New Orleans: Meeting Held on Anglican-Episcopal Split

By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer
September 20, 2007

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Episcopal bishops met privately for seven hours Thursday with the archbishop of Canterbury, trying to preserve the church's role in the Anglican family despite Episcopal support for gays.

The denomination is the Anglican body in the U.S. and has a more liberal view of Scripture than most Anglicans overseas. Tensions over Bible interpretation erupted in 2003, when Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Archbishop Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, has been struggling to keep the 77 million-member Anglican Communion from breaking apart — an effort he has called "exhausting." Unlike a pope, Williams doesn't have direct authority to force a resolution.

Few details of the talks were released. But Canon James Rosenthal, a spokesman for Williams, said that in the first few hours alone, about 25 of the more than 100 participating bishops had a chance to discuss their concerns directly with the archbishop. The issue of what Scripture says about same-gender relationships came up immediately, Rosenthal said.

Anglican leaders have set a Sept. 30 deadline for the Americans to pledge unequivocally not to consecrate another gay bishop or approve an official prayer service for gay couples. If Episcopal leaders say no, they could lose their full membership in the Anglican Communion.

Colorado Bishop Robert O'Neill called the conversation "open and forthright."

"I don't think anybody was holding back," he said.

Williams asked Episcopal leaders to examine "how we see our role" and ministry and how bishops can "provide appropriate pastoral care for the whole church," according to Maryland Bishop John Rabb. Other international Anglican representatives have joined the meeting.

In her opening sermon, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, head of the Episcopal Church, urged the bishops to be open to opposing views. She denounced the "disdain, violent words and destructive action" that have become part of the Anglican debate about their future.

She also appointed eight U.S. bishops from across the ideological spectrum to take her place in providing some oversight for dioceses that do not accept her authority.

It's unlikely, however, that the appointments will mollify the small minority of Episcopal conservatives and their supporters overseas.

Three conservative dioceses — Pittsburgh, Quincy, Ill., and San Joaquin, Calif. — have taken the first steps toward breaking with the national church. About 60 of the more than 7,000 Episcopal parishes have either split from the church or suffered serious membership losses.

And conservative Anglican leaders from Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and elsewhere have been appointing bishops to work in the U.S. and oversee networks of breakaway Episcopal parishes that rival the national church.

Episcopal leaders have apologized repeatedly for the turmoil they've caused, but they haven't expressed regret for consecrating Robinson.

Last year, the top Episcopal policymaking body, the General Convention, asked bishops to "exercise restraint" by not approving candidates for bishop "whose manner of life presents a challenge" to the church. However, the measure isn't binding, and a lesbian with a female partner is among the finalists in an upcoming election for Chicago bishop.

The Episcopal prayer book has no liturgy for blessing same-gender couples, but about a dozen of the 110 U.S. dioceses allow priests to perform the ceremonies.

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