Diocese found breaking up hard to do

From the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette today

In California's Central Valley, 10 months after Bishop John-David Schofield led most of the 8,000-member Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin out of the Episcopal Church into an Anglican province in South America, he still occupies the same Spanish mission-style headquarters in Fresno.

Some 125 miles north in Stockton, Bishop Jerry Lamb, who has been recognized by the Episcopal Church -- the U.S. branch of Anglicanism -- as the legitimate heir of the Diocese of San Joaquin, works from a rented office; most of his flock of nearly 1,800 worships in rented rooms.

Each says it's the only true Diocese of San Joaquin.

As in a bitter divorce, each claims to be noble but wronged. One has the house, the other, at least for now, rents an apartment with help from Mom. Though children struggle with loss, each spouse is glad to be free.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08272/915746-455.stm