Episcopal Meeting Opposes Church on Gays

October 6, 2003, 2:16 PM EDT


DALLAS -- Episcopal Church conservatives decided last spring to call a strategy meeting where they expected a few hundred people to voice concern about the faith's increasing acceptance of gay relationships.

Now their gathering, which opens Tuesday, has mushroomed into a huge protest rally with 2,600 Episcopal clergy and lay members from every state.

Two actions the denomination took at its midsummer convention in Minneapolis have conservatives angry enough to consider breaking with the church: the confirmation of a bishop living with a gay partner, and a vote to recognize -- though not endorse or condemn -- the fact that bishops are allowing blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples.

The Episcopal Church won't be splitting apart this week, but the meeting could begin such a process. The presence in Dallas of 45 of the church's 300 bishops underscores the gravity of the situation.

more..................

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-episcopalians-gays,0,5187082.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

let's hope that they go start their own private organization. I talked to a conservative Episcopal recently, and they would split off instantly if it were not for the property. Not only do they want to keep the property of their local organizations, which is most understandable, but they want to avoid letting the pro-gay faction getting any property. It's about money, not about the love of Jesus.

Has only lost 2 or 3 members, most people I didn't mind losing. Plus we gained a lesbian lawyer. A lot of it is overblown.

I'm delighted that these rednecks are exiting the traditional Episcopal church. They have only kept the church from becoming an even more potent, progressive leading force in the USA.

The same type of thing happened after the national church approved the ordination of women. A few die-hards withdrew from the national organization and founded a group called something like The Anglican Church U.S.A.

Back when I was church-shopping in Portland about 12 years ago, I accidentally ended up at one of those parishes. What a smug, grumpy, rule-bound bunch of people they were. I was not yet officially an Episcopalian, and there was a notice in their bulletin saying that all visitors who wished to receive Communion would have to clear it with the priest ahead of time to make sure that they had been confirmed by a bishop in apostolic succession. The sermon was all about how they were right and everyone else was wrong.

I never went back, even though it was only four blocks from where I ended up living, unless some outside group rented it for a concert. The parish I actually attended during my time in Portland, was small, diverse (I once remarked that their slogan should be, "We have one of everything"), and friendly in every respect.

So I predict that a few parishes will withdraw from the national church, perhaps joining up with the Anglican Church U.S.A., and then they can spend the rest of their lives sitting around and patting one another on the back for being so "pure."

Meanwhile, the Episcopal Church will continue to attract a small but steady stream of people who, as a PR poster from several years back said, want a church where "you don't have to check your brains at the door." It has a much higher percentage of converts than the typical Protestant denomination, so much so that lifelong members sometimes jokingly brag about being "cradle Episcopalians" in the same way that people born and raised in Oregon brag about being "natives."

Being Episcopalian is a privilege. I am so proud of my church for taking such an appropriate stand of the newly-ordained bishop. It was the right thing to do and they did it. My own parish is a large and beautiful church i8n downtown Louisville. We have a very open-minded congregation; we do a lot of major help for the poor, giving out 100's of food baskets (well, really paper bags) every week, giving books to the organization for aids victims, etc. The point that I am getting to is that our bishop came out strong in favor of the ordination; in a very sound Biblical argument he asserted and then proved that nothing in the Bible prohibits homosexuality. He also responded that the situation was biological. In general, Episcopalians are very broad-minded, accepting congregations.

homosexuality?

I mean, I've just been going around saying the bible is fucking wrong (or wrong about fucking, as the case may be) - this is a new twist.

Go read your bibles, ya bunch of homophobes.