ECUSA update
The New York Times
February 21, 2007
News Analysis
Many Episcopalians Wary, Some Defiant After Ultimatum by Anglicans
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
There was a time when the Episcopal Church in the United States
was known as "the Republican Party at prayer," but in the last 30
years it has evolved into the Rainbow Coalition of Christianity.
There are hip-hop Masses, American Indian rituals to install a new
presiding bishop and legions of gay and straight priests who don
the rainbow stoles of gay liberation. Its pews are full of Roman
Catholics and Christians from other traditions attracted by its
aura of radical acceptance.
Now the conservatives who numerically dominate the global Anglican
Communion have handed their Episcopal branch in the United States
an ultimatum that requires the church to reel in the rainbow if it
wants to remain a part of the Communion.
With a communiqué issued in Tanzania on Monday after a five-day
meeting, the leaders of Anglican provinces around the world (known
as primates) asked the United States branch to bar gay men and
lesbians from becoming bishops, and to stop official blessings of
same-sex unions. The communiqué even specified a deadline:
Sept. 30.
There is no certainty that Episcopal leaders will now comply. In
interviews yesterday, some liberal and moderate leaders who
constitute a majority in the American church voiced everything
from confusion to serious misgivings to defiance. Many took
umbrage at what they saw as meddling by foreign primates who are
imposing their culture and theological interpretations on the
American church.
"Being part of the Anglican Communion is very important to me,"
said Bishop Mark S. Sisk of New York. "But if the price of that is
I have to turn my back on the gay and lesbian people who are part
of this church and part of me, I won’t do that."
On her way home from the meeting in Tanzania, Katharine Jefferts
Schori, the new presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, wrote
three pages of "Reflections on the Primates Meeting" that were
released late yesterday.
Many in her church had been eager to hear her explain why she
signed onto the communiqué, when she, as much as anyone, is
clearly a product of the church’s inclusive rainbow culture. In
her former diocese in Nevada, she allowed the blessing of same-sex
unions and consented to the election of V. Gene Robinson, an
openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. She is the
first woman to be presiding bishop, and the first woman primate in
the Anglican communion.
In her "reflections," Bishop Jefferts Schori struck a tone of
respect for those on both sides, "Both parties hold positions that
can be defended by appeal to our Anglican sources of authority --
Scripture, tradition and reason -- but each finds it very
difficult to understand and embrace the other."
She suggested that the struggle for equality for gay men and
lesbians would eventually prevail, just as the slaves in Africa
were eventually freed -- an occasion she and the other primates
commemorated last Sunday at a ceremony at the Cathedral in
Zanzibar, the site of a former slave-trading market.
Bishop Jefferts Schori concluded by noting that Lent was about to
begin, and said that both sides in this conflict were being asked
to undergo a "season of fasting"; the liberals from blessing
same-sex unions and consecrating gay bishops, and the conservative
primates from "transgressing diocesan boundaries," which is what
happened when some primates from Africa, Asia and Latin America
recently tried taking control of conservative parishes in the
United States that elected to leave the Episcopal Church.
Conservatives in the church were also wary about the communiqué’s
plan but were generally far more upbeat than the liberals.
The communiqué recommends that the Episcopal Church establish new
positions of authority, a council and a "primatial vicar," who
will have oversight of the conservatives within the Episcopal
Church, so they do not have to turn to primates from other
countries.
Bishop D. Bruce MacPherson of Western Louisiana, who addressed the
primates in Tanzania on behalf of the conservatives, said of the
communiqué’s recommendations, "I believe it to be the beginning of
a process, a mechanism that will enable us to work toward healing
and reconciliation."
Bishop MacPherson said he expected that the House of Bishops would
meet in March to take up the communiqué’s recommendations, and
that the bishops alone would have the authority to decide whether
to accept them.
But already there were questions from Episcopalians who said that
such significant decisions as a moratorium on gay bishops and
blessings, and the creation of a council and primatial vicar,
could not be taken by the House of Bishops alone, but by the
General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which includes lay and
clergy delegates. The General Convention, however, does not meet
this year and is not scheduled for another meeting until 2009.
The communiqué calls for the House of Bishops to "make an
unequivocal common covenant that the bishops will not authorize
any Rite of Blessing for same-sex unions."
Some liberals yesterday were latching on to what they saw as a
loophole because the wording specified that the bishops would not
"authorize" rites. There are many bishops who have not formally
authorized ceremonial rites for gay unions, but who nevertheless
allow priests to perform them. If this is all the communiqué is
requiring, they suggested, the Episcopal Church can live with
that.
"Blessings happen, sure," said Bishop Sisk of New York. "But I
didn’t authorize them."
Bishop MacPherson, however, said that his understanding is that
the communiqué asks the bishops to actually stop the performing of
same-sex blessings in their dioceses.
The most despairing reactions came from gay men and lesbians in
the church, who say this is not reconciliation, but capitulation.
"They’re trying to make people choose between the Communion and
the church’s commitment to gay and lesbian people," said the
Rev. Michael Hopkins, a priest in Rochester and the former
president of Integrity, a long-established organization of gay and
lesbian Episcopalians.
Although the Episcopal Church is known as an inclusive haven,
Mr. Hopkins said, he already knows gay men and lesbians who are
leaving. He said, "People like me can only convince other people
to hang in there for so long."
February 21, 2007
News Analysis
Many Episcopalians Wary, Some Defiant After Ultimatum by Anglicans
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
There was a time when the Episcopal Church in the United States
was known as "the Republican Party at prayer," but in the last 30
years it has evolved into the Rainbow Coalition of Christianity.
There are hip-hop Masses, American Indian rituals to install a new
presiding bishop and legions of gay and straight priests who don
the rainbow stoles of gay liberation. Its pews are full of Roman
Catholics and Christians from other traditions attracted by its
aura of radical acceptance.
Now the conservatives who numerically dominate the global Anglican
Communion have handed their Episcopal branch in the United States
an ultimatum that requires the church to reel in the rainbow if it
wants to remain a part of the Communion.
With a communiqué issued in Tanzania on Monday after a five-day
meeting, the leaders of Anglican provinces around the world (known
as primates) asked the United States branch to bar gay men and
lesbians from becoming bishops, and to stop official blessings of
same-sex unions. The communiqué even specified a deadline:
Sept. 30.
There is no certainty that Episcopal leaders will now comply. In
interviews yesterday, some liberal and moderate leaders who
constitute a majority in the American church voiced everything
from confusion to serious misgivings to defiance. Many took
umbrage at what they saw as meddling by foreign primates who are
imposing their culture and theological interpretations on the
American church.
"Being part of the Anglican Communion is very important to me,"
said Bishop Mark S. Sisk of New York. "But if the price of that is
I have to turn my back on the gay and lesbian people who are part
of this church and part of me, I won’t do that."
On her way home from the meeting in Tanzania, Katharine Jefferts
Schori, the new presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, wrote
three pages of "Reflections on the Primates Meeting" that were
released late yesterday.
Many in her church had been eager to hear her explain why she
signed onto the communiqué, when she, as much as anyone, is
clearly a product of the church’s inclusive rainbow culture. In
her former diocese in Nevada, she allowed the blessing of same-sex
unions and consented to the election of V. Gene Robinson, an
openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. She is the
first woman to be presiding bishop, and the first woman primate in
the Anglican communion.
In her "reflections," Bishop Jefferts Schori struck a tone of
respect for those on both sides, "Both parties hold positions that
can be defended by appeal to our Anglican sources of authority --
Scripture, tradition and reason -- but each finds it very
difficult to understand and embrace the other."
She suggested that the struggle for equality for gay men and
lesbians would eventually prevail, just as the slaves in Africa
were eventually freed -- an occasion she and the other primates
commemorated last Sunday at a ceremony at the Cathedral in
Zanzibar, the site of a former slave-trading market.
Bishop Jefferts Schori concluded by noting that Lent was about to
begin, and said that both sides in this conflict were being asked
to undergo a "season of fasting"; the liberals from blessing
same-sex unions and consecrating gay bishops, and the conservative
primates from "transgressing diocesan boundaries," which is what
happened when some primates from Africa, Asia and Latin America
recently tried taking control of conservative parishes in the
United States that elected to leave the Episcopal Church.
Conservatives in the church were also wary about the communiqué’s
plan but were generally far more upbeat than the liberals.
The communiqué recommends that the Episcopal Church establish new
positions of authority, a council and a "primatial vicar," who
will have oversight of the conservatives within the Episcopal
Church, so they do not have to turn to primates from other
countries.
Bishop D. Bruce MacPherson of Western Louisiana, who addressed the
primates in Tanzania on behalf of the conservatives, said of the
communiqué’s recommendations, "I believe it to be the beginning of
a process, a mechanism that will enable us to work toward healing
and reconciliation."
Bishop MacPherson said he expected that the House of Bishops would
meet in March to take up the communiqué’s recommendations, and
that the bishops alone would have the authority to decide whether
to accept them.
But already there were questions from Episcopalians who said that
such significant decisions as a moratorium on gay bishops and
blessings, and the creation of a council and primatial vicar,
could not be taken by the House of Bishops alone, but by the
General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which includes lay and
clergy delegates. The General Convention, however, does not meet
this year and is not scheduled for another meeting until 2009.
The communiqué calls for the House of Bishops to "make an
unequivocal common covenant that the bishops will not authorize
any Rite of Blessing for same-sex unions."
Some liberals yesterday were latching on to what they saw as a
loophole because the wording specified that the bishops would not
"authorize" rites. There are many bishops who have not formally
authorized ceremonial rites for gay unions, but who nevertheless
allow priests to perform them. If this is all the communiqué is
requiring, they suggested, the Episcopal Church can live with
that.
"Blessings happen, sure," said Bishop Sisk of New York. "But I
didn’t authorize them."
Bishop MacPherson, however, said that his understanding is that
the communiqué asks the bishops to actually stop the performing of
same-sex blessings in their dioceses.
The most despairing reactions came from gay men and lesbians in
the church, who say this is not reconciliation, but capitulation.
"They’re trying to make people choose between the Communion and
the church’s commitment to gay and lesbian people," said the
Rev. Michael Hopkins, a priest in Rochester and the former
president of Integrity, a long-established organization of gay and
lesbian Episcopalians.
Although the Episcopal Church is known as an inclusive haven,
Mr. Hopkins said, he already knows gay men and lesbians who are
leaving. He said, "People like me can only convince other people
to hang in there for so long."