Representatives
from the Episcopal diocese of Pittsburgh voted
overwhelmingly Friday to approve constitutional amendments
that are the first step in leaving the national church
in a widening rift over homosexuality and
interpretation of Scripture.
Pittsburgh joined
dioceses in San Joaquin, Calif., and Quincy, Ill., in
granting preliminary approval to separating from the
national church, which the dioceses contend have
wrongly abandoned Scriptural authority and traditional
teachings on truth, salvation, and the divinity of Jesus
Christ.
''As a diocese we
have come to a fork in the road,'' Pittsburgh bishop
Robert Duncan said before lay delegates approved the
measures 118-58 and clergy voted 109-24.
''Indeed, it has become clear that our understandings
are not only different, but mutually exclusive, even
destructive to one another.''
The division
between conservatives and the Episcopal Church, the Anglican
body in the United States, has sharpened since the
denomination consecrated New Hampshire bishop V. Gene
Robinson, who is gay, in 2003.
Duncan is among
the leaders of the conservative U.S. movement.
The Pittsburgh
diocese wants to join another province of the Anglican
Communion, a loose-knit worldwide coalition of churches that
align themselves with the Church of England.
The amendments do
not become final unless they are again approved at the
next diocesan convention in November 2008. San Joaquin and
Quincy have yet to take second votes on the changes in
those dioceses, though San Joaquin is scheduled to do
so next month.
Duncan said
Pittsburgh would try to find a way for more liberal
believers to stay in the diocese ''or be given freedom
to separate from us and align more directly with the
wider Episcopal Church.''
The Very Reverend
George Werner, speaking for the Episcopal Church,
praised Duncan for saying that he will try to have liberals
and conservatives continue to share some facilities
and programs, even if the split is finalized next
year.
Werner was still
critical of the vote.
''Splitting the
community is not a good thing,'' Werner said. ''I am one
who has always worked to keep us together. Sinners though we
are, the whole is greater than the sum of our parts.''
A majority of the
77 million-member Anglican Communion hold traditional
views that homosexuality is condemned by Scripture, while a
majority in the Episcopal Church do not.
Diocesan
spokesman Peter Frank said consecrating a gay bishop is a
symptom of the split in the church, not a cause.
''We are in a
church that funds causes that we don't believe are
Christian, such as the Religious Coalition for Reproductive
Choice,'' Frank said. ''We are in a church that has
such a radically different interpretation of what it
means to be a Christian and is forcing that on us.''
(Joe Mandak, AP)
