US Episcopal Church nears divisive meeting

By Michael Conlon

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Episcopal Church faces a
fractious debate next week over the controversy caused by the
consecration of the church’s first openly gay bishop, which has
rubbed raw relations with fellow Anglicans worldwide.

The Church leadership has crafted proposals it believes
will address concerns within the 2.3 million-member U.S. church
and from abroad.

But before the nine-day triennial General Convention opens
in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, some critics said they expected
very little movement on issues such as banning the blessing of
same-sex unions or elevating more gays to the episcopate,
increasing the likelihood of further divisions down the road.

Groups representing gay Episcopalians are already mobilized
to prevent the convention from backtracking.

“My hope and guess is that there will be vigorous debates,
but not scarring ones,” said Mark Sisk, Episcopal bishop of New
York. Some disagreement is a sign of vigor, he added, but “when
you’ve got debates that are rending, that’s not healthy
either.”

He told Reuters a report issued by a special commission at
the behest of the church leadership and which he helped chair
should give the bishops and other church representatives at the
meeting a “glimpse of a way to move forward — not ideal, but
acceptable.”

The U.S. branch of the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican
Communion has been in turmoil since the last convention three
years ago approved the elevation of Gene Robinson of New
Hampshire, the first bishop known to be in an openly gay
relationship in more than 450 years of Anglican Church history.

The report Sisk referred to offered a number of resolutions
that will be considered along with others at this year’s
convention.

ADMONISHMENT TO CONGREGATIONS

Among them is an admonishment that congregations use “very
considerable caution” in elevating gays to bishop; that clergy
not authorize public blessings of same-sex unions until the
worldwide church agrees on a policy; and that the entire
convention reiterate a statement the Episcopal bishops made
last year saying they regretted the pain the Robinson
consecration caused.

Those proposals are all “inadequate” in the view of the
Anglican Communion Network, a group of about a dozen U.S.
bishops and followers who are seeking a return to what they see
as orthodoxy. The proposals do not respond to a critical report
commissioned by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams,
according to Canon Daryl Fenton, chief operating officer of the
network.

The U.S. Episcopal Church is one of a number of national
churches that make up the worldwide Anglican community.

The Rev. Todd Wetzel of Good Shepherd Church in Cedar Hill,
Texas, said he expected the convention would not change its
stance on expressing regret for Robinson’s consecration. The
current position, he said, amounted to saying, “I’m sorry
you’re hurt, which is not the same as saying you regret it
happened.”

When it comes to blessing same-sex unions — a practice
conducted at some churches, but never formally sanctioned by
the Episcopal leadership — the convention will likely leave
the current situation untouched, added Wetzel, executive
director of Anglican United, another conservative group.

While the U.S. Episcopal Church has had a number of rifts
since its birth after the American colonies broke away from
Britain, none is as serious as the current one, which mirrors a
divide in U.S. culture, Wetzel said.

The implications are not as broad for the church in the
United States, which has a history of churches breaking into
differing denominations, he said.

But having one part of the church perceived as pro-gay is a
different story for a global church facing competition in
Africa from Islam, which does not tolerate homosexuality, he
added.