Saturday, November 15, 2008

The Episcopal Diocese of Ft. Worth votes overwhelmingly to separate from The Episcopal Church

From here.

Delegates to the annual convention in the Diocese of Fort Worth quickly and by decisive margins approved the second and final reading of a series of changes to its constitution and canons that rescinded its affiliation with The Episcopal Church and joined it on a temporary basis with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone based in Argentina.

The vote by orders for realignment was 73-20 among clergy and 98-28 in the lay order. The convention also voted two-to-one for second and final approval of four constitutional amendments that rescinded accession to the Constitution and Canons of General Convention. Fifteen other canonical changes were approved by a voice vote.

In his address to convention, Bishop Jack Iker, Bishop of Fort Worth, urged delegates “as a matter of conscience and conviction” to revoke the 1982 convention vote seeking admittance into union with General Convention in order “to align ourselves instead with an orthodox province of the Anglican Communion.” In a statement after the vote, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church, said she would work with the minority to reorganize an Episcopal presence in the area.

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