{"id":187,"date":"2007-09-20T16:01:07","date_gmt":"2007-09-20T16:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2007\/09\/episcopal-bishops-meet-to-disc.php"},"modified":"2007-09-20T16:01:07","modified_gmt":"2007-09-20T16:01:07","slug":"episcopal-bishops-meet-to-disc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2007\/09\/episcopal-bishops-meet-to-disc","title":{"rendered":"Episcopal Bishops Meet to Discuss Gay Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Associated Press<\/strong>
\nNew York – The Rev. Frank Wade, a veteran of the brawling theological
\ndebates in the Episcopal Church, said the denomination was once filled with
\npeople like him: “old white men.” It was the church of the establishment,
\nthe spiritual home of more U.S. presidents than any other denomination.
\nNow, the head of the church is a woman who says the Bible supports gay
\nrelationships. Many Episcopal priests believe that accepting Jesus is not
\nthe only path to salvation. And V. Gene Robinson, who lives openly with his
\nlongtime male partner, is the bishop of New Hampshire.
\nEpiscopalians are hardly alone among mainline Protestants in their liberal
\nturn, but they have been tested like no others for their views. The
\nEpiscopal Church is the Anglican body in the U.S., and many Anglican leaders
\noverseas are infuriated by Episcopal left-leaning beliefs.
\nStarting on Thursday in New Orleans, Episcopal bishops will take up the most
\ndirect demand yet that they reverse course: Anglican leaders want an
\nunequivocal pledge that Episcopalians won’t consecrate another gay bishop or
\napprove official prayers for same-gender couples. If the church fails to do
\nso by Sept. 30, their full membership in the Anglican Communion could be
\nlost.
\n“I think the bishops are going to stand up and say, `Going backward is not
\none of our options,'” said Wade of the Washington diocese, who has led
\nchurch legislative committees on liturgy and Anglican relations. “I don’t
\nthink there’s going to be a backing down.”
\nArchbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is taking the rare step of meeting
\nprivately with the bishops on the first two days of their closed-door talks.
\nThe Anglican spiritual leader faces a real danger that the communion, nearly
\nfive centuries old, could break up on his watch.
\n“I’m working very hard to stop that happening,” he told The Daily Telegraph
\nof London.
\nThe 2.2 million-member Episcopal Church in the U.S. comprises only a tiny
\npart of the world’s 77 million Anglicans. But the wealthy U.S. denomination
\ncovers about one-third of the communion’s budget.
\nWithin the Episcopal Church, most parishioners either accept gay
\nrelationships or do not want to split up over homosexuality.
\nHowever, a small minority of Episcopal traditionalists are fed up with
\nchurch leaders.
\nThree dioceses – San Joaquin, based in Fresno, California; Pittsburgh,
\nPennsylvania, and Quincy, Illinois – are taking steps to break away and
\nalign directly with like-minded Anglican provinces overseas.
\nAccording to the national church, 55 of its more than 7,000 parishes have
\neither already left or voted to leave the denomination, with 11 others
\nlosing a significant number of members and clergy. Episcopal conservatives
\ncontend the losses are much higher.
\nMany of the breakaway parishes are not waiting to see what the bishops
\ndecide in New Orleans. They have aligned with sympathetic overseas Anglican
\nleaders, called primates, who have ignored communion tradition that they
\nonly oversee churches within their own provinces.
\nPrimates from the predominantly conservative provinces of Nigeria, Uganda,
\nKenya and elsewhere have ordained bishops to work in the U.S., and have set
\nup parish networks that rival the Episcopal Church on its own turf.
\nLitigation over who owns the properties has already started and will be
\nexpensive and messy. Episcopal buildings and other holdings in the U.S. are
\nworth billions of dollars.
\nThe fight is not just about the Bible and homosexuality. It is fueled by
\ndeep differences over how Scripture should be interpreted on a wide range of
\nissues, including salvation and truth.
\nThe decades of debate turned into open confrontation when Robinson was
\nconsecrated in 2003. A church – and global communion – that once held
\ntogether Christians with diverse biblical views found itself dividing into
\nfactions, seeing little that could unite them.
\n“The various debates … over my lifetime have been a fascinating study in
\ntwo ships passing each other in the night,” said the Rev. Peter Moore, a
\nleading conservative thinker and retired head of the Trinity Episcopal
\nSchool for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. “Neither heard a thing the
\nother said. It was clear that both groups had made up their minds on totally
\ndifferent grounds, and they were not speaking the same language.”
\nThe outcome of the New Orleans meeting, which runs through Tuesday, could
\nturn that gap into a permanent break.
\nCopyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
\nnot be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associated Press New York – The Rev. Frank Wade, a veteran of the brawling theological debates in the Episcopal Church, said the denomination was once filled with people like him: “old white men.” It was the church of the establishment, the spiritual home of more U.S. presidents than any other denomination. 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Frank Wade, a veteran of the brawling theological debates in the Episcopal Church, said the denomination was once filled with people like him: “old white men.” It was the church of the establishment, the spiritual home of more U.S. presidents than any other denomination. 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Frank Wade, a veteran of the brawling theological debates in the Episcopal Church, said the denomination was once filled with people like him: “old white men.” It was the church of the establishment, the spiritual home of more U.S. presidents than any other denomination. 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