Episcopal Bishops Try to Remain Optimistic at Contentious Meeting
NEW ORLEANS _ In a morning Eucharist for U.S. Episcopal bishops gathered here, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori called for church leaders to set aside an “abundant disdain” for those who hold different opinions.
But as the church faces a deadline from international bishops to respond to a call to stop ordaining gay and lesbian bishops, mutual respect may not be enough to ward off a split with the rest of the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a part.
“This is obviously a tremendously important meeting,” said Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, who is moderator of the conservative Anglican Communion Network. “I wish my hopes were higher.
“We have a challenge from the communion worldwide. We’d love to see the American church come within the boundaries of the church, but we don’t have much expectation of that.”
A group of conservative bishops will meet later this month in Pittsburgh.
The bishops met behind closed doors today to hammer out a response to an assertive and more conservative worldwide church in which African dioceses have begun ordaining missionary bishops to minister to breakaway American Anglicans.
At the meeting set to last through the weekend, U.S. bishops discussed how to respond to a directive from Anglican leaders to stop consecrating gay bishops and to ban blessings of same-sex unions until the global church reaches consensus. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the communion, attended, meeting U.S. bishops at home for the first time since the 2003 consecration of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Speaking to a reporter after the service, Williams praised the worshipful mood that began the event but dodged a question about the visit of Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who skipped the conference in favor of a visit to Wheaton this Sunday. The Diocese of Chicago regards the visit as confrontational. But Africans who are incorporating American congregations say they are responding to neglect of U.S. conservatives by the Episcopal Church.
“I really don’t know anything about that,” Williams said.
The visit to the diocese by a foreign church leader without the permission of Bishop William Persell of Chicago would once have been considered unthinkable in a communion that has sought to accommodate theological differences. But the visit by the prominent conservative leader, whom Persell has criticized, comes at a time of historic tensions in the church.
The global south accuses the Episcopal Church of straying from its biblical roots. American liberals say they are modeling Christian love and tolerance by accepting gays.
In her homily, Jefferts Schori called for honest communication between rhetorical foes, “particularly when we are unsure or uncomfortable about what others are saying.”
In a statement that appeared to address the position of gays and lesbians in the church, Jefferts Schori said, “I assure you that there are some in our midst who feel quite unwelcome, who have not known here what it is to be beloved,” she said.
“We have lived in this church and in this communion for a number of years, perhaps forever, with abundant disdain, violent words and with destructive actions for those who hold positions at variance from our own,” Jefferts Schori said.
___
(c) 2007, Chicago Tribune.
Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
_____
ARCHIVE PHOTO on MCT Direct (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): Katharine Jefferts Schori
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.