MINNEAPOLIS — The Episcopal Church has opened a divisive debate on homosexuality that could significantly alter the church's stand on sexual morality and the denomination's place in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Two volatile issues confront the church's national General Convention, which convened here Wednesday: whether to consent to the election of an openly gay priest, the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson, as the next bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire and whether to authorize the drafting of rituals for a marriage-like blessing of same-sex partners.
If approved, Robinson would be the first bishop in the Episcopal Church or the worldwide Anglican Communion to be elected after saying he is gay. His election passed a first hurdle Friday in a committee of the convention; the key floor vote is set for Sunday.
Conservative bishops in the United States and overseas have warned that either decision could force a "a dramatic realignment," if not actual schism, within one of the nation's oldest denominations.
Liberals have discounted talk of schism as overblown and said they would not be deterred from moving toward full inclusion of gay men and lesbians in the life of the church.
The Episcopal Church is one of 38 self-governing national churches or provinces affiliated with the Anglican Communion, which claims 77 million congregants worldwide. The Anglicans recognize the archbishop of Canterbury, primate of the Church of England, as their spiritual leader but do not have the sort of centralized structure that governs the Roman Catholic Church.
Much of the debate now comes down to a single 56-year-old man -- Robinson.
"The Episcopal Church is in the midst of soul-wrenching and multi-decade debate about human sexuality," Bishop Edward Little II of the Diocese of Northern Indiana said Friday.
"If we confirm Canon Robinson as bishop, that conversation is over. We will have decided once and for all that homosexual practice is an appropriate practice for Christians," he said. "There will be no turning back. It will be a definitive moment."
A priest for 30 years and a former married man who has two grown daughters, Robinson has been in a relationship for 13 years with another man. They met several years after what has been described as Robinson's amicable divorce.
In Friday's committee hearing, one of Robinson's daughters, Ella, read a statement from her mother, Isabella McDaniel, defending Robinson's reputation and pastoral abilities.
