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The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin sent letters to 61 clergy, notifying them that they have been deposed from ordained ministry.
The last notices were received Wednesday by priests and deacons who split from The Episcopal Church in 2007. They were charged with abandoning the Communion of the national church.
"It is heartbreaking that The Episcopal Church chooses to take such a punitive action and condemn 52 active clergy with 'Abandonment of the Communion' when all of these men and women are recognized around the world as priests and deacons in good standing within the Anglican Communion," said Bishop John-David Schofield, who led the majority of the Diocese of San Joaquin out of The Episcopal Church in a vote of secession.
The breakaway group – disaffected by the liberal theology of The Episcopal Church – realigned themselves with the more conservative Anglican Province of the Southern Cone in South America. They were the first of four full dioceses to split from the national church.
The Episcopal Church is the U.S. arm of the global Anglican Communion.
Episcopal Bishop Jerry Lamb, who was elected to lead the remaining Episcopalians in the Diocese of San Joaquin in central California, drew up the sentence of final deposition letter last Friday. Notices to nine other clergy were sent out earlier. The breakaway clergy had been given six months to recant their position, renounce their orders or deny charges of abandonment.
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Although "heartbreaking," Lamb moved forward on the action saying he had no other choice.
"[T]he fact is, they chose to abandon their relationship with the Episcopal Church," he said, according to the Episcopal News Service. "They declined to ask for a release from their ordination vows, and I had no option but to bring the charges of Abandonment of the Communion to the Standing Committee last year and take these final steps today. It is a sad day."
To the deposed clergy, however, the action does not affect their status as priests.
"Really, this doesn't impact us," said the Rev. Michael McClenaghan of St. Paul's Church in Modesto, as reported by Modesto Bee. "We have been transferred to either the Southern Cone (in South America) or in our case, Anglican Missions through Rwanda. So we're still priests."
Next month, the breakaway diocese will join hundreds of conservative parishes that split from The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada to launch a new national Anglican province called the Anglican Church in North America. The emerging province is seen as a rival body to the already existing national churches in North America.
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