Flashes of Episcopal Schism Heating Up

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) With multiple dioceses and churches laying the groundwork to break away from the Episcopal Church, flashes of a full-blown schism within the 2.2 million-member church are heating up. Just this week, three U.S. dioceses that are disappointed with the church’s newly elected presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, separately asked […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) With multiple dioceses and churches laying the groundwork to break away from the Episcopal Church, flashes of a full-blown schism within the 2.2 million-member church are heating up.

Just this week, three U.S. dioceses that are disappointed with the church’s newly elected presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, separately asked to be put under the oversight of a foreign primate.


The three dioceses _ Pittsburgh, South Carolina and San Joaquin, Calif. _ join the Diocese of Fort Worth, which made the same request on June 19, the morning after Jefferts Schori’s election as presiding bishop.

San Joaquin and Fort Worth are two of three dioceses in the Episcopal Church that do not allow the ordination of women. The third diocese is Quincy, Ill.

All five dioceses are part of the conservative Pittsburgh-based Anglican Communion Network, a group of 10 dioceses and about 800 parishes formed after the consecration of an openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire in 2003.

Robinson’s consecration angered conservatives in the 77-million member worldwide Anglican Communion and in the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism. Many “orthodox” Anglicans and Episcopalians in the communion’s 38 geographic provinces consider homosexuality sinful.

In addition, three large Episcopal parishes _ The Falls Church and Truro Church in Virginia, and Christ Church in Plano, Texas _ have indicated that they may soon leave the Episcopal Church.

The Washington Times reported Thursday that the two Virginia parishes have left the denomination. Both churches later said those reports were premature, but said they will soon begin deliberations on their future in the Episcopal Church.

“We think an extended period of study, prayer and deliberation about how we are to respond to the serious rift in our denomination is wise, and we are hoping to engage in such a time this fall,” the Falls Church said in a statement.


Together, Sunday attendance at the three parishes surpasses the entire membership of the Diocese of Nevada, where Jefferts Schori has been a bishop since 2001.

Meanwhile, in an unusual move, a conservative American priest, the Rev. Martyn Minns, was named a bishop Wednesday (June 28) by the Anglican province of Nigeria.

Minns _ pastor of Truro Church in Fairfax, Va. _ will oversee the Convocation for Anglicans in North America, which includes about 20 churches where many Nigerian immigrants worship.

Minns has been a close ally of Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, who has likened Robinson’s consecration to a “Satanic attack upon God’s church.” Minns said he was “truly humbled” and said a search committee would look for his successor.

In a statement, Minns said “no decision has been made about our future plans” and the church has not completed its “discernment process.”

All of this comes amid a proposal from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader to the world’s Anglicans, for a two-tiered membership policy for the Anglican Communion. Those national churches that sign a covenant affirming Anglicanism’s traditional stance on homosexuality could be full members of the Communion, while other churches would be relegated to “associate” status, Williams suggested on Tuesday (June 27).


One day after Williams’ proposal, the Diocese of Newark, N.J., said it is considering an openly gay candidate for bishop, despite a recent resolution from church leaders that calls the church to “exercise restraint” by not electing any more homosexual prelates. Newark will choose its new bishop from a slate of four candidates on Sept. 23.

KRE/JL END BURKE

To obtain a file photo of Akinola and Minns, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

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