is no confusion on the part of the Bishop of San Joaquin or the clergy, people, leadership, and convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin of their status. The claims of the Episcopal Church to have oversight or jurisdiction are not correct. The fact is that neither the Diocese nor Bishop John-David Schofield are part of The Episcopal Church. The Bishop is a member of the House of Bishops of the Southern Cone as of December 8th, 2007. The Diocese is a part of the Southern Cone. Neither the Presiding Bishop nor the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church have any further jurisdiction. Bishop Schofield is no longer a member of the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church," said The Rev. Canon Bill Gandenberger, the bishop's Canon to the Ordinary.
The House of Bishops of TEC can indeed prevent Bishop Schofield from functioning as a Bishop in congregations of The Episcopal Church. However, they cannot invalidate his consecration as a Bishop in the Church of God, nor prevent him from functioning as such in congregations that welcome and affirm his ministry as their Bishop.
"The Bishop of San Joaquin has my friendship, my support, and my prayers during this time of turmoil in the life of our church," said Venables.
On January 11, Mrs. Katherine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church formally inhibited Bishop Schofield. In the text of the inhibition, Jefferts Schori wrote: "I hereby inhibit the said Bishop Schofield and order that from and after 5:00 p.m. PST, Friday, January 11, 2008, he cease from exercising the gifts of ordination in the ordained ministry of this Church; and pursuant to Canon IV.15, I order him from and after that time to cease all 'episcopal, ministerial, and canonical acts, except as relate to the administration of the temporal affairs of the Diocese of San Joaquin,' until this Inhibition is terminated pursuant to Canon IV.9(2) or superseded by decision of the House of Bishops."
Jefferts Schori said she acted after the Title IV Review Committee certified that Schofield had abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church.
On January 9, Upper South Carolina Bishop Dorsey Henderson, committee chair, wrote to Jefferts Schori, telling her that the nine-member committee had met that day and that a majority agreed that the documentation provided to them "demonstrated that Bishop Schofield has abandoned the communion of this Church by an open renunciation of the Doctrine, Discipline or Worship of this Church."
Bishop Schofield responded to the announcement saying that The Episcopal Church's assertion that he had abandoned the communion of this Church is an admission that TEC rejects the historical Anglican faith.
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No denomination has ever been as status quo as the Episcopalians. Unfortunately they mirror our society all too faithfully. They were the Royalists during the Revolution but became patriotic when the United States were formed into a republic. They went radical in the 1960's but resisted some of the worst doctrinal trends.
My impression has been that the national leadership always wanted to preserve some nod toward moderation, but that flew away with the election of Jefferts-Schori. Obviously the apostates loved her, since theological training and experience were almost absent from her resume as an oceanographer. I can go to Google images and obtain funny PhotoShops of her any day, as many have noticed.
Herb Chilstrom did the same for ELCA. He also rode into his dream job (presiding bishop) on the shoulders of the Lavender Mafia. In a few years the collapsing ELCA joined hooves with the Episcopal Church, USA, and pledged its subordination to those bishops who have even less doctrinal unity and integrity.
