Thousands of cheering conservative U.S. Episcopal leaders kicked off a three-day planning session here on Tuesday that could ultimately split the 77-million- member worldwide Anglican Communion -- churches spiritually tied to the Church of England -- over the American church's acceptance of gay rights.
The Episcopal Church is a "star that has moved away from what we all know and love," the Rev. David Roseberry, rector of Christ Church in Plano, Texas, told members of the American Anglican Council -- an alliance of bishops, clergy, and more than 600 American Episcopal churches committed to "preserving biblical orthodoxy."
"Here we are in the Lone Star state to make a claim that we belong to the Anglican Communion but the Episcopal Church has begun a wayward drift ... that will distort the beauty of the Anglican Communion," he said. His comments drew frequent standing ovations from the crowd of almost 3,000.
"We cannot risk the souls of precious generations to come," Roseberry said. In coming days, he said, the group would plan a course of action to "rebuke, reject, and correct" liberal Episcopalians who support gay rights in the church, and disassociate themselves from the American denomination.
The group also plans to draft an emergency appeal to international Anglican church leaders mostly from Africa, Asia and Latin America, to discipline the American church and provide alternative leadership to conservative American and Canadian church members.
In August the Episcopal Church voted at its convention in Minneapolis to approve as bishop-elect of New Hampshire the Rev. Gene Robinson, a 56-year-old openly gay priest.
The convention also approved a resolution acknowledging that gay union ceremonies are being conducted throughout the United States with the approval of some bishops.
CONSERVATIVES CITE BIBLE
Conservatives believe that homosexuality is uniformly condemned in the Bible and therefore the Episcopal Church in its votes abandoned 2000 years of Christian tradition.
Liberal Episcopalians believe the Bible is not to be taken literally, said the Rev. Susan Russell, who heads two groups working to fully include gays and lesbians in the Church.
Russell and several other prominent liberal members of the church, including two who write for church-related publications, were holed up in the hotel's ninth floor after they were banned from attending the conference because they refused to sign a statement of solidarity with the AAC.
"I'm not so much concerned about being admitted as I am about the church they are modeling," Russell said. "(It's) a church where you have to sign a loyalty oath ... dominated by people of privilege and power. That's not the sort of inclusive vision of the Gospel the Episcopal Church has proclaimed for so many years."
Roseberry explained to the group on Tuesday that this was not an official Episcopal function and that they were not taking official policy votes for the church but they were rather a group committed to finding ways to preserve Biblical orthodoxy.
"We said they were welcome to join us for dinner and join us for (worship) services. (But) our meetings are ours. We must be able to have a family meeting without having to defend ourselves to the person next to us," he said.
Several of the world's 38 international primates have threatened to sever ties with the American church and have thrown their support behind the AAC.
Those primates have been called to London for an emergency meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, on Oct. 15 and 16 to discuss the issue.
Williams, who serves as the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, has predicted that: "Difficult days lie ahead for the Anglican Church."