It wasn't just a friendly invitation. U.S. Episcopal bishops, fed up with Anglican criticism of their support for gay priests, implored the Anglican spiritual leader to hear their side of the story—in person.
Starting Thursday, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will be in New Orleans for that private talk, hoping he can hold together the increasingly fractured world Anglican family.
''If anybody can do it, then somebody of the intellectual stature of Rowan Williams could,'' said Mark D. Chapman, lecturer in systematic theology at Ripon College Cuddesdon in Oxford, England. ''But it is a very tall order.''
Williams arrives in the States facing a real danger that the global Anglican Communion could break up on his watch.
The communion, a 77-million-member fellowship of churches that trace their roots to the Church of England, has always held together members with conflicting biblical views. But debate erupted into confrontation in 2003, when the Episcopal Church consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Ever since, Anglican conservatives, concentrated mainly in developing countries, have been pressing the Americans to promise not to consecrate another gay bishop. The 2.2 million-member Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United States.
Unlike the pope, Williams has no direct authority to force a compromise. Instead, he listens, prays, and seeks to persuade. ''It's eroding and exhausting,'' Williams recently told the National Catholic Reporter, an independent U.S. weekly.
The upcoming U.S. visit has only heightened the pressure on Williams.
In a statement last month, Nigerian archbishop Peter Akinola, an outspoken conservative critic of the U.S. church, condemned Williams' ''failure of resolve'' to get Episcopal leaders in line. A week before Williams was due to arrive in the U.S., two conservative-led Episcopal dioceses—Pittsburgh and Quincy, Ill.—said they were taking the first steps toward breaking with the American church and aligning with an overseas, like-minded Anglican province.
Over the last two months in Kenya and Uganda, Anglican leaders consecrated three former Episcopal priests as bishops to minister to conservatives in the United States. Akinola has started his own conservative parish network, based in Virginia, to rival the Episcopal Church.
Williams, 57, was enthroned as archbishop of Canterbury in 2003 with a record of some support for gay priests. But as leader of the entire communion, he has operated with the understanding that most Anglicans believe the Bible bars gay relationships
Liberals, who believe biblical teachings of tolerance and acceptance are paramount, have been bitterly disappointed. They were outraged last May when Williams said he would not invite Robinson to the Lambeth Conference, a once-a-decade meeting of the world's Anglican bishops.
The Reverend Susan Russell, president of Integrity, the Episcopal gay advocacy group, said the decision showed ''a disgraceful lack of leadership.'' Williams ''has allowed himself to be blackmailed by forces promoting bigotry and exclusion in the Anglican Communion,'' she said.
A separate snub of Williams came from the theological right. Conservative Anglican archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, Australia, and his assistant bishops said they have delayed responding to their Lambeth invitations from the archbishop of Canterbury because they don't want to be at the table with the U.S. bishops who consecrated Robinson.
Some Anglican leaders in Africa followed Sydney's lead, and raised an additional complaint—that Williams didn't invite a breakaway U.S. conservative bishop, the Right Reverend Martyn Minns. Minns leads Akinola's U.S. mission, which violates communion tradition that leaders operate within their own provincial territories.
At the New Orleans meeting the Episcopal House of Bishops will weigh demands from Anglican leaders that the U.S. church pledge not to consecrate another openly gay bishop or authorize official prayers for same-sex couples. If Episcopal leaders fail to agree by September 30, they risk losing their full membership in the communion.
No one expects Episcopal leaders to completely agree to those terms.
In March the Episcopal bishops rejected a key demand that they give up some authority to theological conservatives outside the U.S. church so that conservative U.S. parishes would not have to answer to the church's national leader, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. Schori supports Robinson and blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples.
At the time, Williams called the bishops' decision ''discouraging.''
Williams will spend Thursday and Friday behind closed doors with the U.S. bishops, then will leave while they debate their next move. The Episcopal bishops are expected to announce their decision before the meeting ends on September 25.
''My aim is to try and keep people around the table for as long as possible on this,'' Williams said in April, when he announced he would meet with the Americans. ''If there is to be any change on the church's attitude on gay and lesbian behavior, then I would hope it would be a change of attitude on the part of the church as a whole.'' (Robert Barr, AP)
These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.
Be the first to comment on this story.
If you would like to submit a comment for posting, please fill out the form above.
All comments submitted via this form are subject to posting or publication. (To send a private letter to an Advocate editor or writer, please use the e-mail button at the top of the page, or use snail mail.) If you would like your comment considered for publication in The Advocate magazine, please include your full name, your city of residence, and a phone number where you can be reached during business hours so that we can confirm your identity. Your e-mail address and telephone number are strictly confidential and will not be shared or used for any purpose other than to contact you about your comment.
See the Contact page for sending comments for reasons other than responding to Advocate editorial and news stories.
Please note that comments sent by fax or snail mail are unlikely to be posted, although they will be considered for publication along with all letters received via e-mail or via this Web page. Comments that chiefly concern Advocate.com content will be considered for posting only on the Web site. The Advocate reserves the right to edit submitted comments for grammar, spelling, obscenities, or libel; we will, however, do our best to preserve the original comment's style and intent. Comments considered for publication in The Advocate magazine may also be edited for length.
Home | Contact | Current Issue | LGBT Community Partners | Staff
Jobs | Help
Subscribe: Print Edition Digital Edition | Subscriber Services: Print Edition Digital Edition
Visit our Websites
Out.com | OutTraveler.com | HIVPlusMag.com | Alyson.com | HereTV.com | GayWired.com | SheWired.com
Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Community Guidelines | Legal Notice
Advocate.com © 2009 Regent Entertainment Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.
