Posted on Tue, Nov. 11, 2008
By TERRY LEE GOODRICH
tgoodrich@star-telegram.com
Delegates of the Fort Worth Episcopal Diocese will decide this weekend whether to sever ties with the Episcopal Church — a move that both sides agree would be spiritually devastating and would create conflict over who controls church properties.
At last year’s annual meeting, about 80 percent of the delegates, under the leadership of Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker, gave initial approval to leaving the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Church, with 2.1 million members in the United States and 16 other countries, is part of the worldwide, 77-million-member Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church is more liberal than the Anglican Communion on issues ranging from same-sex unions to interpretation of Scripture regarding salvation.
Three other U.S. dioceses have voted to leave The Episcopal Church. The most recent was in Quincy, Ill., last weekend.
The Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, a conservative entity that includes parts of South America, has invited the breakaway faction of the Fort Worth Diocese to align with it temporarily in case of a split.
The diocese convention, to be held Friday and Saturday at St. Vincent’s Cathedral in Bedford, will be attended by about 230 delegates, including laity and clergy, said Suzanne Gill, diocese communications director. Two-thirds approval is required to break away, she said.
But Episcopalians even disagree on whether a diocese can leave the church.
Leaders of the Episcopal Church insist that church law prevents a diocese from withdrawing. But Iker, in a statement on the Fort Worth diocese Web site, said nothing in the church’s constitution prevents a diocese from leaving.
If Fort Worth delegates approve withdrawing from the church, individual parishes could choose to stay.
About five of the diocese’s 56 parishes and missions likely would do so, according to diocese officials and group members who plan to stay with the church.
Besides Quincy’s vote to leave this weekend, a majority of those in the San Joaquin, Calif., dioceses voted in December to do so. Those in the Pittsburgh diocese voted last month to do so.
A spokeswoman for the Episcopal Church said Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who leads the church, will not comment about the Fort Worth diocese before the convention.
People opposing the withdrawal say that in case of a split, they will re-organize and seek a new bishop for the diocese, which includes 24 counties and has about 19,000 members.
Property ownership
One of the most difficult issues would be what happens to church land, buildings and furnishings. Some predict that controversies over the property might lead to legal battles, although diocese officials say they hope that can be avoided.
In the San Joaquin diocese, those who did not secede joined with the Episcopal Church and filed suit in April to reclaim possession of the diocese property. Several parishes in Virginia have also voted to break away, and a circuit court judge in Fairfax County ruled last month that most of the church property will go to the breakaway conservatives.
Fort Worth diocese officials say the property is owned by the diocese, but leaders of the Episcopal Church say they hold the property in trust.
Representatives of The Steering Committee North Texas Episcopalians — a group of conservatives and liberals who wish to remain with the church — met with Iker last week.
"We wanted to be proactive to make this very civil," said Walter Cabe, the group’s president. "We want to be respectful, but we also want to clearly make a statement for the record."
'Diversity of views’
On the diocese Web site, Iker posted a statement noting that division within the church has been building for years.
"Some might well ask, 'Why has it taken us so long to take definitive action, given the past 30 years of the shenanigans of The Episcopal Church?’ " he wrote. "We have explored every avenue and exhausted every possibility."
He said that "heresies . . . once proclaimed by just a few renegade bishops . . . are now echoed by the Presiding Bishop."
Cabe said Iker’s statements are "mischaracterizations."
He said those who wish to stay with the church do not all think alike on matters such as same-sex unions and interpretation of Scripture.
"One of the things we value as Episcopalians is the capacity to have diversity of views," he said. "We can tolerate significant differences and still stay connected and focused on serving the community."
This report includes material from The Washington Post.
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