Bridging the Anglican Rift II 


Are we ready to pay the price of being in communion? 

The ordination of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson of Vermont in 2003 shocked conservatives in the church both in the USA and worldwide. Conservative leadership in the Anglican Communion led to the issuance by the church of the Windsor Report in 2004, which requested The Episcopal Church of the USA (ECUSA) to put a moratorium on ordaining gay bishops and blessing same-sex unions. When ECUSA met in Columbus, Ohio in the summer of 2006, it not only elected the first woman as presiding bishop (Katharine Jefferts Schori), it also did not fully comply with the requests in the Windsor Report. Specifically, ECUSA finally passed the vaguely worded resolution to exercise restraint in consenting to consecrating candidates to the episcopate "whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider Church."

It comes as no surprise, then, that before the closing of the 2007 Primates meeting of the 38 national churches of the Anglican Communion held in Tanzania last week, church leaders issued a demand that the U.S. Episcopal Church unequivocally stop blessing same-sex unions and consecrating any more gay bishops. Several bishops in the USA have already responded strongly not only that they will not stop these blessings and consecrations, but also that they occupy the morally high position in continuing to do so, when called for by the candidates qualifications.

As a liberal gay member of the Church, you would think I would be cheering on my presiding bishop, liberal bishops such as Bishop Steven Charleston, president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Massachusetts, and my own quite "radical"—to use the words of our rector—Trinity Episcopal Church of St. Louis. And I do personally agree that it is the morally right and now theologically correct thing to do to ordain bishops without regard to their sexual orientation, per se, and to bless same-sex unions as appropriate. I agree to this, and we must tirelessly continue to put these alternatives and our reasons in support of them before the worldwide Church.

At the same time, I think we are called to do a lot more than this, and I wonder how many of our liberal leaders are willing to go these extra steps. I wrote an earlier piece on the work of  

Posted: Wed - February 21, 2007 at 05:36 PM          

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