Leaders of the Episcopal Church, gathering in Anaheim for their first national convention in three years, reopened fractious debate this week over whether to authorize marriage rites for same-sex couples and to repeal a de facto ban on the consecration of gay bishops.
The issues have caused painful divisions in the 2.1-million-member denomination, which in recent years has seen dozens of parishes and four conservative dioceses, including one in Central California, break away. Last month, the dissidents formally launched a rival church.
Despite warnings about the consequences, liberal Episcopalians at the meeting are championing a flurry of resolutions to expand participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in church life, with votes expected in coming days. The conference, the church's General Convention, runs through Friday.
"It's important that we recognize the equal stature of all Christians in the church so that we model that type of inclusivity in civil society," said Bishop Marc Andrus of the San Francisco-based Diocese of California.
Even as liberalized policies on gays and lesbians appeared to gain momentum at the convention, traditionalists warned that the shift would further threaten internal unity and widen a rift with the global Anglican Communion.
The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the communion, which has 77 million members, many of them in conservative regions of Africa and South America.
"If we are not extremely careful at this convention, we could find ourselves outside the Anglican Communion, and that would be a tragedy for all of us," said Bishop William Love of Albany, N.Y., who predicted the loss of additional Episcopal parishes if policies are liberalized. "My fear is that the Episcopal Church destroys itself."
Episcopalians have been debating the roles of gays and lesbians in the church for years, but the issue escalated in 2003 when a gay priest, V. Gene Robinson, was consecrated as bishop of New Hampshire.
That decision disturbed Anglican leaders, who issued a report the next year calling for all churches in the communion to refrain from electing bishops living in same-sex unions, and from authorizing the development of blessing rites for such relationships.
In the final hours of the 2006 convention, Episcopalian leaders approved a measure to mollify some of the Anglican concerns: It called for church leaders to "exercise restraint" by not allowing the consecration of bishop candidates "whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."
