The outgoing leader of the Anglican Church has warned of a possible schism over
the issues of homosexual marriage and ordination.
At a speech to the Anglican Consultative Council in Hong Kong, Archbishop of
Canterbury George Carey said his "greatest worry" was that the
Anglican Church "is being steadily undermined by dioceses and individual
bishops taking unilateral action, usually ... in matters to do with
sexuality."
If the process continued, the Archbishop warned Monday, two or more distinct
churches could emerge from the fray.
"This erosion of communion ... has been going for some thirty years but in
my opinion is reaching crisis proportions today," he said.
The Archbishop specifically pointed out a decision by the diocese of New
Westminster in Vancouver, Canada, to bless same-sex unions.
"Dioceses in similar situations in North America seem to be making such
decisions without regard to the rest of us," he said. "I believe far
too much energy is going into fanning the flames of argument on these matters
that divide us."
Carey will step down from his post next month to make room for Rowan Williams,
a bishop who holds liberal views on homosexual issues.
Williams' nomination for the top Anglican post initially drew protests from
traditionalists inside the church, but the Archbishop-elect has promised not to
impose his personal views on church doctrine.
A motion passed at the church's 1998 Lambeth Conference opposed gay marriages
and gay priests, and although Williams voted against the measure at the time,
he said last month that he would let the rule stand.
Church reaction
George Curry, chairman of the evangelical Church Society, said Carey's speech
pointed out a serious threat to the church.
"The Archbishop has woken up to this issue a bit too late," he said.
"The Anglican Church has put itself into too many knots over both this
issue and the issue of the ordination of women."
"The church is disintegrating," Curry said. "What's essential on
an international and a national level is that we are being seen as faithful to
the Bible."
Curry blamed strife inside the church on "people who call themselves
Anglicans but who don't go along with the Bible and the teachings of the
church."
"The only way we can avoid schism is for people to come and submit to the
Bible," he said.
But the Rev. Cassandra Howes, chairwoman of the Lesbian and Gay Christian
Movement, said that including homosexuals at all levels of the church was a
"gospel imperative."
"Respect must be shown for the New Westminster decision," she said.
"It was born out of pastoral concern for gays and lesbians."
Howes said that while she didn't believe that a schism is imminent, the incoming
Archbishop will have to find a way to address internal conflicts without
causing massive divisions.
"The job of Rowan Williams will be to hold the church together in unity,
but he must also allow the church to engage in social issues," she said. "The
issue of lesbian and gay people won't go away."