A lawyer for the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin has asked a Fresno County Superior Court to award it all property and assets now claimed by the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin.
 
“While it is regrettable that legal action is necessary, the diocese and The Episcopal Church have no other viable option but to seek the intervention of the court to recover the property and assets of the diocese,” said the Rt. Rev. Jerry A. Lamb, provisional Bishop of San Joaquin.
 
Last December, a majority of delegates to the convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin voted to leave The Episcopal Church and affiliate with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone. “Such actions are contrary to the Canons and Constitution of The Episcopal Church and the diocese,” the media statement from the Episcopal diocese said.
 
The filing of the lawsuit comes about a week before the scheduled visit to the Anglican diocese by Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables, Primate of the Southern Cone. Bishop Lamb sent a letter of protest to Bishop Venables on April 22 that informed him that his planned visit was a violation of the traditions of the Anglican Communion and of the recommendations of the Windsor Report.
 
In a statement recently published on its diocesan website, Anglican Bishop John-David Schofield of San Joaquin described the filing of the lawsuit by his former denomination as unsettling, but not surprising.
 
“Please be assured that we have been expecting this litigation, and the contents contain no surprises,” Bishop Schofield wrote. “Please know that our legal team has been at work for some time. They are optimistic and remain unperturbed by The Episcopal Church’s most recent action.
 
“Furthermore, I want to remind you that in spite of the claims by The Episcopal Church, nothing in their current constitution and canons prohibits a diocese from leaving one province and moving to another.”
 
Despite the filing of civil litigation, Bishop Lamb is optimistic for an eventual reconciliation under the newly reconstituted diocese which is now based in Stockton. Bishop Lamb sent letters to all clergy in the diocese, inviting them to “meet and enter into dialogue with him directly on these issues. The Episcopal diocese is also organizing a three-day, faith-based reconciliation seminar in June and further programming regarding rebuilding and reconciliation in its October diocesan convention,” the release stated.
 
“The diocesan leadership and I remain committed to reconciliation with clergy and parishes that are still trying to understand their relationship within The Episcopal Church,” Bishop Lamb said.
 
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