Traditionalist Church of England Groups Warn of Defections if Gay Bishop is Ordained

The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | 7/6/10 | Martin Beckford

[marshmallow]

Traditionalists in the Church of England could defect to other Anglican provinces if an openly homosexual cleric is appointed Bishop of Southwark.

Conservative Anglican leaders have warned that parishes who oppose Dr Jeffrey John’s ordination would be prepared to leave their south London diocese and seek “alternative episcopal oversight”.

This could mean them being led by orthodox clergy elsewhere in England or even by those in Africa or South America as has happened in the USA, triggering bitter legal disputes over the ownership of their church buildings.

They believe Dr John, currently Dean of St Albans, should not be appointed a bishop as he has a civil partner and has previously admitted being in an active homosexual relationship, which they believe goes against the teaching of Scripture. He is a divisive figure in the church as exactly seven years ago he was appointed Bishop of Reading but was forced to withdraw following protests.

In addition, there is meant to be a “moratorium” within the Anglican Communion on the ordination of openly homosexual clergy. Clergy are also supposed to refrain from “border-crossing” into other, more traditional provinces.

The Rev Paul Dawson, a spokesman for the evangelical conservative group Reform, said: “If Jeffrey John were to be appointed, [some] would be looking for alternative oversight.

“There would be a number of parishes who would say we would like alternative oversight, preferably in the UK.”

Canon Dr Chris Sugden, head of the orthodox group Anglican Mainstream, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If this goes ahead, there will be a number of clergy and parishes in the diocese of Southwark that will not be able to take the oath of canonical obedience to the bishop and they will seek for episcopal oversight from elsewhere. That is very clear.

[Broker]

Split the church, sell the property and build a mosque. The consequence of this secular humanist religion of tolerance and diversity.

[BenKenobi]

Swim the Tiber instead.

[Cronos]

how long has this ‘threatening” been occuring? I’m honestly fed up of this. The Anglican communion shows us what can happen if we allow little chips to be taken off bit by bit of Christian morality. Finally we would end up like the ECUSA.