Episcopal News Service March 15, 2008
San Joaquin Episcopalians greet bishop recommended for provisional role
Focus on healing, rebuilding; excitement builds for fresh start, special convention
by Pat McCaughan
[FRESNO, California, ENS] Continuing Episcopalians filled Fresno's Holy Family Church on March 14 for a get-acquainted meeting with Bishop Jerry Lamb in preparation for the March 29 special convention where they will be asked to confirm him as their provisional bishop.
Applause erupted during the introduction of Lamb, who retired as bishop of the Diocese of Northern California in 2007 and most recently served as interim bishop in the Diocese of Nevada.
San Joaquin Episcopalians are considering Lamb for provisional bishop at the recommendation of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who will convene the March 29 special convention in Lodi, California.
"The rebuilding, the rebirth of this diocese" will be his first task if confirmed as provisional bishop, Lamb told the Friday- evening gathering. "It's going to take everybody in this room and everybody in the room last night," he said, referring to a similar meeting held March 13 at the Christ the King Church in Riverbank.
"It's terribly important in this diocese at this time when people have felt so isolated that we engage each other and truly take on the role of rebuilding relationships in Christ Jesus in this Episcopal Church," Lamb said.
San Joaquin Episcopalians have national and regional support -- in the form of money, educational, program and people resources, committed to their growth as a continuing diocese, Lamb added, citing $500,000 allocated by The Episcopal Church's Executive Council.
The Presiding Bishop "has committed herself and her staff to bring in those people from the national church to do program, to do developmental work" and Province VIII bishops have offered assistance and support as well, he added.
"We're almost there," said Amanda Gaona, a member of Grace Church in Bakersfield, a new congregation hoping to be formally admitted into the church at the convention. "Just two more weeks and we'll be recognized as a church. This is so exciting."
A 'radically new and different' San Joaquin church
Inclusion, communication, reconciliation and congregational development are among the priorities outlined for the "radically new and different" Stockton-based Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, Lamb, 67, told about 100 people during a question and answer session.
"I love being a bishop, and I'm not talking about authority," Lamb said. "I'm talking about the sacramental preaching in the context of being a chief pastor and shepherd . about confirmation, ordination, I absolutely love to work with people in the ordination process because that is absolutely so key to where this church is going."
Lamb received a hearty round of applause when affirming women in both lay and ordained leadership roles, and attributing his understanding of inclusion to former Presiding Bishop "Edmond Browning who said 'there shall be no outcasts'."
Such resources as a new website (http://www.diosanjoaquin.org), which so far links 18 congregations in the continuing diocese, and a new diocesan newspaper, will help overcome geographic barriers created because "you are scattered all along this valley".
Lamb said he is eager to address a "lack of programming" by introducing such congregational development resources as shared ministry, total ministry, Education for Ministry, available throughout The Episcopal Church but which "have not found their way here." Planning for a stewardship program and a reconciliation weekend are also underway, he said.
San Rafael-based attorney Michael Glass, who represents continuing congregations, spoke to March 14 internet reports challenging the validity of votes taken at the House of Bishops' meeting, which concluded on March 12.
"The Presiding Bishop's chancellor, David Booth Beers, has confirmed the validity of the House of Bishops' March 12 votes consenting to the deposition of bishops John-David Schofield and William Jackson Cox," Glass read from a prepared statement.
"According to the chancellor: 'In consultation with the House of Bishops parliamentarian prior to the vote, we both agreed that the canon meant a majority of all those present and entitled to vote, because it is clear from the canon that the vote had to be taken at a meeting, unlike the situation where you poll the whole House of Bishops by mail. Therefore, it is our position that the vote was in order'."
Schofield, San Joaquin's previous bishop, was confirmed by a Title IV Review Committee to have abandoned communion of The Episcopal Church. Continuing Episcopalians have been at work to reconstitute the Diocese of San Joaquin since Schofield led a December 8 convention vote purporting to realign the diocese with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
Hearty applause also erupted when Glass added: "In other words, the decision is not appeal-able. It's done."
Convention to focus on healing
House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, a frequent visitor and support for continuing Episcopalians in San Joaquin, is expected to attend the March 29 special convention, at St. John the Baptist Church in Lodi.
The Presiding Bishop will lead a special service to emphasize that the convention "is about healing the diocese," according to the Rev. Mark Hall, rector of St. Anne's Church in Stockton. He has been serving as diocesan administrator.
"We want this convention to be a witness to what we as a Christian community are," he told the gathering. A pre-convention reception will be held Friday, March 28, at St. Anne's, he added.
Delegates to the convention will be asked to sign an oath of conformity to the canons and constitution of the Episcopal Church and will consider a number of resolutions, including confirmation of Lamb as provisional bishop.
The convention will also welcome clergy who had not been allowed to serve in the diocese, "mostly because they're women, but also others that had been kept out and not licensed," he said.
Three new congregations: Grace, Bakersfield; Holy Trinity, Madera; and St. Mary's in-the-Mountains, Sonora; will be welcomed. Delegates will also be asked to elect a standing committee and deputies to General Convention 2009 in Anaheim, California; and to approve a $445,243 budget, which is funded by the church-wide budget.
Hall added that the new diocesan government is committed to transparency and communication of standing committee minutes and other information.
Reflecting on his work as a bishop, Lamb told those gathered that he brings more than 16 years' in the episcopate, to which he was elected in 1991 to lead the Sacramento-based Diocese of Northern California. Previously he was canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Oregon and served three congregations there.
Lamb said he would expect to work three-quarter-time as provisional bishop for as long as needed, estimating a minimum of 18 months living in Stockton with his wife Jane but maintaining their permanent residence in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The diocesan headquarters, formerly located in Fresno, is being re-established in Stockton.
Born and raised in Denver, Lamb began his ordained ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. He left the order in 1971 and moved to Oregon. He was received into the Episcopal priesthood by Bishop Matthew Bigiliardi of Oregon in 1977. During these years Lamb earned an advanced degree in counseling from the University of Oregon, and served as an adult parole officer.
He intends to spend the first few months getting to know the people of San Joaquin, saying: "We need each other."
Cindy Smith, president of Remain Episcopal and a member of Grace, Bakersfield, said the group plans to bring a banner and have it signed by the Presiding Bishop and Bonnie Anderson and others present.
She said Lamb is "wonderful he has energy and enthusiasm and support for the laity. We're going to do wonderful things together."
--The Rev. Pat McCaughan is Episcopal Life Media correspondent in the dioceses of Province VIII (the Province of the Pacific). She is based in Los Angeles.