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Conservatives in Episcopal Church Seek to Split into New Denomination
November 23, 2008 08:00 AM
by
Anne Szustek
Disagreements over the role of gays in the church and the interpretation of scripture are pushing conservative Episcopalians to leave the church in favor of a new U.S. church also under the Anglican Communion.
Conservatives Seek to Break Free From Episcopal Church
Bishop Martyn Minns, a leader of conservatives in the Episcopal Church, the American branch of the Anglican Communion, is part of a board that is drafting a constitution for a new church that would be a "separate-but-equal" conservative counterpart to the Episcopal Church.
"I have tried to see if we can create a safe haven (for traditional views) within the Episcopal Church, but failed," Minns told Reuters.
A rift over doctrinal interpretation had been dividing the church for some time. The Canadian Anglican Church and the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, have quietly accepted church blessings of same-sex couples for some time. And in 2003, the Episcopal Church ordained openly gay bishop V. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire.
The liberal shift has alienated some American Episcopalian parishes to the point of disaffiliating their parishes from the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion in favor of joining African branches of the church, who generally maintain conservative views on gays.
Out of the 110 Episcopalian dioceses in the United States, four have split from the American province of the Anglican Communion. Previous to their dissafiliation, fewer than 100 out of 7,100 parishes had agreed to leave, according to the Episcopal Church.
Robinson's ordination is thought to be a main sticking point for traditionalist bishops from the developing world, of whom 230 boycotted the Lambeth Conference, the decennial meeting of bishops from the Anglican Communion, instead attending the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon), which was held in Jerusalem in June.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said in August, during his closing statement at Lambeth, "If the North American churches don't accept the need for moratoria...we are not further forward. That means as a communion, we continue to be in grave peril."
Williams' statements were meant to stop the church from further schism. Robinson was not invited to the Lambeth Conference.
The role of gays was a main topic of a meeting of 160-odd Episcopal bishops in New Orleans in September 2007. In a move to assuage conservative dioceses, the clergy pledged to “exercise restraint” and not instate more gay bishops or formulate a liturgy for same-sex matrimony.
The 1998 conference ruled that gays should be embraced as members of the church, yet it “cannot advise” ordination of homosexuals or bless gay marriages.
Questions over the role of women as clergy in the Anglican Communion have also come to the fore as of late.
This past summer, the Vatican admonished the Church of England, that country's branch of the Anglican Communion, for passing a resolution confirming the right of women to serve as bishops on the grounds that it “is a rift to the apostolic tradition” of only having men in that church position.
The Episcopal Church has had a female bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, as its head since June 2006.
"I have tried to see if we can create a safe haven (for traditional views) within the Episcopal Church, but failed," Minns told Reuters.
A rift over doctrinal interpretation had been dividing the church for some time. The Canadian Anglican Church and the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, have quietly accepted church blessings of same-sex couples for some time. And in 2003, the Episcopal Church ordained openly gay bishop V. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire.
The liberal shift has alienated some American Episcopalian parishes to the point of disaffiliating their parishes from the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion in favor of joining African branches of the church, who generally maintain conservative views on gays.
Out of the 110 Episcopalian dioceses in the United States, four have split from the American province of the Anglican Communion. Previous to their dissafiliation, fewer than 100 out of 7,100 parishes had agreed to leave, according to the Episcopal Church.
Robinson's ordination is thought to be a main sticking point for traditionalist bishops from the developing world, of whom 230 boycotted the Lambeth Conference, the decennial meeting of bishops from the Anglican Communion, instead attending the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon), which was held in Jerusalem in June.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said in August, during his closing statement at Lambeth, "If the North American churches don't accept the need for moratoria...we are not further forward. That means as a communion, we continue to be in grave peril."
Williams' statements were meant to stop the church from further schism. Robinson was not invited to the Lambeth Conference.
The role of gays was a main topic of a meeting of 160-odd Episcopal bishops in New Orleans in September 2007. In a move to assuage conservative dioceses, the clergy pledged to “exercise restraint” and not instate more gay bishops or formulate a liturgy for same-sex matrimony.
The 1998 conference ruled that gays should be embraced as members of the church, yet it “cannot advise” ordination of homosexuals or bless gay marriages.
Questions over the role of women as clergy in the Anglican Communion have also come to the fore as of late.
This past summer, the Vatican admonished the Church of England, that country's branch of the Anglican Communion, for passing a resolution confirming the right of women to serve as bishops on the grounds that it “is a rift to the apostolic tradition” of only having men in that church position.
The Episcopal Church has had a female bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, as its head since June 2006.
Video: ‘Anger at Church “Gay Wedding”’
The Rev. Dr. Martin Dudley, who presided over Cowell and Lord’s ceremony, is now insisting that it was “a blessing” rather than a full-fledged rite of matrimony. But the BBC said that Dudley found it “hypocritical that the church accepted civil partnerships, but not just in church.”
Source: The BBC
Background: The 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution on gays, lead-up to 2008 conference
Anglican Communion bishops at the 1998 Lambeth Resolution agreed to “uphold faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union,” however “recognizes that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation” and “calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation,” however the Church “cannot advise the legitimizing or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions.”
Source: Lambeth Conference
In addition to curbing ordination of gay bishops, Episcopal bishops disparaged parishes that sought to disaffiliate with the decidedly liberal U.S. central church in favor of joining Anglican dioceses based in the developing world, which tend to be more disapproving of same-sex relationships. One such example is of Massachusetts’ Rev. William Murdoch, who joined the clergy of the Anglican Church of Kenya. His congregation left its Episcopal-run building and bought an old Catholic church. The church is now officially affiliated with the Kenyan branch of the Anglican Communion.
Source: The Boston Globe (free registration may be required)
The General Synod, the Anglican Church’s governing body, passed a resolution the evening of July 7 to allow women to be ordained as bishops. Some traditionalists now say that they will leave the Anglican Church for the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican issued a statement the next day saying that the Anglican Communion’s move “is a rift to the apostolic tradition” of ordaining only men as bishops.
Source: findingDulcinea
As many as 500 Anglo-Catholic priests are gearing to resign “after failing to secure the concessions that they had sought over women bishops,” reports U.K. paper The Times. Bishops in the Church of England, the U.K. branch of the Anglican Communion, are giving the red light to a proposal to create traditionalist dioceses.
Source: The Times of London
Last month, the Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul, the head of the Anglican Church in Sudan, called for the ouster of Rev. Gene Robinson, who is gay, as a bishop of the Episcopal Church in America. Bul claims that 200 other Anglican bishops from developing countries support his statements.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Related Topic: ‘Vatican Puts Its Foot Down on Female Priests’
The Vatican announced May 29 it will excommunicate anyone who attempts to ordain a female priest, as well as the woman herself. Catholics who are excommunicated cannot receive the sacraments.
Source: findingDulcinea
Reference: The Anglican Communion
Anglicans are associated with the Church of England, established by King Henry VIII following a dispute with Pope Clement VII regarding the dissolution of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Episcopalianism is the strain of Anglicanism that developed in the United States. The Anglican/Episcopalian faith boasts about 70 million adherents around the globe and is thought to fall somewhere in between Catholicism and Protestantism on the theological spectrum. FindingDulcinea’s Web Guide to Protestantism includes sites to further explore the Anglican Communion, the umbrella organization for the Episcopal and Anglican churches.
Source: findingDulcinea
© 2010 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
