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Anglican Schism over Homosexuality Widens

Written by

Veronica Diego

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Two American Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the US were re-ordained for service in the Anglican Church in Kenya on Thursday. The Times' Ruth Gledhill reports that the ordination, while seen as "valid," will likely be condemned as a further step towards a complete separation of what many now perceive as two Anglican Churches.

The Right Rev William Murdoch and the Right Rev. Bill Atwood, formerly of Massachusetts and Texas, respectively, were consecrated at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi by Kenya's Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi. They will serve the needs of the Anglican community in Africa and those of the congregations in North America that have joined the ecclesial structures set up for those who have rejected the secularized leadership in the US and Canada.

"The gospel… must take precedence over culture," said Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, who attended the ceremony. "Homosexual practice violates the order of life given by God in Holy Scripture."

The response to the ordinations has followed the now-usual pattern with "conservatives" welcoming the move. Gledhill reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams will now be under pressure from both sides to invite or bar the new bishops from the next Lambeth conference. Williams has asked African archbishops not to consecrate U.S. priests to help avoid a schism.

More than 30 members of the Church of England's General Synod sent a message of welcome to the two new bishops while acknowledging the move is "out of the ordinary". The letter said, "You will represent vibrant and growing Churches in Africa in their love and care for those in the United States who are suffering for their commitment to the faith once delivered to the saints, in the face of a determined capitulation by The Episcopal Church to the forces of contemporary North American culture."

In most of the developed west, the Anglican Communion has been characterized by two main streams of development; on the one hand, increasing secularization and embracing of the post-Christian sexual morality; and on the other, plummeting attendance and aging membership. In the meantime, the largest, youngest and most active sections of the Worldwide Anglican Communion are also the most fervently orthodox and are found largely in the developing world, whose leadership is called the Global South bloc.

This schism is growing in the US and Canada with some groups determined to retain Christian teaching. This week, the Anglican news service Virtue Online reports that the pastor and leadership of the Church of the Holy Comforter in Broomfield, Colorado resigned en masse and informed the diocese that the "theological innovations" of the Episcopal Church had made it impossible for them to continue to serve in it.

Rev. Dr. Charles Reeder, his staff and most of the 200-member congregation will form a new Anglican parish as of October 1. "We are saddened by the current state of The Episcopal Church in the US which we believe has strayed from the orthodox, scriptural beliefs of the worldwide Anglican Communion," said Reeder.

The parish's senior warden, John E. Basio told Virtue Online that the parishioners had voiced their opposition by withholding financial contributions. "No one has left the church," he said. "The people are withholding their financial support because of national church issues. We can no longer support the diocese and the national Episcopal Church with our monies."

Comments

  1. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    I just don't understand why some folks spend so much time thinking about what other folks do with their Things.

    By the way, how come you are into Leviticus when it comes to trash talking Gay folks, but you don't kill folks who don't attend service on Sundays like Leviticus says you must? Cherry picking scripture does not work for anyone who can think.

    I can't wait until sexual orientation is added to hate crimes legislation and you bigots get put firmly in your place: jail or a civil suit.

    By the way, I left Catholicism at 13 when I saw an 8 year old come out of the confessional weeping. Any religion that hurts children should die out. A wonderful Catholic woman asked me to come back to Mass when I was a new Mother. I went. One of the kindest and gentlest and most intelligent Boss I ever had was Gay and was one of the first 500 who died of AIDS. What was the priest preaching when I got there: AIDS is a punishment for being Gay. I left.

    I weep for you evildoers. I weep for my church. I am writhing in pain when I consider what the RCC does in the name of God.  

     

     

     

  2. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    God loves you .

    Well, CTT – I am not perfect, and would not be as an atheist. And, better the child’s tears – THIS child, MY tears – of chastisement than one more soul lost to perdition.

    Of a fact, I figure that my diabetes is at least some sense of such chastisement. I’m not so sure that AIDS isn’t similarly so for those who won’t stop doing what causes its passing on.

    I will question how you can call me (or virtually anyone else) an evildoer. In that, you are kith and kin with any even worst condemnatory cleric, eh? (Yet, you could take note of a ‘wonderful Catholic woman’ – hmmm.) And, you don’t know me. You could not judge me if you lived with me, nor I you.

    I can only do for you what I do for most – I cannot come to you to tell you what it is that makes me so, so very ‘RCC’. You could Google ‘Pristinus Sapienter’ and get a feel for my RCC-ness.

    However, I can and I will pray for you.

    Remember, I love you, too

    Reminding that we are all on the same side – His,

    Pristinus Sapienter

    (wljewell @catholicexchange.com or … yahoo.com)

  3. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    "Any religion that hurts children should die out" – then I assume you mean those who participate in abortion should also die out.  Individual priests who have done wrong do not constitute what the Catholic Church teaches or believes.  The bad living of professed beliefs is not limited to the Catholic Church – every faith experiences this but it is quite often the Catholic Church that takes the beating in the papers.  This is so because the Catholic Church has such high standards – those standards stem from God's deep love for all of us, His love wants us to seek Him and live in HIS love – not a false love.  The Scriptures relate clearly that love is pure, it is heterosexual so that it can be fruitful but even that must be within marriage and open to life. 

       When someone uses counterfiet money do we stop using currency because a small number of people abused the system?  When a doctor is in the news for hurting those in his care do we all stop going to the doctor because one doctor in the area happens to be a criminal?  No, that would be stupid – but when a priest does not fulfill what others expect, or worse he abuses his vocation, every faithful Catholic bears his shame and partakes of his penance.  That is part of being in a family.  Yes, we must prosecute everyone who harms children  – but what of the hundreds of thousands of religious who serve tirelessly everyday?  They don't make the headlines because they are living God's call to serve the poor, weak, orphaned (the Catholic Church is one of the largest, if not the largest, care taker for AIDS orphans and has been at the forefront of stemming the AIDS epidemic in Africa – chastity has been the ONLY tool to put a dent in the AIDS epidemic,not condoms!) 

       If this church died out you would soon see a suffering the world has never experienced from the lack of all that the Catholic Church provides to the most needy of this world.

       I am sorry for your experiences but do not judge an entire church by the actions of one priest many years ago or by a misunderstanding of what She has always taught.  If you read the early Church writings you will see the 1st century saints/martyrs clearly spoke about ALL of these moral issues – they are nothing new.  What the Church teaches she has always taught – individuals who put forth their opinions as Gospel truth do not speak for the Catholic Church.  Love the sinner, hate the sin – everyone benefits from this merciful teaching.

        When being a Christian becomes a crime you will also see a suffering the world has not experienced – look no further than to what Facists did to homosexuals in WWII.  It is gruesome – Catholics/Protestants/anyone physically or mentally handicapped met the same fate many times. 

     

      Do not accuse the Church of being intolerant when anyone who disagress with the homosexual agenda is labled a bigot and targeted for protests that can be violent (recent state fair where ex-homosexuals were attacked by homosexuals) or sacreligious (homosexuals receiving Holy Communion and URINATING on Him in the church!).  If something similar happened at a synagogue or mosque it would have been a HATE CRIME but since this happened to Catholic/Christians it barely made the news.  Which is more merciful: go to jail since you won't forfeit your faith or love the sinner, hate the sin?

     

       Again, I am so sorry for your experiences.  KMc

     

    Please do not accuse pro-life folks of being violent using abortion clinic bombings as an example – anyone who chooses to take life is pro-choice, including the sick people who decided to bomb clinics.  Not one of the respectable pro-life groups in this nation advocates , in any manner, violence of any kind.

     

    I have witnessed the brutality of police against peaceful protesters but I do not blame the entire police force.  Individual weaknesses and sinfulness do not represent the entire force.   

  4. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Cheryl,

        I, too, have known homosexuals who are very kind people.  I believe that people with same sex attractions carry a heavy cross.  The Church does not condemn them, it just teaches against physically acting on same-sex attraction.  This article does not "trash talk" gay people.  As far as the teaching in Leviticus that you reference, that was part of the old covenant.  Learn your theology before you go throwing stones.  By the way, I see that you have not come back to respond to any of these comments.  Apparently you had some free time on your hands this morning and spent it spreading poison, and have no commitment to engage in any type of constructive dialogue.  

  5. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Some comments on this piece …

    "Williams has asked African archbishops not to consecrate U.S. priests to help avoid a schism."

    Why, I wonder, does a religion based on schism seek to prevent further schism?  Do they at last begin to see what happens when the thread of truth is diluted?  When good people of good will are alienated from each other?

    For CTT, I plead with you to consider that possibly you have experienced or deduced a toxic form of Catholicism that does not in any way speak for the Church as a whole or its believers.  Anyone who does not adamantly adhere to love for all God's children, is in grave error.  The Church is not what is was in the wilderness years after Vatican II, and has had more time to refine its teachings on sexuality (thank you JP II for Theology of the Body).  I pray that you will come and discover for yourself that the Church is a place of love and mercy where none are hated, excluded, or injured.  I promise that the Church I know and believe in is not the church you have described.

    God Bless You,

    Elizabeth

    ps:  I cry every time I leave the confessional.  It is a very personal and emotional experience for many people, and not necessarily a sign that the confessor has been harshly chastized by the priest.  I can tell you that my children frequently cry when I ask "did you hit your sister?"  "yes, mommy" [bursts into tears] "I'm sorry mommy!"  And yet, I have not said anything to chastise or punish …

  6. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    St. James says that if we say we love God, Who we can't see, but we hate our brother who we can see, then we are liars.

    And the Church loves those who struggle with homosexuality.

    And she loves them so much that she truly wants the best for them. And the best means heaven. The Church truly wants to see them in heaven and to be with God forever. 

    Because the Church is truly concerned over the loss of their immortal souls, she will continue to love them, but has to encourage them to sin no more. The Church loves them right where they are. And because she loves them, she can not leave them there.

    Because accepting their sin is not love, it is merely calling vice a virtue and that is just a lie.  It is cowardice.

    By the way, ditto for each and every one of us sinners, whatever our sins are.

    Cherry, do not let a human being keep you away from Jesus Christ and His Church.  Human beings will disappoint you every time. He will not.

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