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‘It will be hard news for a number of members of this church,’ says Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, reacting to Anglican demands that the U.S. branch stop ordaining gay bishops and reject blessings for same-sex couples. (Photo by Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP)
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: ELIZABETH A. PERRY COMMENTS
 
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remember who is the focus of our faith and it is not we, ourselves.”
Gays aren’t the only Episcopalians with concerns, as some local Episcopal clergy and parishioners expressed disappointment in the edicts, saying the Anglican leaders’ demands contradict church tradition, which stresses common prayer and tolerance of different viewpoints. When asked if Washington’s St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church intends to implement any changes in the way its congregation worships, Rev. Susan Blue, rector, said everything is business as usual, as far as she’s concerned.
“Absolutely not,” Blue said. “What they have decided will not affect what we do here.”
Other local believers were pleased with the proceedings.
Rev. Martyn Minns, rector of breakaway Truro Church in Fairfax, Va., and missionary bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), told the Washington Post that business is anything but usual for Episcopal congregations in America, especially for those that split to align with CANA.
Minns’ parish was one of 12 that voted to leave the Virginia Episcopal Diocese and align with CANA, a missionary initiative of the Church of Nigeria. Minns was consecrated a bishop by Akinola and runs CANA. He drew a proverbial line in the sand for more progressive congregations that support gay rights, women’s ordination and the ordination of gay clergy.
“Either they are part of mainstream Anglicanism or they are not,” Minns said.
CANA members are devoted to the worldwide Anglican Community, but consider themselves separate from the U.S. Episcopal Church, which is, at least for now, still part of the Anglican Community.
Whether the U.S. church remains in the Anglican faith community will depend largely on whether it plans to abide by the dictates outlined in the communiqué. Some Episcopalians say they’re not opposed to a schism.
The communiqué did address possible reconciliation. The primates requested the formation of a “pastoral council” to facilitate reconciliation between progressive and conservative Episcopalians and to oversee a clarifying response to the Windsor Report, a 2004 report that called for a moratorium on gay clergy and same-sex unions.
The communiqué, however, clearly acknowledged Anglican dissention.
“If the reassurances requested of the House of Bishops cannot in good conscience be given the relationship between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole remains damaged at best,” reads the document. “And this has consequences for the full participation of the Church in the life of the Communion.”
The communiqué is a rough draft of a new Anglican Covenant the primates worked on during the meeting, held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Feb.<
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