Another California congregation votes to leave Episcopal Church
The Layman Online, February 20, 2006
An Episcopal Church (USA) congregation in La Crescenta, Calif., and its minister, an Episcopal priest for 33 years, have decided to leave the denomination and reconstitute as a member of an Anglican Province on the other side of the world.
The Rev. Ron Jackson, the pastor of what was St. Luke’s-of-the-Mountains Episcopal Church, said the congregation’s leaders and members voted to leave the ECUSA because they believe the denomination has abandoned the orthodox teachings of the church.
The church’s leadership was unanimous in approving the disaffiliation. The congregation voted 124-8 to leave the ECUSA and affiliate with the Diocese of Luweero in Uganda, Africa.
The ECUSA does not track the departures of congregations from the denomination, but a blog site, as of Feb. 8, lists 34 departing congregations in 16 states. Seven departing congregations are in California. The blog list does not include many congregations that have stated that it is their intent to leave the denomination.
A member of the vestry said the congregation had purchased its property and that the leaders believe they will retain the property even if the denomination files suit. But he said the congregation would have left the denomination even if it meant losing the property.
Bishop J. Jon Bruno of the Diocese of Los Angeles said he was “deeply disappointed in the actions taken by the congregation and its clergy” and accused them of having “abandoned all attempts at reconciliation.”
Jackson told the Pasadena Star-News, “”For us to be true to our understanding of the Gospel and for us to be true to our values as a parish, we didn’t have any other option.”
Bruno called the congregation’s claim on the property “clearly illegal according to the canons of our diocese and the national Church and to the laws of the State of California. It is my pastoral and fiduciary duty to this diocese to protect its property rights, and we will pursue this matter.”
So far, state Superior Court judges have ruled in favor of three local Episcopal congregations leaving the Los Angeles Diocese of the ECUSA with their property to align with orthodox Anglican provinces. The diocese has not won a case.
The Pasadena Star-News quoted the Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Church, a liberal congregation in Pasadena, as saying that the leaders of St. Luke’s and other “ultra-right” Anglicans misunderstand the Anglican tradition, which allows a broad spectrum of theological belief.
“For these folks to want everyone to walk in theological lock-step is in itself intrinsically anti-Anglican,” Bacon said. “That’s one thing the far right within Anglicanism does not get.”
Episcopal church members adhere to the core beliefs of Christianity as stated in the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed and the 39 Articles of Faith. While many conservatives read the creeds literally, Bacon said they are also metaphorical and personal, not merely objective dogma.