epiScope

Episcopal Church refuses conservatives' demands

U.S. churches won't comply with call to retract position on homosexuality
Houston Chronicle    
June 15, 2007

The executive council of the American Episcopal Church announced Thursday that it would not comply with demands from leaders of the global Anglican Communion to retract the church's liberal position on homosexuality and create alternative supervision for disaffected conservative Episcopalians.

The announcement came a day after the Anglican archbishop of Kenya said he would consecrate an American bishop in Dallas to minister to alienated Episcopalians in the United States, a step considered by many to be outside the bounds of Anglicanism's traditional lines of authority.

It’s all here … and remember, the "alternate supervision" is there: it's called DEPO. But--like most things--it only works if you use it.

Being there

Truly, your editor appreciates the difficulties of the scribe's vocation, having practiced it for pay since the age of...well, let's just say the age of accountability. One of those hardships is that of mandatory remote viewing, wherein a reporter must discern from afar not only the actions but the intentions of a group of diverse and complex individuals (e.g. Episcopalians) because budgets and the rising cost of travel will not permit them to attend every meeting in person.

The Episcopal Church's Office of Communication tries valiantly to relieve some of this stress by providing telephone access to news conferences...subject, of course, to the many vicissitudes of technology, which may or may not oblige us ("Can you hear me now?"). So it was yesterday in Parsippany...and thus we have some interesting results:

Episcopal council rejects key demand from overseas Anglicans, risking split from fellowship
By Rachel Zoll
ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 14, 2007

NEW YORK – A key Episcopal panel defied conservatives Thursday, saying that Episcopal leaders should not cede authority to overseas Anglicans who want the church to halt its march toward full acceptance of gays.

It’s all here …

Anglican Demand for Change Is Rebuffed by Episcopalians
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: June 15, 2007

The executive council of the Episcopal Church announced yesterday that it would not comply with demands from leaders of the global Anglican Communion to retract the church’s liberal position on homosexuality and create alternative supervision for disaffected conservative Episcopalians.

It’s all here …

Anglicans' demand on gays is rebuffed
Top Episcopal officials instead say they'll take up the issue at their General Convention -- in 2009.
By K. Connie Kang
Los Angeles Times
June 15, 2007

A top Episcopal Church panel on Thursday turned down demands from overseas Anglican leaders to stop consecrating openly gay bishops and blessing same-sex unions.

It’s all here …

Overall, just a little more sturm und drang than strictly warranted by the facts. Now compare and contrast the version written by a reporter who was actually on site for the whole shebang.

Executive Council declines to participate in Primates' 'pastoral scheme,' says only Convention makes policy
Members 'respectfully ask' Presiding Bishop to decline as well
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
June 14, 2007

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church's Executive Council told the Anglican Communion June 14 that no governing body other than General Convention can interpret Convention resolutions or agree to deny "future decisions by dioceses or General Convention."

The Council declined to participate in a plan put forward by the Primates of the Anglican Communion in February for dealing with some disaffected Episcopal Church dioceses.

The statement, titled "The Episcopal Church's Commitment to Common Life in Anglican Communion,"  "strongly affirm[ed] this Church's desire to be in the fullest possible relationship with our Anglican sisters and brothers."

And that's all here. No defiance, no marching, no rebuffing or splitting or refusal to comply. Just a simple reminder to all concerned, please, that we do things differently here on Turtle Island...

Blessed institution

Episcopal panel affirms gay support
chicagotribune.com
Published March 9, 2007

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A top Episcopal panel reiterated the church's welcome of gays and lesbians, as it began talks on whether the denomination should meet Anglican demands to roll back acceptance of same-sex couples.

The Executive Council, a committee of clergy and laypeople, issued the statement Sunday at the end of its three-day meeting here. The council also emphasized that Episcopalians with traditional views of sexuality have a place in the denomination.

It's all here ...

CIVIL UNIONS: For gay couples, a world of 'almost'
By Maria Shpolberg
Princetonian Staff Writer
Princeton (NJ)
Friday, March 9, 2007

Frank Mahood and Chet Kabara have been together for almost 24 years. Only now, though, has the state of New Jersey put an official stamp on their longstanding partnership.

Along with numerous other same-sex couples in New Jersey, the two men rushed to have their relationship recognized after the state's civil union law went into effect Feb. 19.

The law was passed in December after the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on Lewis v. Harris, decreeing that the state legislature must allow same-sex couples to marry or engage in civil unions with identical rights and privileges.

Among the Garden State residents who have taken advantage of the new law are three couples affiliated with the University: Mahood and Kabara, Rhonda Edwards and Lauri McVicker, and Paul Raeder and Robert Holly. Though all of the individuals interviewed said they were pleased to receive legal recognition of their status, they also spoke of lingering disappointment at not being able to call themselves fully married.

It's all here ...

Slow, Church

Episcopal bishop tries to ease anxiety
The leader of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. urges calm as church members debate gay rights
Saturday, March 03, 2007
NANCY HAUGHT
The Oregonian

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, leader of the Episcopal Church in the United States, returned to Oregon this week with a word of comfort for all Episcopalians, whether they approve of the course of the American church or not.

"The word is patience," she said in an interview as the Executive Council of the 2.4 million-member American church met at the DoubleTree Hotel at Lloyd Center.

Jefferts Schori, a graduate of Oregon State University and formerly an assistant rector at the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan in Corvallis, attended a tense meeting of Anglican Communion leaders in Tanzania last week. There she came under increasing pressure to reconsider her support for ordaining gay bishops and blessing same-sex couples.

In Portland, she urged calm in "an anxious age." She agreed that members of the American church are divided over the issues that threaten to break the worldwide Anglican Communion.

It’s all here …

Drawing the line
By SUE NOWICKI
Modesto BEE STAFF WRITER
Modbee.com

The much-anticipated meeting of the Anglican Communion leaders in Tanzania is over and the line has been drawn in the sand: The U.S. Episcopal Church — part of the worldwide Anglican Communion — must agree by Sept. 30 not to consecrate another gay bishop or officiate at gay unions or it will face a reduced role in the Anglican family.

The communiqué was signed unanimously, including by U.S. Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, who has fueled international furor with her liberal interpretation of Scripture and political statements.

The ultimatum is in line with the publicized desires of Bishop John-David Schofield of the Diocese of San Joaquin, headquartered in Fresno. He has accused the national church of wandering into apostasy and heresy.

It’s all here …

Episcopal Church carries on amid rift over gays
By Ashley Matthews
Burlington (VT) Free Press
March 2, 2007

SHELBURNE -- Controversy over homosexuals in the church might be shaking the relationship between the U.S. Episcopal Church and the global Anglican Communion, but churches in Vermont's fourth-largest religious denomination are carrying on with faithful lives and Sunday morning services.

At Shelburne's Trinity Episcopal Church, the Rev. Craig Smith said not a single parishioner has asked him about last week's meeting in Tanzania, where Anglican leaders demanded the Episcopal Church clarify a position on homosexuality by Sept. 30. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the Anglican faith.

It’s all here …