Schisms
Since 2003 nine churches have severed their ties with the Diocese in protest over the consecration by the Episcopal Church in America of an openly gay bishop. Some dissident parishes attempted to retain control of their church buildings and property, but in 2008, the California Court of Appeal ruled for the Diocese and upheld the authority of Bishop Mathes to dismiss parish vestry members and clergy who sought to take a parish out of The Episcopal Church. Since then the dissident congregations have surrendered the property to the diocese and in some cases set up their own neighborhood churches, nominally under the authority of Anglican bishops from other countries.
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