Meeting in convention this weekend for their annual meetings, clergy and lay delegates in two California dioceses, Los Angeles and San Joaquin, approved motions which highlight the widening division within The Episcopal Church.

In the Diocese of San Joaquin, the convention overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment that identifies the diocese specifically as “Anglican.” The language of the amendment states in part that “the Diocese shall be a constituent member of the Anglican Communion and in full communion with the See of Canterbury.”

The language was slightly different from the original language which prompted a letter of concern from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. The constitutional amendment will not take effect until a second vote is taken at another annual convention in 2007. The second reading will require a two-thirds majority in order to pass. The vote by orders Dec. 2 was 68 clergy yes and 16 voting no. In the lay order 108 approved the measure with 12 voting no.

Delegates in the Diocese of Los Angeles voted Dec. 1 to protest resolution B033 approved last summer by the 75th General Convention. Resolution B033 urges bishops and standing committees not to consent to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate “whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.”

Some Los Angeles clergy and lay members noted that while the resolution adopted by the General Convention does not refer specifically to homosexuals, they believe it is clear that was its intent. That is discriminatory, they said.

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