There is a rather perplexing case going on in the USA at the moment. A couple of Anglican churches and their clergy have declared that they are no longer a part of the Episcopal Church of the USA but now belong to the Church of Uganda. (They prefer the reactionary pronouncements of the Archbishop of Uganda to their own bishops).
I've thought for a long time that geographical territorial claims in the church would ultimately break down in the internet age. Parish boundaries and pastoral area mean far less than they ever used to do in the past. Now we see people choosing whom they want to be their bishops. It raises all kinds of complex problems. I'm not sure that it is a good thing, but there is an air of inevitability about it.
In England they have gone down the line of having “flying bishops” whose authority you can opt into if you share their bigotry. We've never done that in Scotland. It is hard to see what is wrong with what the American congregations are doing if the flying bishops model is appropriate.
I might muse on the similarities and differences between list MSPs and Flying Bishops at some time, but not now.
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