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When the bishops of the Episcopal Church USA voted to confirm V. Gene Robinson, an openly homosexual priest, as bishop, the leader of the worldwide Anglican Church (to which the Episcopal Church belongs) demonstrated the British penchant for understatement by predicting "difficult days ahead."

"The General Convention's decision to approve the appointment of Gene Robinson will inevitably have a significant impact on the Anglican Communion throughout the world, and it is too early to say what the result of that will be," Rowan Williams said. "It is my hope that the church in America and the rest of the Anglican Communion will have the opportunity to consider this development before significant and irrevocable decisions are made in response. I have said before that we need as a church to be very careful about making decisions for our own part of the world which constrain the church elsewhere. It will be vital to ensure that the concerns and needs of those across the Communion who are gravely concerned at this development can be heard, understood, and taken into account."

Already, orthodox voices both inside the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion are making their opposition known.

Yesterday, the Associated Press reports, "a handful of the more than 800 clergy and lay delegates either walked off the floor of the meeting or collectively stayed away, while at least three of the nearly 300 bishops refused to participate or went home, saying their distraught parishioners needed them."

Other Episcopalians opposed to homosexual bishops smeared ashes on their foreheads in a sign of mourning, and knelt as Kendall Harmon of South Carolina addressed the House of Deputies.

"By contravening the 'historic faith and order,' this Convention sets itself against its own Constitution, and … separates itself from the orthodox faith and breaks the ties that bind us to the rest of the Anglican Communion." Harmon said. "This unilateral action on our part is catastrophic. We weep for the Episcopal Church and its members. We have made a terrible mistake. But understand this clearly: we are not leaving the Church. It is rather this Church which has left the historic faith and has fractured the Anglican Communion, for whose restoration we pledge our faithful and loving efforts."

Harmon, who is a spokesman for Charleston, South Carolina, Bishop Edward Salmon Jr., told The Charlotte Observer that the diocese will call its own special convention to decide its next step. "You're already beginning to see what the dramatic realignment will look like," he said.

Many of Harmon's colleagues agreed. David C. Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council, was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as comparing Robinson's confirmation to domestic abuse. "We have been beaten up in the Episcopal Church for a long time," he said. "We're not leaving the Anglican Communion but the Episcopal Church now has."

Anderson's group has scheduled a meeting of "Anglican mainstream parishes" (i.e. orthodox leaders) in early October in Plano, Texas, saying it is "committed to remaining part of the Anglican Communion and will find a way for mainstream Anglicans in the Episcopal Church to stay in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury."

In the meantime, Anderson says, both sides in the debate need to be careful. It's important for us not to act precipitously, foolishly or emotionally, but to take godly council and baby steps," he told Reuters.

"We're not going anywhere," Fort Worth, Texas, Bishop Jack Iker told the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. "We've voted to maintain the traditional teachings of the church. The people who voted for [Robinson's consecration] are the ones who have split."

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August (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47