Civil litigation to determine who is legally authorized to make decisions affecting property and other assets belonging to the Diocese of San Joaquin appears increasingly likely following a filing with the state on April 8 by the Rt. Rev. Jerry A. Lamb, who in March was appointed provisional Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.
 
California law provides a somewhat unique form of incorporation for church denominations. Under a “corporation sole,” there is one shareholder, one officer and one director, who are one and the same person, usually the diocesan bishop in an Episcopal diocese.
 
After a majority of clergy and lay delegates voted to leave The Episcopal Church and affiliate with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone last December, Bishop John-David Schofield filed an amendment to the diocese’s charter, changing the name of the corporation from “The Protestant Episcopal Bishop of San Joaquin, a Corporation Sole” to “The Anglican Bishop of San Joaquin, a Corporation Sole.”
 
Since then, the name has been changed back to “The Protestant Episcopal Bishop of San Joaquin, a Corporation Sole.” Earlier this month, Bishop Lamb swore to the California Secretary of State that there was only one Diocese of San Joaquin and that he had been elected provisional bishop of that diocese on March 29.
 
The Rev. Canon William Gandenberger, canon to the ordinary for the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, said the legal filing by representatives from the newly constituted Episcopal diocese was not unexpected.
 
“I have been in contact with our chancellor and we are prepared to respond,” Canon Gandenberger said. “We have numerous options and we are looking at all of them carefully.” No decision has been made at this time, he added, noting that the diocese is currently preoccupied with preparations to welcome Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables. As primate of the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, Bishop Venables claims primatial oversight of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin and has welcomed Bishop Schofield as a full member of that province’s House of Bishops.
 
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