Episcopal Church Dithers On Gays

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/01/011405episcopal.htm


Two days of meetings by the bishops of the Episcopal Church aimed at resolving a bitter battle over the role of gays in the church has produced few results.

In a statement released at the end of the House of Bishops conference, held in Salt Lake City, the bishops said that they expressed regret for pain caused by their decision to ordain Gene Robinson, an openly gay man as Bishop of New Hampshire. (story)

The wording was far from that demanded by Church conservatives who called for an all out apology for putting a gay man at the head of a diocese, and did not even mention Robinson, referring to his ordination as "certain actions of our church.".

are irreconcilable. Eventually the Episcopal church will either split, or the the conservatives will all leave it to go to other denominations.

Either way. Let them go.

However, I am not so certain that it will happen quickly. The Anglican Communion is excellent at making fudge, that is the very logic behind the Elizabethan Settlement (which is the Anglican self-definition).

The ECUSA had a large split in the late '70s over women-priests and modernising services (I know several on both sides of the fence here), and will probably do so again - the problem is money. There are vast amounts of church property (especially clergy pension funds) up for grabs; the liberals do not want to allow the conservatives to take this money with them when they leave; and the conservatives believe that as they and their forebears gave it, they have a right to a portion of it.

There is also a large international dimension, in that the Anglican Communion in Africa (particularly) is incredibly conservative - at the last Lambeth Conference there was the spectacle (caught on T.V. camera) of a Ugandan Bishop trying to cure the leader of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement of his homosexuality. Whilst the liberal wing of ECUSA does not wish to allign with this sort of theology (to be fair many in the conservative wing don't either), as they tend to be liberal politically they don't want to appear to dump the poorer nations which currently receive large amounts of aid from western churches.

In others words, there will be a split, most people I know within ECUSA realise this, but it will take a long time, and there will be many many attempts to paper over the cracks before this happens.

the problems with the anglican communion splitting are large -- but the episcopalian tendency for wallowing in crises doesn't help.
the two sides, liberal{it ain't just about gay folks} and conservative{those damn women priests, can't they just get pregnant and stay in the kitchen?} can't be reconciled.

this division is a microcosm of the split in the country at large -- the liberal struggle for a life affirming, progressive world is just keeping it's head above water dealing with the death affirming, superstitious right.

the split would actually be good for the church and allow the liberals to get on with the business of creating a better faith and better future for the world.

conservatives can only die on the vine -- liberals need to be about the business of not dying with them.