Quincy diocese 'likely' to leave Episcopal Church

From Religious Intelligence:

Sunday, 31st August 2008. 7:58am

By George Conger

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Quincy has sent a 35-page report to all members of the diocese, responding to questions and concerns over plans for the diocese to quit the Episcopal Church.

Quincy diocese 'likely' to leave Episcopal Church

On Nov 7-8 the Quincy synod will have the second reading of a constitutional amendment that would permit the diocese to withdraw from the Episcopal Church and affiliate with another province of the Anglican Communion. While no formal resolution so far has been submitted to the synod that would seek formal separation, the president of the standing committee, the Rev James Marshall told The Living Church magazine such a move was likely.

Quincy joins the American diocese of Fort Worth and Pittsburgh in scheduling formal votes in the coming months that would permit the diocese to withdraw from the Episcopal Church. Last year the Synod of the Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno, California, voted to withdraw from the Episcopal Church and was accepted into the Province of the Southern Cone of America under the archiepiscopal oversight of Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina.

The Episcopal Church responded by creating a new Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Stockton, California. The attempt to depose San Joaquin’s Bishop John-David Schofield earlier this year, misfired when the US House of Bishops failed to muster enough votes to depose the bishop.

US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, nonetheless declared Bishop Schofield deposed and appointed retired Northern California Bishop Jerry Lamb as bishop of the newly constituted diocese. Both San Joaquin bishops were extended invitations to the Lambeth Conference, but Bishop Schofield declined the invitation due to ill health.

In its cover letter with the report to the diocese, the Quincy Standing Committee said the document had been prepared in response to requests made at a May meeting of the clergy which discussed separating from the Episcopal Church.

The Bishop of Quincy, the Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman has kept a low profile in the run up to the secession vote. He did not preside over the May meeting that discussed leaving the national church, nor did he preside at last year’s diocesan meeting of synod where the first secession vote was taken, having taken ill during the start of the proceedings.

Attempts by Bishop Schori to depose Bishop Ackerman (pictured), along the lines taken to remove Bishop Schofield, would be more difficult, American canon lawyers note, as the Quincy bishop has not laid himself open to the charge of suborning the separation. Bishop Ackerman is currently on sabbatical and unavailable for comment.