Delegates to the annual synod in the Diocese of Quincy will consider a second and decisive vote to leave The Episcopal Church when the annual meeting of the diocese is held Nov. 7-8 at St. John’s Church, Quincy.
 
“No formal resolutions have been drawn up or submitted yet,” said the Rev. James Marshall, president of the standing committee, “but I don’t see how it could not happen.”
 
At the diocesan synod last year, delegates voted by substantial majorities to amend parts of the canons and chose not to elect a slate of deputies for the 76th General Convention to be held July 8-17, 2009 in Anaheim, Calif. With anxiety in the diocese already high over recent innovations to church teaching by General Convention, the recent inhibition and pending ecclesiastical trial of retired Bishop Edward MacBurney has made the national church even less popular within the diocese, according to Fr. Marshall.
 
With a vote by Quincy confirmed, this brings to three the number of dioceses whose annual meeting will be consider separation from The Episcopal Church this fall. The other two are Pittsburgh and Fort Worth. The Diocese of San Joaquin held a similar vote last year and was subsequently given temporary refuge and primatial oversight by the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone.
 
Earlier this week, the standing committee in the Diocese of Quincy sent every household in the diocese a copy of a 35-page report seeking to address questions and provide answers. Many of the questions addressed in the report distributed to members of the diocese were first raised during a meeting of clergy and lay leadership of the diocese in May. When reached on sabbatical leave earlier today by a reporter for The Living Church, Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy said he had attended that meeting, but did not preside at it.
 
Because of his attendance at the recently concluded Lambeth Conference and the Global Anglican Future Conference in June in Jerusalem, Bishop Ackerman said he has not met with the standing committee since May. The standing committee is scheduled to meet Saturday to determine the length of Bishop Ackerman’s sabbatical. Last fall the bishop became ill during the synod and did not preside at any of the meetings.
 
Steve Waring
 
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