Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Special Convention Report

On Saturday August 1, the Diocese of San Joaquin met in special convention in Fresno to consider officially accepting the Constitution and Canons of the Anglican Church in North America [ACNA]. The convention convened with prayer by Bishop Schofield. The assembly heard a report on the status of legal issues from Mr. Russell VanRozeboom, Chancellor of the Diocese, followed by a financial report from the Treasurer, Mr. John Hammel.

The convention adopted and affirmed the Constitution and Canons of ACNA and then modified the diocesan canons to recognize that The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin is a constituent member of the Province of the Anglican Church in North America.” The Convention acknowledged, by a separate canon, that our Bishop is “a member of the House of Bishops of the Province of the Southern Cone in Communion with the See of Canterbury, notwithstanding his full membership in the College of Bishops of the Province of the Anglican Church in North America.” Along with the Bishop, the clergy of the Diocese remain members of both Provinces.

Importantly, the Convention passed a resolution recognizing Archbishop Robert Duncan as both Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America and, therefore, as the archbishop of this diocese. The Archbishop remains the Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

The regular meeting of Convention for the Diocese of San Joaquin is scheduled for October 23rd and 24th, to be held in Fresno.

2 comments:

Frank Remkiewicz aka “Tree” said...

No, to the best of my knowledge this diocese is not a member of the Anglican Communion. There has been no formal recognition of the "Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin" by the archbishop of Canterbury. Please be careful when you respond, the Archbishop of the Southern Cone says there is recognitino but there is no written document from Rowan Williams that confirms any of that nonsense.

Tell you what, I will write to the Presiding Bishop of TEc and the Archbishop of Canterbury and ask if the Epsicopal Dicoese of San Joaquin is a member of the Anglican worldwide communion and you write to the Archbishop fo the Southern Cone and the Archbsihop of Canterbury and then we will swhare the answers in a public forum of your choice.

Fr Van McCalister said...

Fred,

As you can see I have taken quite a long time to post your comment. I have been debating between deleting it and posting it and have purposely procrastinated so that I did not respond rashly. I wondered if I should do you the favor of deleting your challenge because it sounded so juvenile, but in the end I came to the conclusion that was not really the purpose of moderating comments.

So, with respect to your challenge, feel free to write letters to whom ever you want. Personally, I don't really care what Archbishop Williams decides. Since he is unwilling to take a clear stand, he does not speak well for anyone in the Anglican communion. I respect his office but if forced to choose, I would much rather have my orders recognized by Archbishop Duncan, Archbishop Venables and Archbishop Akinola. I am just speaking for myself and not all of the clergy of our diocese. The fact that a significant number of archbishops of the Anglican Communion have recognized and welcomed ACNA as a legitimate province is all that matters, from my point of view.