CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / FRESNO
National leaders of the Episcopal Church have ousted 61 clergy who aligned with a former bishop in California when he broke with the national church in a dispute over the Bible and homosexuality.
Former Bishop John-David Schofield led the Diocese of San Joaquin to become the first full diocese to secede from the U.S. denomination in 2007.
Four years earlier, Episcopalians consecrated their first openly gay bishop, setting off a wide-ranging debate within the church and upsetting conservative congregations.
Schofield ultimately was removed as head of the diocese and barred from performing any religious rites. He maintains he is an Anglican bishop under the worldwide church.
Episcopal leaders said this week that they were deposing all clergy who severed their ties and joined Schofield in affiliating with an Anglican archdiocese in Argentina.
Jerry Lamb, the new Episcopal bishop of San Joaquin, called the decision to oust the clergy “heartbreaking.”
“But, the fact is, they chose to abandon their relationship with the Episcopal Church,” he said.
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