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 Episcopal Head Refuses To Back Down On Gay
Clergy At Anglican Summit
by The Associated Press
Posted: February 15, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
(Dar Es Salaam) The head of the U.S. wing of the
Anglican church, who supports ordaining gays and allowing blessing ceremonies
for same-sex couples, will not soften her views even as the issues threaten to
break apart the Christian denomination, her aide said Thursday.
The leaders of the world's 77 million Anglicans,
who are holding a closed meeting this week in Tanzania, said they would discuss
the U.S. response to a 2004 report by an Anglican panel that called for a
moratorium on consecrating gay bishops and blessing same-sex unions.
Splits between Anglicans have been growing for
years, but became a crisis in 2003 when the Episcopal Church — the U.S. wing
of the Anglican Communion — consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene
Robinson of New Hampshire.
The problems mounted last year with the election of
Katharine Jefferts Schori as head of the U.S. church.
"The spirit of Anglicanism will prevail here
and there will be a middle way forward," said Jefferts Schori's aide,
Robert Williams. But he said she "will not waver in her stand for justice
and inclusion of all people in the body of Christ."
Conservative Anglicans have formed a rival
network in the U.S. under the leadership of Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of
Nigeria, who has called the acceptance of gay relationships a "satanic
attack" on the church. Other conservatives have called for a parallel
church within the United States.
The conference was sure to be highly charged over
the rift.
"The basic issue here is what to do about
those who decided they don't want to stay in the main Anglican body," said
Canon Jim Rosenthal, a spokesman for the Anglican Communion.
Akinola gave a letter this week to the spiritual
leader of the communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, which is
believed to demand some concessions to head off a schism. Africa is home to half
the world's Anglicans and is dominated by conservative leaders.
Rosenthal confirmed the letter but said it was
private.
Supporters of ordaining gays believe the Bible's
social justice teachings take precedence over its view of sexuality. However,
most Anglicans outside the U.S. believe gay relationships are sinful, and they
are distancing themselves from the U.S. church.
Williams has struggled to hold off one of the
biggest meltdowns in Christianity in centuries, but he lacks any direct
authority to force a compromise. The Anglican Communion is the world's
third-largest family of Christian churches behind Roman Catholic and Orthodox.
Bishop Martyn Minns of Fairfax, Va. — one of
the most prominent U.S. clerics to leave the American church for Akinola's group
— said Wednesday that it would be best for the U.S. church to "back off
and reconsider" its stance on gays. But, he said, that was highly unlikely.
"It's been tragic, the amount of time and
energy that has been spent on this issue that was initiated by the American
church," he said.
The creation of Akinola's group, called the
Convocation of Anglicans in North America, has been the most dramatic step by
conservatives to encourage a breakaway Episcopal group that would be outside
Jefferts Schori's oversight.
An eventual breakup of the communion would be the
most stunning fallout from struggles over gay relationships that also have
gripped Roman Catholics, Lutherans and others. The Anglican fellowship was
founded in the 16th century by King Henry VIII and spread worldwide by the
British Empire.
Several delegates at the six-day conference,
which brings together the archbishops who head the 38 provinces in the Anglican
Communion, have threatened to refuse to sit with Jefferts Schori over the issue
of gays.
But Rosenthal said Wednesday she is welcome and
was invited by the archbishop of Canterbury.
©365Gay.com 2007
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