EVERYONE OUT OF STEP BUT US

Archbishop fears Anglican split over gays
(AP/CP, February 25th. 2005)

On Thursday, the Anglican leaders asked the U.S. Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada to withdraw from a key council of the global communion for three years because of the election of a gay bishop in the United States and the blessing of same-sex unions there and in Canada. Some fear the move could be the first step toward a permanent split in the 77-million-strong church.

The request was made following a Northern Ireland meeting that the Anglican leaders, or primates, convened on the crisis.

In a statement, the bishops called on the U.S. and Canadian churches to “voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference,” an international Anglican gathering to be held in 2008.

The Episcopal Church, which is the U.S. province of Anglicanism, precipitated the most serious rift in the communion's history when it consecrated V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire in November 2003. Robinson lives with his long-time male partner. Conservatives have also criticized North American dioceses for allowing blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples.

The North Americans have been asked not to attend the next meeting of the consultative council, a body of bishops, priests and lay people from national Anglican churches who meet and consult in between the once-a-decade Lambeth Conferences for the primates.

Anglican leaders also recommended, however, a special hearing be organized at the council's gathering in June to allow the North American churches to send representatives who could explain their views on homosexuality.

“In the meantime, we ask our fellow primates to use their best influence to persuade their brothers and sisters to exercise a moratorium on public rites of blessing for same-sex unions and on the consecration of any bishop living in a sexual relationship outside Christian marriage,” the statement said.

Despite the rift, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said the meeting was conducted on good terms.

The strategy of the pro-gay, liberal forces seems to be to keep the issue a subject of perpetual dialogue that is never brought to a head and resolved. Presumably this stems from their conviction they are the voice of cutting-edge progressive enlightenment and that the ignorant conservatives will eventually find their way out of the darkness or die off.