In Fort Worth, ENS reports Breakaway bishop seeks challenge to authority of Episcopal bishop, others.
Attorneys for Jack Iker have asked a Texas court for permission to challenge the authority of Provisional Bishop Ted Gulick Jr. and the standing committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.
Iker, who left The Episcopal Church in 2008 but refused to relinquish church property or assets, is responding to a pending lawsuit filed by The Episcopal Church and the continuing Diocese of Fort Worth in April to establish the authority of the new diocesan leadership and to recover diocesan assets, according to chancellor Kathleen Wells…
In Pittsburgh, the Post-Gazette reports Episcopal bishop from Ohio nominated for Pittsburgh job.
Bishop Kenneth L. Price Jr. has been nominated to serve as a full-time interim bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh that remained in the Episcopal Church after last year’s diocesan convention voted to secede…
The diocese that Bishop Price has been nominated to serve has 9,833 members in 28 parishes. It is governed by a standing committee of clergy and laity, with the part-time assistance of retired Bishop Robert H. Johnson, who commutes from North Carolina.
If elected at the Oct. 17 diocesan convention, Bishop Price will be a “provisional” bishop, with the authority of a diocesan bishop. He will serve a few years until a permanent bishop is elected…
See diocesan press release, and three letters.
In San Joaquin ENS reports Breakaway diocese asks California appeals court to review ruling.
Representatives for the breakaway Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin have asked a California appellate court to review a July lower court decision affirming Bishop Jerry Lamb as the leader of the Episcopal Church in the Central California Valley diocese.
Bishop Jerry Lamb of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin and the Episcopal Church will have until September 15 to respond to the petition filed by John-David Schofield and others.
Mike Glass, chancellor for the Episcopal diocese, said he had just received notice that the petition had been filed with the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Fresno. After the diocese responds, Schofield will have until October 5 to submit a reply. The court will then decide whether or not to grant the review…
‘Iker himself is the past argued that TEC’s structure is hierarchical. In a 2002 ‘friend of the court’ brief in Edwards v. Dixon, a 4th Circuit Court of Appeals case challenging the authority of Bishop Jane Dixon, he has asserted the church’s hierarchical structure, – “the same position we’re arguing now” ‘ – Chancellor Kathleen Wells – It would seem that the former Bishop of Fort Worth, Mr. Iker, may have gotten himself into a spot of bother with his current assertion that TEC is not a hierarchical church. It remains to be seen whether or not he can wriggle… Read more »
‘The court concluded that “Former Bishop John-David Schofield is no longer the Bishop and has no claim to any of the corporate offices”. The court also ruled that the continuing Diocese of San Joaquin is “not a new organisation” created after Schofield attempted to remove the Diocese from the Church, but that the Diocese “is the older organisation from which (Schofield and the other) defendants removed themselves” ‘ – ENS Report on earlier legislation – One wonders what possible new evidence could be produced by the re-asserters that would allow them to walk away with the property and identity of… Read more »
One has to wonder what the schismatics in San Joaquin hope to accomplish – although perhaps they are simply misled by attorneys who hope to get paid win or lose. Recent rulings by the Court of Appeals, upheld by the California Supreme Court, have gone consistently in favor of the Episcopal Church and the continuing, rebuilding diocese. On the other hand, there’s a lot of truth in the saying, “Fools rush in….”
Re Fort Worth and San Joaquin:
We’ve sawed off a limb of the tree and grafted it onto another tree entirely…but we insist we are still part of the original tree and that tree has no right to grow new limbs to replace us.
Yeah, right.
So much for the “Christian diocese not suing another Christian diocese”.
All these people are interested only in money and status – or they would accept that they should simply leave.
Of course, none of this is about property or money…
One wonders what possible new evidence could be produced by the re-asserters that would allow them to walk away with the property and identity of the lawully established TEC Diocese of San Joaquin.
One can’t introduce new evidence at the appellate level. Instead, one offers arguments why the prior rulings were incorrect applications of law.
Unfortunately, the church press is as bad as the secular press in its inability to report legal proceedings accurately. There is no appeal from the Fresno County Superior summary adjudication order. There is only a right of appeal from a final judgment. The disaffected have filed a petition for a writ of mandate or prohibition seeking interlocutory review of that order. Review of such a petition is discretionary on the part of the Court of Appeal. Most such writ petitions are denied summarily without opinion. The response the legitimate diocese may file at this time is as to whether there… Read more »
a propos the current legislative situation in the US courts (via Schofield & Iker); at least the American Courts cannot be accused of political bias – at least, as far as I am aware. However, in Church legislation currently being enacted in Zimbawe, the following extract from today’s news release from the leaders of the Churche of the Province of central Africa (CPCA), bears testimony to the fact that this is definitely not the case in Zimbabwe, where former Bishop Konunga is holding on to his illicit patrimony from Dictator Mugabe – as though he had never departed from his… Read more »
Re Fort Worth and San Joaquin:
We’ve sawed off a limb of the tree and grafted it onto another tree entirely…but we insist we are still part of the original tree and that tree has no right to grow new limbs to replace us.
Yeah, right.