The standing committee of the Diocese of Los Angeles has scheduled a forum about opening a mission station at the onetime location of St. James the Great.
The forum on March 10 is designed to hear from representatives of four neighboring Episcopal congregations:
- St. Michael and All Angels, Corona del Mar
- St. John the Divine, Costa Mesa
- St. Wilfrid of York, Huntington Beach
- St. Mary’s, Laguna Beach
Seeking official recognition as a mission station are leaders of the congregation of St. James the Great, who wish to restore services in church buildings at 3209 Via Lido.
The property has sat empty since the St. James the Great congregation was locked out in June 2015. The retired Bishop of Los Angeles, the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, is appealing a three-year suspension for his conduct in the wake of the closing. He is barred from ordained ministry while the appeal continues.
In an accord reached last fall, Bishop John H. Taylor, the Rev. Canon Cindy Evans Voorhees, and Rachel Anne Nyback of the standing committee agreed to diocesan procedures for restoring church ministry at the site.
When TLC asked for more information about the prospects of reopening, Voorhees said only that “we should know more after March 10.”
Adapted from The Episcopal News Update
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
