Episcopalians on the Breach

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury,"First Among Equals" in Anglican Communion

U.S. church in battle with Anglican Communion

There's a new spin on an old joke making the rounds. It's about a beachcomber who finds a bottle in the sand and opens it, freeing a genie who gratefully grants one wish. The beachcomber asks for peace in the Middle East.
The genie calls that an impossible task and asks for an alternative wish. "Okay," says the beachcomber, "restore harmony to the Anglican Communion." The genie thinks for several seconds and then says, "Let's go back to that Middle East thing."

But for millions of Anglicans, and especially Episcopalians - the American branch of the global Anglican community -- it's no joke. The challenge now is to restore peace and unity or to at least keep the Episcopal Church a full-fledged member of a denomination with 77 million faithful in 160 countries.

In a way, it is a dispute that pits the Episcopal Church -- with its 2.3 million members divided into 111 national jurisdictions (dioceses) -- against Anglicans nearly everywhere else. Of the 37 other provinces, or church territories, around the world, 22 already describe their relationship with the Episcopal Church as "broken" or "impaired."

The basic issue is one rocking several other Christian bodies: gay rights.

The crisis for Anglicans has been brewing for several years, but it came to a boil two weeks ago when Episcopalians, who meet nationally only once every three years, held their 75th general convention in Columbus, Ohio.

Even a carefully worded warning by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the titular head of the Anglican movement, did not ease tensions.

In a letter to delegates, Williams, who is considered first among equals among Anglican primates but cannot dictate policy like the Pope, outlined a grim choice for the U.S. church: Renounce gay bishops and same-sex unions or risk demotion to a "church in association," without a vote in Anglican affairs.

Instead, delegates defied a recommendation by a committee Williams appointed and refused to declare a halt on the election of gay bishops. They called only for "restraint." They also voted not to "repent," as another recommendation asked, for the elevation of Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. His installation three years ago made him the first openly gay bishop anywhere in the Anglican world.

Moreover, the convention did not even vote on a proposal to stop blessing same-sex unions, yet another recommendation by the Williams committee.

If that weren't enough to widen the splits within the denomination, delegates elected Katharine Jefferts Schori, the liberal bishop of the Nevada diocese, to a nine-year term as presiding bishop of the U.S. church. The church's national headquarters are in New York, and when she is formally installed here this fall, it will make her the first female primate anywhere in the Anglican world.

About a dozen dioceses, ranging from Pittsburgh to Fort Worth, Tex., have announced that because of gay rights or Schori's election, they may leave the Episcopal Church and ask Williams to let them affiliate with Anglican jurisdictions more ideologically in tune with them. Theologically, there are no rules that would bar them from doing this.

Of the world's 38 Anglican provinces, only Canada and New Zealand have elected female bishops, and in the United States, six dioceses have announced that they won't accept Schori as presiding bishop. The Episcopal Church began ordaining women 30 years ago, something that still steams many conservatives, and three dioceses -- Fort Worth, San Joaquin, Calif., and Quincy, Ill. -- still refuse to recognize female priests at all.

Because of the lengthy, convoluted process involved in making any major policy changes, the gay rights dispute is likely to go on for years -- not even the next scheduled Episcopal general assembly in 2009 is likely to bring peace.

In the meantime, the hubbub and confusion goes on.

It was something the Rev. James Cooper, rector of Trinity Church, the Wall Street landmark, addressed in a letter he wrote his flock last week.

"I hear people asking, 'What is really going on? And where does Trinity stand?'" Cooper wrote. Basically, he said, Trinity stands with the liberals and is continuing its dialogue with people who disagree.

"For now," Cooper concluded, "let us remember this debate has been with us for more than a generation, and we have of course maintained and grown our ministries in this period, even while we are engaged in this conversation."

No mention anywhere of a genie.