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Episcopalians rebuild California diocese from the ground up

(RNS) Rebuilding a central California Episcopal diocese after a majority of believers there split with the national church will take time and a good cell-phone plan, the diocese’s newly chosen bishop said March 29.

Jerry Lamb, 67, was elected bishop of San Joaquin Diocese, Calif., March 29 at a special convention of loyalist Episcopalians in Lodi.

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori recommended Lamb after San Joaquin’s previous bishop was removed from ministry for seceding from the national church, taking property and believers with him.

A strong majority of the 7,500 Episcopalians in San Joaquin’s 47 churches voted last December to follow Bishop John-David Schofield out the door and align with conservatives in the Argentina-based Anglican Church of the Southern Cone. They and other conservatives disagree with the U.S. church on issues of homosexuality and the authority of Scripture.

Schofield and the dissident congregations continue to occupy San Joaquin property while Episcopal leaders maintain it belongs to the Episcopal Church.

Both Schofield and the conservative dissidents say because they left the Episcopal Church, they are not bound by the new bishop or impacted by his election.

Meanwhile, about 300 Episcopalians, 70 of whom were convention delegates representing 18 congregations, turned out to elect Lamb and begin rebuilding their diocese.

“Right now we’re trying to build a diocese with cell phones, Blackberries, and cars,” said Lamb. He was called out of retirement in New Mexico after 15 years as head of the Sacramento-based Diocese of Northern California and a brief stint as interim bishop of Nevada.

Jefferts Schori, who attended the convention in Lodi, said Episcopal leaders will not give up property without a fight. “We believe that since John-David Schofield has been deposed, he has no right to claim the property of the diocese,” she said.

The presiding bishop also said that there is a “new hope here for a church that can tolerate and even welcome diversity.”

Schofield did not allow female priests to serve in San Joaquin. At the conference, Lamb welcomed three female priests  and said the diocese will discuss the role of gay and lesbian Episcopalians at upcoming reconciliation conferences.

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