Episcopal Leaders Weighing Same-Sex Unions, Gay Clergy
By Michelle Boorstein and Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 21, 2007
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Communion, made a rare visit yesterday to a meeting of Episcopal bishops to urge them to compromise in the face of international pressure over their approval of same-sex unions and gay clergy.
The appearance of Archbishop Rowan Williams yesterday and today in New Orleans at the biannual bishops' meeting of the Episcopal Church, the Communion's U.S. branch, underscores the gravity of the confrontation between worldwide Anglican leaders and bishops. The bishops are discussing "requests" the leaders made in February that the U.S. church backtrack from its increasing acceptance of gays and lesbians. A response was requested by Sept. 30.
The meeting began yesterday and ends Tuesday.
The infighting that has raged for years in the Episcopal Church over Scripture and sexuality has centered on left vs. right. But as the meeting approached, focus shifted to those in the middle, who experts say might hold the answer to how far the centuries-old church -- and perhaps other denominations -- might splinter.
One of the most visible middle-grounders at the meeting is Louisiana Bishop Charles E. Jenkins, who voted against the controversial confirmation in 2003 of openly gay New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson. Saying that he is desperate to turn the Communion's attention toward serving the poor, Jenkins released a letter this week signed by 11 like-minded bishops pledging "to sacrifice" for the church to remain together.
No one expects the mostly liberal Episcopal Church to fully give in. Although thousands of Episcopalians have left the U.S. church in recent years -- including those in 19 Virginia congregations -- to join more conservative branches of the Communion based overseas, U.S. church leaders have generally dismissed them as a dissident minority.
But four U.S. dioceses recently said they might try to leave if they don't like what happens at the meeting in New Orleans. At least a half-dozen bishops sympathize with that position. These are mostly bishops who have echoed conservatives' concerns that Jesus's primacy is being watered down but who think the global debate about how to read the Bible is an enduring one. The fence-sitting bishops have been the target of an intense lobbying campaign.
Hoping to keep the Episcopal Church from losing many more members -- and to keep it in the good graces of the Communion -- liberals have been courting the middle-ground bishops. Written drafts that attempt to stake out a theological middle ground have been circulating, insiders say.
"They are getting phone calls from folks on the progressive side," said Peter Frank, spokesman for the Anglican Communion Network, a group of 10 Episcopal dioceses with almost 200,000 members whose goal is to "ensure an orthodox Anglican Province in North America." However, Frank said, "this has defied . . . a middle point. That's what's been so hard for everyone."
But more is at stake than the 2.2 million-member Episcopal Church, or even Anglicanism, experts say. Other faith groups, including Presbyterians, Muslims and Jews, are struggling with similar debates about issues such as whether Scripture should be taken in historical context and how much weight should be given to centuries-old interpretations.
Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun, wrote this week in the National Catholic Reporter: "The struggle going on inside the Anglican Communion . . . is not peculiar to Anglicanism. The issue is in the air we breathe. The Anglicans simply got there earlier than most. And so they may well become a model to the rest of us how to handle such questions."
"The mainline Protestant denominations are watching this very nervously," said Philip Jenkins, professor of history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University.
Because of Anglicanism's loose governing structure, the heads of the Communion's 38 provinces can't force the Episcopal Church to make changes. Each province is self-governing, but all are linked by their connection to the archbishop of Canterbury. He acknowledges bishops in good standing by inviting them to the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference, which will be held next year.
But large, conservative national churches unhappy with the U.S. church, such as the Church of Nigeria, could band together and split the Communion; that is the worst-case scenario in the minds of many middle-grounders.
In a show of sympathy with the U.S. church, when Williams, the archbishop, sent out the 2008 invitations this spring, he included all the U.S. bishops except Robinson. However, he has said in interviews that he does not view gay rights as an issue worth dividing the Communion and thinks unity should come first.
The Episcopal Church agreed last year to officially discourage the election of openly gay bishops, and it has not adopted a formal marriage rite for same-sex couples, although some bishops allow such ceremonies.
In February, Anglican leaders also asked the Episcopal Church to create a separate leadership structure within the U.S. church for conservatives who see Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as too liberal. Jefferts Schori offered a structure years ago, but most conservatives rejected it because she was the one picking her substitutes.
In a possible sign of compromise in New Orleans, eight conservative bishops accepted Jefferts Schori's offer to be stand-ins during routine visits, the Episcopal News Service reported yesterday.
Jenkins, the Louisiana bishop, said before the meeting that he sees middle-grounders "willing to make sacrifices. . . . I see something spiritually happening." But the letter he released showed the complexities: "We reject as sinfully faulty those actions that would splinter this Communion," it says, also calling for alternative leadership "satisfactory to those who plead for such oversight."
It is unclear what an acceptable middle ground would look like. For some, halting the ordination of gay clergy and same-sex blessings would be enough. Others think the theological chasm is too wide .
This month, the Pittsburgh diocese outlined steps to leave the Episcopal Church if the U.S. bishops don't adhere to the dictates outlined in February. Divisions of some sort are expected in Fort Worth, San Joaquin, Calif., and Quincy, Ill.
Northern Indiana Bishop Ed Little said he thinks the requests made in February are appropriate. He said he does not plan to leave the Episcopal Church but is looking for a compromise. But how to do that, he asked, for example, on the question of authorizing same-sex unions?
"Is there a middle ground, where we retain the clear teaching that we are not authorizing the liturgy, but some folks are cut some slack? I'm not sure how that is done," he said this week.
The Very Rev. Martha Horne, who recently retired as dean of the Virginia Theological Seminary, the largest Episcopal seminary, said the search for compromise goes beyond the 77 million-member Anglican Communion.
"What's happening here will touch every religious group, eventually," she said. "It's about power; it's about authority."
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