toledoblade.com --

COLUMBUS - The Episcopal Church, rushing to adopt a stance on gay ordination before its triennial convention ended last night, agreed not to consecrate any candidates for bishop whose personal lives could cause friction with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Developed as a compromise, the broadly worded resolution left many Episcopalians on both sides of the debate about the denomination's inclusion of gays disappointed, but it did leave the door open for future discussions on the subject with other Anglican leaders.

At least 14 conservative bishops issued a statement disassociating themselves from the vote, which they said did not go far enough in answering questions raised by Anglican leaders concerned about the American church's ordination of an openly gay bishop in 2003.

About two dozen liberal bishops also distanced themselves from the resolution, claiming it was not discussed thoroughly and was based on a flawed paradigm "forcing us to choose between two goods - full inclusion in the life of the Church of our brother and sister Christians who happen to be gay or lesbian and our full inclusion in the life of our beloved Communion."

Leaders of the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church had hoped this General Convention would provide clarity about the denomination's future place in the more than 70 million-member Anglican Communion, which includes 37 other autonomous national churches on six continents. Most widely anticipated was action on 11 resolutions formulated by a special commission in response to the 2004 Windsor Report, a communion paper that called on the Episcopal Church to find ways to remain in "the highest degree of communion possible" with the larger church.

Throughout the nine-day gathering, informal discussions centered on how many of the resolutions required passage to satisfy the communion, and emotional debates preceded them all.

One resolution that passed offered the church's "regret" for the events surrounding its confirmation of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson in 2003, including "its sincerest apology" to those members of the communion who were offended by the church's "failure to accord sufficient importance to the impact of our actions."

The Windsor Report had invited the Episcopal Church "to effect a moratorium on the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same-gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges," a marked difference from the fuzzy language of yesterday's resolution. It calls upon diocesan standing committees and bishops "to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams issued a statement yesterday stating that it was "not yet clear how far the resolutions passed this week .●.●. represent the adoption by the Episcopal Church of all the proposals set out in the Windsor Report. The wider Communion will therefore need to reflect carefully on the significance of what has been decided before we respond more fully."

Yesterday's vote highlighted the frustration and anger among bishops, clergy, and laity over the extreme positions on gay inclusion that more than one person said had "hijacked" the denomination.

Prior to the House of Bishops' vote on the resolution, outgoing Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold III warned that Anglican Communion leaders needed "for something clear to come from the Episcopal Church" on the question of gay ordination or American bishops would risk being excluded from key decision-making bodies in the future.

Newly elected Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Shori of Nevada, the first woman to hold the church's top position, spoke to the bishops, and later, the House of Deputies, the other half of the church's bicameral legislature. Despite personal reservations about the resolution, she said failure by the deputies to pass it would be similar to a premature operation separating conjoined twins.

"It's wrong to attempt to separate those twins unless both can live full lives," she said. "I think we are in a church much like that. I don't think we're certain that the two offspring are capable of living separately and healthily."

The president of the church's group for gay, lesbian, and transgendered Episcopalians said she was disappointed not only for her group's members, but for the Episcopal Church.

"We have over 200 resolutions dealing with genocide and the environment and evangelism and children and economic, and instead we spent the whole time fighting about where we fit in the [Anglican] Communion," said the Rev. Susan Russell. "If that doesn't break the heart of God, then God is not paying attention."

The Block News Alliance consists of The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Steve Levin is a reporter for the Post-Gazette.

Contact Steve Levin at:
slevin@post-gazette.com
or 412-263-1919.

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