Presentment Against Bishop of San Joaquin Likely
07/14/2006

The bishops of California, Los Angeles and San Diego are preparing presentment charges which may be filed as early as next week against the Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield, Bishop of San Joaquin, according to three persons who attended a diocesan meeting July 8 at St. John’s Church, Los Angeles.

The announcement was made by the Bishop of Los Angeles, the Rt. Rev. J. John Bruno, according to the three, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on behalf of the bishop.

“There is a [presentment] in the works,” said one of those who attended the meeting. “I got the sense that it was going to happen very soon. [They said] this will cost a lot of money, but they are prepared to pay the price. Property was the main thing.”

Bishop Schofield maintains a theological belief that God has not called women to ordained orders. On June 28 he and San Joaquin’s standing committee appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury for alternate primatial oversight. In recent years the diocesan convention in San Joaquin “tightened” its bylaws regarding ownership of diocesan property, and approved a change to its constitution which qualifies its submission to the Constitution and Canons of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church.

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