San Diego Parish's Departure 'Totally Unexpected'
02/02/2006

The Diocese of San Diego has not decided how it will respond to the Jan. 30 announcement that the rector and congregation of St. Anne’s in Oceanside, Calif., are no longer affiliated with the Episcopal Church and the diocese.

In a press release issued that same day, St. Anne’s Anglican Church said it had no plans to move from its current location and is “now under the jurisdictional oversight” of the Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons, Bishop of Bolivia in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. The church voted by a 97 percent majority the day before to leave.

“This was totally unexpected,” said Howard Smith, canon for administration, finance and communications for the Diocese of San Diego. “The Bishop [the Rt. Rev. James R. Mathes] has implored these people to stay at the table and talk. That is the only way there will be reconciliation. We are trying to ask ourselves what made Fr. [Anthony] Baron do this. We are trying to do what we can for the people at this point.”

the rest-The Living Church