Trial Postponed

I'm hearing that the trial in the Rector, Wardens, and Vestry cases, previously scheduled to begin April 14, has been postponed to August. Judge Strobel will be sitting on the California appeals court for three months, and will return in August. She had originally said a substitute judge would hear the case, but it now appears that she wants to hear it herself. As I said not long ago, I developed an appreciation for how she was handling the case, and although it means a delay, I think it also means a competent judge will continue to be involved. Judge Linfield, after all, committed a reversible error.

In any case, resolution of the legal issues is only one of the tasks facing the elected vestry, the parish, and its friends. Three other major tasks remain, and it seems to me that they should be handled, at least in part, concurrently with the legal issues.

• The parish needs better assurance of how it will enter the Ordinariate, and indeed, whether this is still an option. If it isn't, the parish needs to find an acceptable alternative. The parish in fact needs to develop an acceptable alternative affiliation simply as a matter of prudent planning.
• It's more and more plain that the divisions in the parish that metastasized in 2011-2012 were in fact largely brought about by its former curate through a series of unethical moves. It is essential that, if the parish joins the Ordinariate, it be made absolutely clear that the former curate will not return to the parish in any role.
• Appropriate clergy needs to be identified, potential obstacles to ordination be resolved, and appointed to lead the parish, in consultation with the elected vestry or succeeding parish council. This is an area where developing an acceptable alternative affiliation will pay dividends.