FRESNO, Calif. — The Central California Diocese of San Joaquin on Saturday became the first in the nation to secede from the Episcopal Church, taking the historic, risky step as part of a years-long struggle within the church and global Anglican Communion over homosexuality and biblical authority.
Delegates to San Joaquin’s annual convention then also formally accepted an invitation to align the largely rural 14-county diocese with a conservative Anglican leader overseas, Archbishop Gregory James Venables of Argentina.
The actions came after years of growing tension within the Episcopal Church over the U.S. church’s comparatively liberal views on issues of sexuality and theology. In 2003, the divide between theological liberals and conservatives deepened dramatically when the Episcopal Church consecrated a partnered gay priest, Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire.
The overwhelming approval by convention delegates to break ties to the Episcopal Church could set the stage for dissident Episcopalians to try to set up their own rival national church in the United States. And it could push the 77-million member Anglican Communion, the world’s third-largest Christian denomination, to the brink of fracture.
In the last four years, about 50 congregations within the Episcopal Church have acted to sever ties with the national church. Saturday’s approvals, however marked the first time an entire diocese has chosen to walk away.
As the results were announced, a majority of the nearly 200 delegates in a hall of St. James Cathedral here applauded, shouted congratulations to one another and rose in a standing ovation. But toward the back of the room, faces were glum and a gray-haired woman wiped away tears.
The diocese’s leader, Bishop John-David Schofield, said he was elated by the decisions.
“I’m thrilled, thrilled,” he said, saying the vote was about freedom for theological traditionalists to find a new home.
The leader of the Episcopal Church expressed sorrow.
“The Episcopal Church receives with sadness the news that some members of this church have made a decision to leave this church,” Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said. “We deeply regret their unwillingness or inability to live within the historical Anglican understanding of comprehensiveness. We wish them to know of our prayers for them and their journey. The Episcopal Church will continue in the Diocese of San Joaquin, albeit with new leadership.”
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