Ed Vitagliano
AFA Journal news editor
August 2006 – At its annual General Convention in June, the Episcopal Church edged closer to schism, as the denomination’s mostly liberal leadership shrugged off demands of conservatives worldwide to stop its headlong rush to embrace homosexuality.
The struggle within the Episcopal Church between traditionalists and progressives, who see homosexuality as merely another variation of human sexuality, came to a head in 2003. That was the year that the Episcopal Church’s General Convention, with the approval of two-thirds of the denomination’s bishops, elected as bishop of New Hampshire an open and practicing homosexual – Gene Robinson.
Since the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, with a total membership of more than 77 million, the election of Robinson did not occur in a vacuum. In fact, much of the rest of the Anglican leadership was furious, especially those from the Biblically conservative “Global South” – Africa, Asia and Latin America.
That fury, in turn, caused Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and titular head of the Anglican Communion, to call for a special commission to deal with the actions of the Episcopal Church. In 2004 the commission issued the Windsor Report, which made specific recommendations, on behalf of the Anglican Communion, to the U.S. branch.
“The Windsor recommendations were not general, arm-waving aspirations; they were precisely focused, thoroughly thought through and carefully worded,” said Dr. N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham, England. These recommendations “were the essential requirements if [the Episcopal Church] were to continue in full communion and fellowship with the rest of the Anglican Communion.”
The Windsor Report made three major demands of the Episcopalian leadership: the U.S. denomination must “express its regret” for electing Robinson to the bishopric – in effect, to repent of its decision; the Episcopal Church would “effect a moratorium on the election and consent to the consecration” of any more gay bishops; and that it would stop blessing same-sex unions in its churches, as some of the Episcopal dioceses had been doing.
So, at its General Convention in June, how did the Episcopal Church respond to conservative concerns and the recommendations of the Windsor Report?
The denomination’s initial step was to elect, for the first time in its history, a woman – Katharine Jefferts Schori – as new presiding bishop, who is the figurehead representative of the Episcopal Church. The election of Schori, the bishop of Nevada, angered many conservatives because most Anglicans worldwide do not accept women in the role of bishop, let alone as head of an Anglican province. Moreover, Schori had voted in 2003 in favor of Robinson’s election and has been vocal in her support of gay clergy and blessing same-sex unions. In fact, the day after her election, Schori told CNN that she believed that a gay or lesbian sexual orientation was a gift from God.
The news for conservatives got worse when the General Convention passed two resolutions that sidestepped the very clear demands of the Windsor Report. Episcopal delegates passed one resolution which merely expressed regret for the pain that Robinson’s election caused conservatives but stopped short of repenting of the actual vote.
Another resolution – which was non- binding – simply asked that Episcopal leadership “exercise restraint” when considering homosexual candidates for the bishopric. That was far short of a moratorium, and 30 liberal bishops quickly said they would refuse to honor the resolution, even in its non-binding form.
On the issue of blessing same-sex unions, the General Convention simply chose to do nothing.
What will be the fallout for the Anglican Communion as a result of Episcopal inaction? One Anglican conservative told the London Times the Communion was “descending into anarchy”
One possible outcome could be that the Anglican Communion might reject the Episcopal Church outright, no longer considering it a part of worldwide Anglicanism. Conservative elements within the U.S. branch would then come under the oversight of orthodox, overseas bishops.
Or both liberals and conservatives might coexist in the U.S., out of communion with each other but remaining in communion with the other Anglican provinces.
If nothing happens immediately, however, the next major opportunity for a resolution to the friction would come at the next global Anglican summit – the Lambeth Conference in 2008. What the Episcopals might do differently then, as opposed to what it didn’t do in June, is still unclear. 
