Episcopal Head Supports Bishops' Resolutions
Following resolutions passed by Episcopal bishops that indicated rejection of several demands by the global Anglican family, the Episcopal head highlighted the urgency for a meeting with Anglican leaders worldwide.
"I think that the bishops of the Episcopal Church very much want Rowan Williams and the members of the Primates' Standing Committee to hear directly from us about our concern for all members of this church, those we agree with theologically and those with whom we disagree, gay and lesbian members of our church and those who find it difficult to countenance blessing unions or ordaining gay and lesbian people," said U.S. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori at a news conference on Wednesday, according to the Episcopal News Service.
"I think there is some belief in this House [of Bishops] that other parts of the communion do not understand us very well," she said, adding that other Primates (Anglican leaders) should also be invited to hear concerns from the Episcopal Church.
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Her comments come just after a meeting with the Episcopal House of Bishops, which again made clear that "all God's children, including gay and lesbian persons, are full and equal participants" in the church. The bishops also said they cannot accept the Primates' request of establishing a council of leaders outside the Episcopal Church to oversee conservative American dioceses that disagree with the U.S. denomination.
Those resolutions were in response to a communiqué issued last month by the Anglican Primates which called the Episcopal Church to respond to a moratorium on the ordaining of homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions by Sept. 30.
Jefferts Schori, who had agreed with Anglican Primates, to a period of restraint, expressed support for the resolutions. "They have emerged as a sense of the House [of Bishops] and as leader of this house I certainly will support them," according to the denominational news service.
"The bishops of TEC (the Episcopal Church) are convinced that their policies of gay inclusion are non-negotiable, and even the Presiding Bishop has made clear that there is 'no going back' on actions and commitments made on this score," said the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner is rector of Church of the Ascension, Pueblo, Colo., in a released statement.
The Episcopal Church had consecrated an openly gay bishop in 2003, widening rifts in the Anglican Communion over theological differences and the issue of homosexuality.
While conservative Anglican leaders saw this week's Episcopal meeting as a step away from the Anglican Communion and a surprise quick response before the Sept. 30 deadline, Jefferts Schori clarified that the Episcopal bishops "did not begin to respond to the Primates' communiqué in that area" (gay bishops or same-sex blessings).
"We did not talk about gay bishops or same-sex blessings," she said, the Episcopal News Service reported.
Bishop Mark Sisk of New York said the statement that all God's children, including homosexuals, are full and equal participants in the life of the church "was not intended to signal anything more than what it says. We did not discuss the moratorium."
Others still saw the statements that emerged from the meeting as a rejection to the moratorium.
The conservative American Family Association founder Donald Wildmon said in OneNewsNow that liberals in the Episcopal Church have said "this is what we're going to do: we're going to ordain homosexual bishops, we're going to accept homosexual priests - the whole ball of wax. You conservatives can get lost."
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, called the Episcopalians' decision "discouraging."
Episcopal bishops are scheduled to respond to the remaining aspects of the communiqué at their next meeting in September.
