The San Joaquin Vote

The diocese of San Joaquin voted yesterday, in essence, to begin the process of removing itself from the The Episcopal Church and re-aligning itself with the Anglican Communion outside of her. This, as you might expect, is the cause of much anguished commentary, a good sampling of which may be found on titusonenine (scroll down). A great deal of the verbiage of both those supporting the decision of San Joaquin and those opposed concerns itself with how this may effect the unity and future of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

Who cares? I speak as a cradle Episcopalian (and a cradle Anglo-Catholic to boot, a pretty small subset, I suspect) and one who truly loves her prayer book, rituals, traditions and music (oh, our music!). Just the same, countless repetitions of the creeds has taught me there is One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church, not one One Holy Catholic Apostolic Episcopal, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Eastern or Whatever church. I'll even be so bold as to posit the creeds don't even make reference to one Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church.

So if the decision of the Diocese of San Joaquin is actually the harbinger of the break up of the Episcopal Church, that's just fine. If it somehow leads to the break up of the Anglican Communion, so much the better, so long as it pushes us along toward One Church. Those who truly believe the words of our creeds should welcome this development; it is a small but significant step toward the elimination of adjectives other than One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.