Homosexuality Issue Tears Anglican Communion as UK Bishop is Rejected

The rift within the Anglican Communion over the consecration of gay bishops and public rites for same-sex marriages is more and more influencing the every-day life of local churches all over the world. The Right Rev Calvin Wendell Bess, the diocesan bishop based in Port of Spain, Trinidad has cancelled the invitation of The Bishop of Chelmsford, the Right Rev John Gladwin after he learnt about Bishop Gladwin's liberal views on homosexuality.

The Chelmsford Diocese had developed a close relationship with Trinidad and Tobago over the years and Bishop Gladwin, together with his wife and a group from the diocese were invited to visit the Caribbean islands. Bishop Gladwin was scheduled to preach at the Family Day observances on Corpus Christi and participate in other activities in the diocese.

However, according to the May edition of the Anglican Outlook, Bishop Bess withdrew the invitation after he learnt Bishop Gladwin and 5 other clergy had expressed their support in the issue of homosexuality to Anglican liberals in North America in a letter sent to The Times in March.

After this discovery Bishop Bess declared that "the Church in the province of the West Indies has made its position on this issue very clear and has described its relationship with the Churches of Canada and the United States as impaired."

In the letter to the editor of The Times, Bishop Gladwin and other five priests expressed: "We do not believe that the different responses of our sister churches to lesbian and gay people are of such significance that we should break the bonds of communion. We welcome the positive steps which will now be taken to engage in dialogue with lesbian and gay people."

The letter continued: "We assure lesbian and gay Christians of our commitment to the principle of the Lambeth conference that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the body of Christ."

"We remain in full sacramental fellowship with all the churches of the Anglican Communion including those of Canada and the United States," the letter said.

After the publication of this letter, several clergy from the Chelmsford Diocese stated they would no longer "share Holy Communion with him [Bishop Gladwin]" according to a release in The Telegraph in March.

Withdrawing the invitation, Bishop Bess said it was "terribly unfortunate", but he could not contradict the position that was agreed in March by the Anglican Churches of the West Indies: "We continue to note with sadness that the developments that have taken place in the Episcopal Church of the United States of America and the Diocese of the New Westminster in the Anglican Church of Canada do not accord with the standard of teaching and practice shared by the majority of the Provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion."

The statement added that the "actions by these two sister churches have created a state of impaired communion between themselves and the overwhelming majority of the Provinces within Communion, including the Province of the West Indies."

Bess said that he has not found the replacement for Bishop Gladwin, but some local bishop would be given the job most likely.