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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: First Parish Severs ties with Diocese and Leaves with their Property
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
PETALUMA, CA (12/20/2006)--The 200 plus-members St. John's Episcopal Church voted to become St. John's Anglican Church on Sunday, making it the first parish in the Diocese of Northern California, 40 miles north of San Francisco, to leave with its property.
The Rev. Dr. Lu T. Nguyen, the parish's canon lawyer, told VirtueOnline that the decisions of the August 2003 General Convention of The Episcopal Church had made it painfully clear that there exists a great theological difference between them and the national church leadership regarding the authority of the Bible and its teachings on human sexuality.
"With the consent to the election of V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire, a divorced man now living in an openly homosexual relationship, the overwhelming majority of our members decided in good conscience that they could no longer continue their financial support of Church structures which they believed to have acted contrary to Holy Scripture and the Church's traditional teachings regarding sexual morality," he said.
The revisionist theology of the newly elected Presiding Bishop and soon to be dicoesan bishop, the Rt. Rev. Barry Beisner, a twice divorced thrice married man were the final straws for the parish, and that election sets a dangerous precedent undermining Biblical standards required of bishops, said Nguyen.
"We made this move only after three years of prayer, study, consultation, and tears by the rector, vestry and congregation over the divisions that have torn our denomination asunder. After a properly constituted parish meeting on Sunday, December 17, 2006, and by a vote of the vestry and parish, we agreed to sever our 150-year relationship with The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Diocese of Northern California. By the same vote, our name was amended to St. John's Anglican Church."
St. John's has stood for orthodoxy and biblical teaching for the last 150 years in our community. We pray that our actions to disassociate from The Episcopal Church will be a witness to other congregations in Northern california to continue standing for God's word and the historic Christian Faith, he said.
"St. John's will continue to hold services at the corner of 5th and 'C' streets in Petaluma, as we have done at this site since 1858."
Nguyen said the parish and its priest the Rev. David Miller is seeking to be in communion with an as yet unnamed orthodox diocese within the Anglican Communion.
Nguyen believes that that California property laws strongly favors the parish keeping its property. "Neutral principles" have so far been used with success in southern California where three parishes have successfully kept their properties against the onslaught from the Diocese of Los Angeles and Bishop J. Jon Bruno. "The Dennis Canon was essentially destroyed in California with the 2004 landmark St. Luke's decison by the California Court of Appeals," said Nguyen.
Bishop Beisner was not available for comment
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