Fate of Episcopal Church in Hands of Anglican Leaders, Not Head

An Episcopal bishop recently revealed that the latest Anglican conference, while publicly centered on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, had a hidden agenda - concern over the issue of homosexuality.

|PIC1|More than 400 people had convened in Boksburg, South Africa, last month for the Towards Effective Anglican Mission (TEAM) conference. While discussing concerns on HIV/AIDS, poverty, women and education, Pennsylvania Bishop Charles E. Bennison said the hidden agenda of the gathered Anglicans "concerned how our House of Bishops would respond by the Sept. 30 deadline set in the Feb. 19 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Communiqué."

Bennison, in his April column, was referring to what reports have indicated as an "ultimatum" set by the communion's Primates (Anglican leaders) who called the Episcopal Church - the U.S. wing of Anglicanism - to unequivocally pledge not to consecrate another openly homosexual bishop or authorise official prayers for same-sex couples. Otherwise, the church could have a much-reduced role in the communion.

Those "demands" by the Primates were "hanging in the air" when Anglicans met in Boksburg, said Bennison, a liberal bishop who is currently facing presentment charges over allegations that he is financially mismanaging the diocese.

At the conference, Bennison asked Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the communion, "When after September 30 will a decision about our place in the Communion be made, and will you be the one to make it?"

Williams responded he would leave the decision to the Primates, not himself. The reply left Bennison "fearful" for the Episcopal Church's future in the Anglican Communion, he stated, noting that the Primates had called for the demands in the communiqué.

"Not only we, but others around the Communion, too, would be profoundly grieved were we dismissed from the Communion or had our membership in it in any way downgraded," he said.

At the same time, Bennison also felt reassured that William's not knowing when a decision would be made about the Episcopal Church's place indicated "no one is rushing to judgment or desirous to dismiss us."

Controversy over scriptural authority and homosexuality heightened in 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated openly gay bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Conservative Anglicans in the United States and the majority of Anglican leaders worldwide cited the Episcopal Church's departure from Anglican tradition and departure from scriptural authority.

Last month, the Episcopal House of Bishops reaffirmed that gays and lesbians are "full and equal participants" in the church and also rejected the Primates' plan for leaders outside the U.S. denomination to oversee the conservative American dioceses that disagree with the Episcopal Church. Dissenting Episcopalians had requested an alternative overseer, rejecting the authority of U.S. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

Williams called the decision "discouraging" and some conservative Anglicans say recent decisions by the Episcopal Church indicate the U.S. body is walking away from the Christian faith.

As many Anglican leaders predict a split in the global communion, Archbishop of York Dr. John Sentamu recently criticized the "endless debates" within the denomination about such issues as the ordination of homosexual persons in an interview on BBC Radio 4. He said it is "a corporate failure of the Church" not to do the ministry of Jesus Christ as the 77 million-member communion continues to be wracked by the controversy over homosexuality.

Meanwhile, Williams challenged churches in the Anglican Communion to be "a safe place" for homosexual persons to share their experience as the global body implements "The Listening Process." While affirming their position that homosexuality is incompatible with Scripture, the communion also called churches to minister pastorally and sensitively to all persons, irrespective of sexual orientation, and to listen to the experience of homosexual persons.