Episcopal church deposes two dissident bishops

By Michael Conlon, Religion Writer

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bishops of the U.S. Episcopal Church on Wednesday formally kicked two conservative prelates out of the church in the latest jolt for a worldwide Anglican community divided over the role of gays, biblical interpretation and other issues.

The Episcopal Church's House of Bishops meeting in Texas announced that it had voted to "depose" from ordained ministry Bishops John-David Schofield of San Joaquin, California, and William Cox, a retired former bishop from Maryland who now lives in Oklahoma.

Both had previously affiliated with the conservative Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, based in South America.

Schofield led a revolt which saw his 8,000-member Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin become the first diocese to vote to leave the Episcopal Church. Members there placed themselves under South American jurisdiction and have continued to occupy and use church property.

By deposing Schofield the Episcopal Church can now declare his post vacant, bring in a successor and go to court to try to regain the property. Similar property disputes have erupted elsewhere, including a major one in Virginia currently before a court there.

The bishops said Cox was being deposed because he continued to perform rites and other functions after affiliating with the South American church.

Schofield said, "I have not abandoned the Faith. I resigned from the American House of Bishops and have been received into the House of Bishops of the Southern Cone. Both Houses are members of the Anglican Communion."

He said the two "are not nor should not be two separate Churches. It is the leadership of The Episcopal Church that is treating itself as a separate and unique Church. They may do so, but they ought not expect everyone to follow teaching that serves only to undermine the authority of the Bible."

The 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion and its 2.4 million-member U.S. Episcopal Church branch have been fractured since 2003 when the American church consecrated Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first bishop known to be in an openly gay relationship in over four centuries.

There are also divisions over interpreting the Bible, the ordination of women and the blessing of same-sex unions.

Conservative bishops from Africa, South America and elsewhere have stepped in, ordaining bishops loyal to them in some cases.

The U.S. church has taken the stand that all of the property in use by Episcopal churches around the country ultimately belongs to it.

(Editing by Andrew Stern and David Wiessler)