Episcopal Church group rejects curb on gay bishops

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A proposal for the U.S. Episcopal
Church to impose an unofficial moratorium on ordaining more
openly gay bishops was rejected on Tuesday in a vote that could
further roil relations with fellow Anglicans worldwide.

The issue is not completely dead since the triennial
convention of the 2.3-million-member U.S. church will not close
until Wednesday evening and the issue could be revived.

But the rejection by one of two legislative policy-making
houses meeting in Columbus, Ohio, makes it less likely that the
church will impose a moratorium on future gay bishops as the
Anglican church spiritual leadership had suggested.

The Anglican Communion, as the global church is known, has
been in turmoil for three years since the last such convention
of the U.S. church approved the consecration of Gene Robinson
of New Hampshire, the first bishop known to be in an openly gay
relationship in more than 450 years of Anglican history.