August 29, 2008
By Pat McCaughan

STOCKTON, California – It's been a tough first few months for Bishop Jerry Lamb, but he said ordaining David Pina the first deacon in the reconstituted Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin this week broadcast an unmistakable message: "the diocese is truly here and we will be here."

The occasion also served as "an icon … for the whole church to understand that everyone is called to servant ministry," Lamb told about 75 people attending the August 24 afternoon celebration at St. Anne's Church in Stockton.

Overseeing San Joaquin's reconstituted diocese is his third stint as a bishop and represented "a whole new episcopacy, rebuilding a diocese when there was nothing here. There were no files, no staplers, nothing," said Lamb, 67, who had also served as interim bishop in the Diocese of Nevada shortly after his 2007 retirement as Bishop of the Sacramento-based Diocese of Northern California.

"They were literally trying to put together an office the day of the March 29 special convention" in rented space in Stockton, when delegates enthusiastically chose him as their provisional bishop.

Since his arrival, the soft-spoken Lamb has begun generating files, made "servant ministry" a mantra, and set about the task of educating, empowering and healing Episcopalians like the Rev. Kathy Galicia. A full-time Orchard Supply Hardware employee, she serves as vicar of St. Francis, Turlock but objects to its being called a "remnant" of former congregations because "it makes me feel like a carpet and I've been walked on enough."

For others, the bishop's humor, kindness and compassion, even when making tough decisions, have earned respect and support. Despite significant challenges, Lamb and others say the church is growing, joyous and excited about future possibilities—and ready to keep fighting for what they believe. Says Pina, a retired lieutenant colonel and chaplain in the U.S. Air Force who hopes to be ordained a priest in six months: "There's just no quit in these folks."

Tough decisions, tougher faith

Lamb had been provisional bishop scarcely a month when, on April 24, the diocese and The Episcopal Church (TEC) sued former bishop John-David Schofield for recovery of diocesan real estate and financial assets totaling about $4.5 million. Schofield had attempted to realign the diocese with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone and to transfer property into a subsidiary holding company.

Although Lamb and diocesan officials say a tentative hearing date in the matter is set for August 24, 2009, still about one year away, a California Superior Court Judge this week allowed restricted access to some disputed accounts.

Judge Adolfo Corona's August 25 ruling extended only to accounts affecting the operations and payroll of the Evergreen Conference Center of Oakhurst, or ECCO, "about 80 to 90 percent of whose service extends to the community," said the Rev. Mark Hall, diocesan canon to the ordinary.

Tying up the camp's funds seemed counterproductive," to everyone, agreed San Rafael attorney Mike Glass, chancellor for the diocese. After a visit to the conference center, which needed funds for site improvements and operating costs, "The bishop told us we need to do something about the frozen accounts so it doesn't hurt ECCO," Glass said.

Lamb has other tough decisions looming. He is awaiting responses to registered letters sent to about 80 clergy with a September 5 deadline to recognize his authority as bishop or face ecclesiastical discipline (Title IV. Canon 1, Section 1(h)).

Priests who fail to respond by the deadline will be inhibited from exercising ministry in Episcopal churches, Lamb said in a letter posted on the diocesan website, http://www.diosanjoaquin.org/. Inhibition would threaten participation in the church pension fund and medical trust, he said, adding: "I don't believe I have any options at this time other than the above. I continue to hope that people will respond."

Hall declined to speculate about how many responses might be received. He suggested clergy may be reluctant to respond because they are fearful of consequences.

The Rev. Trino Correa said after he disclosed his intentions "to remain with The Episcopal Church" he was summarily fired from a Spanish language ministry at the St. James Cathedral in Fresno and given 24 hours to remove his belongings from the premises.

"Now I have to explain why I want to stay" in TEC," he said. That was a month ago and Correa, who is diabetic and a heart patient, said he hopes to relocate his ministry eventually to Holy Family in Fresno, a continuing Episcopal Church.

Meanwhile he is "waiting for insurance. A lot of priests are very afraid, but God gave me a strong faith. For 12 years I was obedient to Bishop Schofield. Now I am going to continue the same obedience to Bishop Jerry Lamb."

Attempts to reach Schofield and the Rev. Van McAllister, a spokesperson for the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, for comment, were unsuccessful.

A new convention, new ministries

Life since Schofield and 42 of 47 congregations attempted to realign with the Southern Cone, has "been a real roller coaster ride," says the Rev. Kathy Galicia. "So much of the time what we've been going through is waiting. Waiting to hear something. Waiting to know what happens next."

Meanwhile, she and about 27 people who make up St. Francis Church in Turlock meet in a nearby United Methodist Church, host midweek evening gatherings in homes and focus on outreach ministry. "We are recycling cans and bottles to fund-raise because we want to make a difference in this world."

At All Souls Church in Ridgecrest in the High Desert area attendance has grown from nine to about 32, who meet weekly in the auditorium of the local historical society, according to Charles and Chantel Andrews, who attend regularly.

A priest will join them two Sundays a month beginning in September, they recently elected a bishop's committee, adopted bylaws and "is moving ahead with all the things we want to do," Charles Andrews said.

In many ways "people here feel released," he added. "We feel like we were suppressed. There was no national church activity, now we know things are going on in the outside world and the church at large. Now that we know, we are enthusiastic, Christian people reaching out to each other and to those outside the Christian world."

Most of their parishioners have signed up for ‘Episkofest 2008,' the Oct. 24-26 gathering in Hanford that will serve as both diocesan convention and good old-fashioned block party.

The Rev. Mark Hall, diocesan canon to the ordinary, said the business meeting "will take about two hours" and the rest of the convention will include fun-filled workshops, educational opportunities and family and youth activities.

He expects the total number of congregants in the diocese, about one thousand, a little less than one-third of the 3,900 average Sunday attendance in 2006 before the split, will continue to grow.

Once there is less confusion about which diocese or church is Episcopalian and "what it means to be an Episcopalian," Beryl Simkins. "I was a member of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Turlock and we are still St. Francis Episcopal Church in Turlock, while the people in the building call themselves St. Francis Anglicans.

"It is hard to believe how much has happened in a year. We were a splintered group a year ago at this time, driven out of our church … scattered in different directions. But there are a number of us working very hard to maintain the Episcopal presence in our locale and we will never again take our church for granted. We love our church and it was worth the battle."

Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Pat McCaughan is Episcopal Life Media correspondent for the dioceses of Province VIII. She is based in Los Angeles.