Current mood: apathetic
Thank God for Bishop Stanton:
The host bishop, James Stanton of Dallas, says calling the network schismatic “gets things exactly backwards” because “the act of schism” was the national denomination’s approval for Robinson.
The Associated Press
PLANO, Texas Jan. 19 — Episcopalians opposed to a gay bishop’s consecration and other liberal church trends are threatening to establish a “church within a church” that could pose a significant threat to leaders of the denomination.
A two-day meeting beginning Monday of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes involves conservative bishops, clergy and lay delegates from 12 dioceses with 235,000 members, a tenth of the nation’s Episcopalians.
The network’s temporary leader, Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, says the meeting will give traditionalists “some sense there is a future.”
Delegates will adopt an organizational charter, elect leaders and debate how to help conservative parishes in liberal dioceses. Planners insist the network isn’t a breakaway denomination or schism, but a “church within a church.”
Outside observers and reporters have been barred from the meeting and the network has been tightlipped about most details, including who wrote the charter draft and what it proposes.
One reason conservative parishes don’t want to officially leave the church is that under secular law they usually surrender their properties to the denomination. The Rev. Donald Armstrong, a delegate representing Midwestern and Mountain states, says of his Colorado Springs, Colo., parish, “We’ve got a $12 million facility and we can’t just walk away from it.”
The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the international Anglican Communion, consisting of denominations that stem from the Church of England. Many foreign Anglican churches have denounced or broken fellowship with the Episcopal Church over its November consecration of New Hampshire’s V. Gene Robinson, who has lived for years with a gay partner.
A dispute over network intentions last week showed the edginess of the moment. A leaked memo from a network leader said the “ultimate goal” was a “replacement” jurisdiction aligned with the conservative majority in world Anglicanism.
The host bishop, James Stanton of Dallas, says calling the network schismatic “gets things exactly backwards” because “the act of schism” was the national denomination’s approval for Robinson.
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