A key committee
of the U.S. Episcopal Church, responding to criticism
from fellow Anglicans worldwide for the consecration of an
openly gay bishop, approved on Saturday an expanded
and more strongly worded apology for the action. The
same panel has yet to decide how to respond to two
related issues dominating the triennial convention of the
2.3 million-member U.S. church -- the blessing of
same-sex unions and the consecration of other gay
bishops in the future.
The special
committee passed the apology resolution and sent it to two
legislative bodies at the convention that must approve final
policy. One consists of 230 bishops, the other of more
than 800 diocesan representatives, both lay and
clergy.
It was at the
last such convention in 2003 that the church approved the
consecration of Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first
bishop in more than 450 years of Anglican history
known to be in an openly gay relationship. Issues such
as the apology have divided the U.S. branch the
Anglican Communion, as the 77 million-member worldwide
church is called.
Many who
supported the Robinson elevation say they are not sorry for
what they did. But conservatives are still upset by
it, and some U.S. churches have placed themselves
under the jurisdiction of bishops elsewhere in the
world in protest. The approved statement says the U.S.
church expresses its "regret for breaching the proper
restraints of the bonds of affection" with the events
surrounding the 2003 convention and "the consequences
which followed." It offers the church's "sincerest
apology" to those "who are offended by our failure to
accord sufficient importance ... to the impact on our
church" and asks "forgiveness as we seek to live in
deeper levels of communion one with another."
An earlier
proposal basically repeated an apology the bishops had
issued in 2005 expressing regret "for the pain that
others have suffered" by Robinson's elevation. The
apology is subject to possible revision by the
convention's two houses before the meeting ends next
Wednesday.
Robinson's
consecration triggered dissent not only within the U.S.
church but also from Anglicans in other parts of the
world, especially Africa, where homosexuality is often
taboo. The committee was charged with responding to
the Windsor Report, a paper issued at the behest of the
archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. It advised the
Episcopal Church to apologize for the Robinson
elevation, not do any more like it and make it plain
it opposes the blessing of same-sex unions. (Reuters)