c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) One woman and three Southern men have been nominated to lead the Episcopal Church as the badly divided denomination faces an uncertain future and threats of schism after decades of fighting.

The four bishops _ J. Neil Alexander of Atlanta; Henry Parsley of Birmingham, Ala.; Edwin Gulick of Louisville, Ky.; and Katharine Jefferts Schori of Las Vegas _ were nominated Wednesday (Jan. 25) by a 29-member nominating committee to serve as presiding bishop.

The church’s new presiding bishop will be elected to a nine-year term on June 18 at the Episcopalians’ General Convention meeting in Columbus, Ohio. The winner will be installed in November at the National Cathedral in Washington.

Many U.S. churches are watching the Episcopalians closely as they confront inner conflicts over homosexuality and biblical authority _ and the next few years will be a critical test of the church’s ability to remain intact. Whoever is elected will have to guide the U.S. church through painful internal divisions and confront growing isolation from sister churches abroad.

Three of the four bishops come from the church’s Southeast region, which is one of the few areas not losing members. Schori is the first woman nominated for the job. If elected, she would be one of the highest-ranking women ever to lead a major U.S. church.

“We believe any of the persons named, if elected, and with God’s help and the prayerful support of the church, can provide the leadership required in the Episcopal Church at this time,” the nominating committee said in a statement.

Most nominees are considered moderate to liberal, and no one from the church’s conservative wing was nominated. Additional people, however, can be nominated by April 1 in order to allow time for background, medical and psychological tests.

“There is no orthodox candidate, that’s very clear,” said the Rev. Kendall Harmon, a leader of the church’s conservative wing from South Carolina.

Of the four nominees, only Parsley voted against the election of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire in 2003. And while observers say Parsley is sympathetic to evangelicals, he has shown little patience for conservatives who want to break away from the denomination.

One bishop who voted against Robinson and could have gained conservative support is Charles Jenkins of New Orleans, who was reportedly on the final list but withdrew to focus on rebuilding his diocese after Hurricane Katrina.

The church’s current presiding bishop, Frank Griswold, is not allowed to run for a second term under church rules.

Once elected, the new presiding bishop will be the top officer in the 2.3 million-member church, and will represent the U.S. church to the other 37 member churches of the Anglican Communion.

Ever since Robinson’s election, Anglican leaders from the Third World have pressured the American church to repent of its actions, and Anglican leaders in England have grown restless with the go-it-alone policies of their U.S. and Canadian members. So far, the U.S. church has remained mostly defiant.

The presiding bishop has no direct authority over other bishops, and cannot dictate policy within either the U.S. church or the Anglican Communion.

“All of these candidates I’m delighted with,” said the Rev. Ian Douglas, a professor at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. “They’re all strong bishops who could provide good leadership for the church in these times.”

The four nominees are:

_ J. Neil Alexander, 52, of Atlanta

Alexander is perhaps the most liberal of the four nominees, but is widely considered a formidable theologian who has managed to keep his thriving diocese together.

“He’s committed to the progressive stands of the Episcopal Church and he’s just as committed to those people who disagree with him,” said Louie Crew, an openly gay member of the church’s Executive Council from East Orange, N.J.

Alexander is a former Lutheran and has served in Atlanta since 2001. He is said to have a passionate interest in liturgy. He has forcefully defended his support of Robinson’s election in 2003.

“I think we also have to be honest about the fact that, in the minds and hearts of many others among us, the church will never again be the same,” he told his diocese in 2003. “And that’s a very good thing indeed.”

_ Edwin Gulick, 57, of Louisville

Gulick is best known for his work on ecumenism, serving as the co-chair of Anglican-Catholic dialogue in the U.S. and on an international Catholic-Anglican panel. He was ordained in 1974 and served parishes in Maryland and Virginia before he was elected bishop in 1994.

Some observers pin Gulick as the most middle-of-the-road candidate. He voted for Robinson’s election in 2003. He also voted against a conservative-led resolution that said Christians are “conscience-bound” to disobey actions of the church that they feel are unbiblical.

“Bishop Gulick has provided real leadership in ecumenical relationships in the church,” Douglas said, “and that’s really important as Christians consider our call to unity in a hurting and divided world.”

_ Henry Parsley, 57, of Birmingham

Parsley’s name was not a surprise to many who say he has been openly campaigning for the job. He is widely seen as a compromise candidate _ a Southerner with sympathies for conservatives but also a firm commitment to hold the church together.

When overseas Anglican bishops converged in Birmingham earlier this month for a rally with conservatives, Parsley dismissed their call for an apology. “The House of Bishops has expressed our regret for any damage to the bonds between us, and our desire for a sense of healing and reconciliation,” Parsley said flatly.

Parsley, who has been a bishop since 1996, is described as quiet, well-read and respected among the other bishops. “He’s completely committed to working collegially,” Douglas said. “He’s not at all seen _ none of these people are seen _ as an ideologue.”

_ Katharine Jefferts Schori, 51, of Las Vegas

Because of her gender, some consider Schori to be the most exciting _ and potentially complicated _ choice. Schori, ordained in 1994, had served only six years before she was elected a bishop for the small Nevada diocese in 2000.

Schori is described as an open-minded progressive, but certainly not someone who would let herself be defined by gender, labels or ideology. In a speech last November, she suggested that the divisions within the Anglican Communion are caused by a lack of understanding of differences among its 38 provinces.

“None of us hold the fullness of truth, and to claim that we do does violence to the image of God in our neighbors and ourselves,” she said.

It’s not clear, however, if Schori would be accepted as an equal by international Anglican leaders, many of whom still do not accept the ordination of women, much less a woman in a position of leadership.

But her supporters say Schori, who has a Ph.D. in marine biology and is a licensed pilot, would be unflappable.

“I think it would be a marvelous thing (to have a woman in the top post),” Crew said. “Women’s voices are few and far between, and it would be a very different Anglican Communion … if the women were allowed to speak because they would get us back to the important issues.”

MO/PH END ECKSTROM

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