Episcopal Diocese Votes to Secede From ChurchCalif. Diocese Favors Break With Episcopal Church
By Jorene Barut-Phillips
FRESNO, California (Reuters) - A California diocese of the Episcopal Church on Saturday took a major step toward breaking with the U.S. church because of its position on issues including homosexuality, a move unseen since the U.S. Civil War.
Clergy and lay representatives at the annual convention of the 10,000-member Diocese of San Joaquin voted 176-28 in favor of the step, according to the Rev. Van McCalister, a spokesman for the diocese that represents 48 parishes in central California's San Joaquin Valley.
If the measure passes again next year, it would allow for the development of a new church that officials say would break from the leadership of the new head of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, while remaining part of the worldwide Anglican Church.
Individual parishes have left the church in recent years, but Saturday's move marks the first time since the Civil War that an entire diocese has voted to distance itself from the church, McCalister said.
FULL STORY at
SAN JOAQUIN VOTES TO CHANGE NAME FROM EPISCOPAL TO ANGLICAN
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5100
US Diocese Votes for Historic Move to Split from Pro-Gay Episcopal Leadership
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/us.diocese.votes.for.historic.move.to.split.from.progay.episcopal.leadership/8581.htm