Posted on 02/21/2007 9:16:29 AM PST by SmithL
The Anglican Communion's directive this week that its Episcopal branch in the United States ban the blessing of same-sex unions is a direct rebuke to the Bay Area, where the Diocese of California has blessed the practice for nearly three decades.
The Episcopal Church risks being severed from the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, the largest, most unified Protestant denomination in the world. The question roiling the global body is whether it can be multicultural enough to include literal believers in Nigeria as well as liberals in the Bay Area.
In the Bay Area diocese, which is believed to have performed more same-sex unions than any other in the country, many Episcopalians say unity must not come at any cost.
"I'm resolved that we're not going to turn our backs on any members of the diocese," said Bishop Marc Andrus, who oversees the 27,000-member diocese covering San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa counties and part of Santa Clara County. "If we have unity where we have hollowed out our moral core to achieve it, then it's a hollow victory. ... I don't think we can build our unity on a foundation of injustice."
The issue of sexual orientation has been stirring the Anglican Communion since 2003, when the Episcopal Church approved the consecration of a gay, partnered man as a bishop of New Hampshire. More than a third of the 38 Anglican Communion provinces worldwide had declared themselves as being in "broken" or "impaired" relations over the issue.
Only about 1 in 10 U.S. dioceses have asked to be overseen by foreign provinces, such as those more conservative branches in Africa or South America. Some individual parishes -- including St. John's Anglican Church in Petaluma -- already align with provinces abroad.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Then go start your own Gay church. We want ours back, thank you very much.
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About time they got worried.
That was the diocese from which I was expelled, along with dozens of others, back in the late '80's.
Count your blessings, brother. We relocated to the Pacific Northwest, found St Bartholomew's Anglican Church and were spared much grief - not all. Some of what we suffered was from the reaction of our family. Being branded a schismatic or a renegade or a heretic was only part of the cost.
Decades later, the rest of the family has exited (all but one). We are thrilled to be outside the realm of controversy, though we pray fervently for the blinders to be lifted from the sheep that remain ignorant, and that the Bishops and Priests who have taken a stand for righteousness would be protected from all evil. My hope is that the sheep will be rescued and cared for after the manner our Lord prescribed. Those who have lead thses little ones astray will be held accountable.
To be honest, I don't really understand this...if they've abandoned Christianity then it's really only at best an artificial association anyway. The world isn't unified with the Body of Christ.
Except the homosexuals and their supporters have figured that it's easier to build their own Gay church using YOUR money.
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