Fort Worth Diocese Leaves

I was quite disappointed to hear over the weekend that the Fort Worth diocese of the Episcopal Church voted to leave the national church and realign itself with a conservative Anglican province based in Argentina. The move was hardly a surprise as the Fort Worth diocese, led by Bishop Jack Iker and largely conservative, has been making noises for some time that it was unhappy with the direction of the Episcopal Church, which has moved in recent years to ordain women and openly gay men as priests and bishops. Five of the dioceses' fifty five congregations have voted to stay with the church. As has been the case with other dioceses, the Episcopal Church will likely sue to retain ownership of church property.