After a two-day strategy session in Virginia, 60 conservative Anglican leaders from around the world warned yesterday that there will be a "dramatic realignment" in their church if U.S. Episcopalians confirm a gay priest as bishop and approve ceremonies blessing same-sex couples.
The church leaders, including 15 U.S. bishops and five archbishops from foreign countries, met behind closed doors at Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax to try to devise a strategy for a looming confrontation over gay issues at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church July 30-Aug. 8 in Minneapolis.
The convention is scheduled to vote on whether to accept the election of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, who was chosen by Episcopalians in New Hampshire last month as their new bishop. Robinson, 56, is living in a 13-year committed relationship with another man, whom he met two years after an amicable divorce.
Delegates to the convention also will vote on a proposal to develop an official liturgy for blessing same-sex unions, a resolution that narrowly failed at the last General Convention three years ago.
At a news conference yesterday, the conservative leaders stopped short of threatening that approval of Robinson's election and same-sex unions would cause a "schism" in the worldwide Anglican Communion, a family of 38 regional and national churches in 164 countries with 75 million members, including 2.3 million Episcopalians in the United States.
They spoke instead of a realignment in which some U.S. parishes might break away from their dioceses, refuse to recognize the authority of their bishops and refuse to pay assessments to the U.S. church. Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, Australia, cited the example of the Canadian diocese of New Westminster, where nine parishes have banded together to declare independence from the diocese since it began celebrating same-sex unions in May.
By speaking of a realignment instead of a schism, the conservatives said they were emphasizing that parishes that remain faithful to traditional teachings against homosexuality are not breaking away from the church. Rather, in their view, such parishes are remaining inside the mainstream of the Anglican Communion.
"Most of the primates of the Communion may not be here physically, but they are with us in spirit," said Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, referring to the heads of the 38 national and regional churches.
In a letter to all 38 primates yesterday, the titular head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, weighed in on the conservatives' side. While he did not state a position on homosexuality in general or the specific questions coming before the General Convention, Williams stressed the importance of unity in the worldwide church.
"What makes this a significant time in the Communion is that a number of the choices faced by various provinces are choices that will clearly take us either nearer real communion or further from it," he wrote.
Earlier this year, a gay priest was chosen as a bishop in a British diocese. But after a six-hour meeting with Williams, the Rev. Jeffrey John withdrew his name on July 6 "in view of the damage my consecration might cause to the unity of our church."
On the other hand, the presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, Frank T. Griswold, wrote to his fellow primates this week saying they have a "sacred obligation" to stay together despite disagreements over sexuality.
Griswold indicated support for Robinson, saying that although his election is "profoundly disturbing" to some Episcopalians, it "is not surprising given that increasingly in our part of the world there is an acknowledgement that some men and women find that their deepest affections are ordered to members of the same sex."
In recent decades, schisms have been threatened many times in the Episcopal Church, including over the ordination of women in 1975, the first female bishop in 1989 and the dismissal in 1996 of heresy charges against a bishop who ordained a gay priest. Some individuals and parishes have joined the Roman Catholic Church, and some have switched their loyalty to orthodox Anglican bishops overseas. But no major schism has occurred.
Conservative leaders declined yesterday to say exactly what they will do if they lose the key votes at the General Convention. "This is a strategy, and it involves an element of surprise," said Kendall S. Harmon, a canon theologian in the diocese of South Carolina.