Lord, not lawsuits, matters to new Oakdale bishop

OAKDALE -- The Rev. Eric Menees, new bishop of the San Joaquin Anglican Diocese, might feel a little like David facing the giant Goliath.

First there's the lawsuit seeking ownership of 31 of the diocesan parishes and the diocesan headquarters in Fresno. Then there are nine more lawsuits filed against the independently incorporated parishes that also are part of the diocese. Finally, there are the multimillion-dollar assets of the diocese, which remain frozen pending the outcome of the lawsuits.

The giant in this case is the Episcopal Church, which was not happy when Menees' predecessor, the Rev. John-David Schofield, was the first bishop in the country to lead his diocese away from the national church and its increasingly liberal theology. Schofield and the 40 parishes loyal to him are under the oversight of the theologically conservative Anglican Church in North America, which allowed them to stay with the worldwide Anglican Communion, to which the Episcopalian church belongs.

Seven other parishes in the diocese chose to remain Episcopal and came under the leadership of an Episcopal bishop chosen to oversee the parallel Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.

In a recent phone interview, Menees said he faces several challenges as he replaces the retiring Schofield, but indicated he is not intimidated or discouraged by them. "The simple answer is that I took this job for the sake of the Gospel," he said. "For me, while the lawsuits are an issue that I have to address, my primary concern is bringing people into the kingdom of God. If we do that with buildings, wonderful. If we do that without buildings, wonderful."

Menees, 49, was born and raised in Southern California. After graduating from seminary, he spent 18 months as a missionary in El Salvador and Mexico before returning to the States and working at parishes in east Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, plus serving as a church school chaplain in La Jolla.

In 2006, he said, "I left the Episcopal Church, feeling I could no longer represent the church that I believed walked away from the biblical truth. I transferred my canonical residency to the (Anglican) diocese of Argentina, and when I did that, the bishop of San Diego deposed me."

At the time, Menees was pastoring a church averaging 240 people on Sundays. About 80 of them followed him to begin a new Anglican congregation. An additional 100 or so left and joined the Catholic Church, a conservative Lutheran church or other nondenominational churches, he said. About 40 remained Episcopal and retained their parish property.

"We didn't try to take the property," Menees said. "I didn't have the permission of my bishop (to take it). I didn't even ask; I knew the answer would be 'no way.' "

He said he'd never thought of becoming a bishop until he was asked to throw his name into the ring as Schofield's successor. After prayer and talking it over with his wife, Menees said, he agreed to be considered.

"I've found it wonderful," he said of his new job. "It's been a warm and welcoming community, not just in the church, but all around. How refreshing to have people bring cookies over to our home when we moved in. They told us where the stores are and how to get to the schools. It's been a great transition for us."

Shortly after Menees moved his family — wife Florence, daughter Milagro, 18, and son Sebastian, 11 — to Fresno, they were at the church camp near Yosemite National Park when Menees ran into the Rev. Chester Talton, the Episcopal bishop of the San Joaquin Diocese.