Wed. September 26, 2007
Chicago, IL -
Yesterday, bishops of the US Episcopal Church issued a pledge in the final minutes of a week long meeting in New Orleans in the hopes to preventing a split from the 77 million member Anglican Communion.
The meeting was attended in part by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who urged the Episcopal Church to make concessions for the sake of unity.
With the exception of some bishops, leaders of the 2.2 million-member Episcopal Church have been supportive of gay clergy.
Following the consecration of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire in 2003, the Anglican communion, led primarily by African church leaders, has demanded that the Episcopal Church "repent" or be excluded from the rest of the Communion.
The meeting in New Orleans follows a summit of Anglican leaders last February which gave the US Episcopal Church a September 30th deadline to define its position on the issue.
The statement, issued by the Episcopal bishops as a response to the summit, pledged to maintain a moratorium on the consecration of non-celibate gay bishops and public same-sex union blessings over the next two years, until their next General Convention convenes and a more permanent decision could be made.
The pledge also denounced incursions into US dioceses by African archbishops claiming to provide help to dissenting parishes.
Though American bishops were pressured in maintaining the moratorium to keep the world Anglican church from collapsing, their support of gays and lesbians was clear. "We call for unequivocal and active commitment to the civil rights, safety and dignity of gay and lesbian persons," the statement added.
Richard Peete, member of the Chicago Deputation to the 2006 General Convention, told ChicagoPride.com, "I think the Bishops Statement makes clear our wish to remain in communion with our Anglican brothers and sisters by adopting the moratorium and calling the worldwide Anglican Communion into a process of active listening, contemplation, prayer, and discernment. The statement will not go far enough for some, and too far for others. But it is a beginning and I pray it will lead to more conversation in the spirit of God's love and understanding."
The Rev. Tracey Lind, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland and openly a lesbian, is on the list of five candidates to become bishop of the Chicago diocese. Yesterday's moratorum may symbolize an end to any hopes of her becoming the second openly gay bishop in the US.
American bishops hoped the agreement would help defuse the crisis; but many conservative churchgoers, who believe homosexuality is contrary to the Church's teachings, were not content with the pledge, making a split in the Anglican Church a possibility.
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