'US Episcopal Church Alive & Well' Amid Widening Gay Divide

"I am Bonnie Anderson and I am an Episcopalian."

Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, spoke to fellow Episcopalians within the split Diocese of San Joaquin. Her introductory statement was met with a standing ovation by hundreds of people who chose to remain in the denomination.

|PIC1|"I want to assure you that the Episcopal Church is alive and well and is engaged in important work in the name of Jesus Christ, and we are building the church both here and in other parts of the Anglican Communion," said Anderson over the weekend at Episcopal Church of St John the Baptist in Lodi, California, according to the Episcopal News Service.

The Diocese of San Joaquin, comprised of about 10,000 members, had voted to leave the national denomination in December and affirmed its membership in the worldwide Anglican Communion. References to the Episcopal Church in the diocese's constitution were approved for removal at its 47th annual Convention. But the vote for departure and constitutional amendments will not become final unless it receives a two-thirds majority vote at a convention in October of 2007. If approved, it would be the first diocese in the Episcopal Church to leave.

San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield, who does not support the ordination of women and homosexuals, was present but made no remarks at the Episcopal gathering in which Anderson spoke.

Anderson told the gathering of some 350 Episcopalians, including members from the group Remain Episcopal - established for those who disagree with the Diocese of San Joaquin and remain committed to the Episcopal Church - that they will be "supported and defended".

"You will not be left alone," she told them. "We have God's mission to do together in the world and we need to get past these distractions."

Divisions have centred on scriptural authority and homosexuality, a division which heightened with the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop. The majority of the clergy and lay delegates in the San Joaquin Diocese approved the decision to distance itself from the Episcopal Church. US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori called the move "extracanonical actions" as she expressed lament.

"Many people in our diocese feel the Episcopal Church has left the Anglican Communion and many feel [the Episcopal Church] has left Christianity," said Tom Melry of St Mary's Episcopal Church in Fresno during a question and answer session on Saturday, according to the Episcopal News Service. "I don't feel the Lord wants us to separate."

Orthodox Episcopalians, however, disagree. Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion recently proposed a separate orthodox Anglican structure that would operate independently from the Anglican Communion until the global body removes the US Episcopal Church. The proposal was made to each of the 38 Anglican primates who will be meeting in Tanzania for a critical meeting on Wednesday. Lay Episcopalians have called for a prompt solution to what they say is a "bleeding in America".

Meanwhile, Schofield said that anyone who does not agree with him can leave the diocese and take their property and other assets with them, or have another bishop provide pastoral care.