The Diocese of San Joaquin has reported Court Determines that Bishop Lamb is the Bishop of the Diocese.
On July 23, 2009, the Diocese received an order issued by the Superior Court of Fresno County, California, sustaining the position of the Church and the Diocese that the Rt. Rev. Jerry Lamb is the Bishop of the Diocese and the officeholder of the Diocesan corporations, and that former Bishop John-David Schofield is no longer the Bishop and has no claim to any of the corporate or ecclesiastical offices of the Diocese…
The Court Order is here as a PDF file.
The Diocese of Fort Worth has also reported this case, and in greater detail, see Superior Court of California grants summary adjudication to the continuing Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.
Well, well. Here we have a very clear and legal denunciation of the divisive politics of the ACNA sodality in their efforts to secure their tenuous hold on the assets and integrity of TEC’s lawful inheritance in the Dioceses of San Joaquin in California. Bishop Lamb, and the loyal Episcopalians of his Diocese, must be relieved that the charade of former Bishop Schofield’s attempt to retain the property of TEC and all the appurtenances of the office of Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin is now over. Deo Gratias! The mills of God grind slowly BUT, they do bring… Read more »
Amazing that a church has to be told by the secular courts that stealing is wrong.
“Amazing that a church has to be told by the secular courts that stealing is wrong.”
I feel a song coming on, a la Flanders and Swann’s “The Reluctant Cannibal” with its chorus of “I won’t eat people. I don’t eat people. Eating people is WRONG!”
Of course the real winners are the lawyers…
I think the real winners in this situation include nearly everybody else, too. Because? The continuing dioceses and TEC folks do need to know clearly where they stand, legally. So do the departed who claim to still be legitimately confused as to who is who, who owns or controls what, and for what reasons of faith, order, and ethics. Of course people inside TEC more or less tried to clear up the questions of those who eventually departed; but their input fell on deaf ears, so it was left up to the courts to repeat the legal clarifications. Also, a… Read more »
Adios, John-David, and vaya con Dios!