Episcopal Church

A judicial body of the Episcopal Church began deliberations in Wilmington, Del., to determine if a retired bishop should be tried as a heretic for ordaining a gay man as a deacon. Retired Bishop Walter Righter, 72, faces a heresy trial in May if the court of nine bishops decides that gays cannot be ordained as deacons and priests under church law. Righter ordained the Rev. Barry Stopfel, who is gay, as deacon of the church in New Jersey in 1990.

Ellen F. Cooke, the former treasurer of the Episcopal Church who admitted embezzling more than $1.5 million from the church, was sentenced this week to five years in prison. The sentence--stiffer than court guidelines recommended--was imposed by U.S. District Judge Maryanne Trump Barry in Newark, N.J., who said Cooke "systematically looted" the denomination and was motivated by "greed" and a desire for high-living.

When 10 Episcopal bishops brought heresy charges against one of their own for ordaining a non-celibate gay man, it became the subject of a rare church trial. Now, Los Angeles Episcopal Bishop Frederick H. Borsch finds himself in the potentially uncomfortable position of acting as a judge in the heresy trial, which begins next month in Delaware, while approving of the ordination today in his own diocese of a non-celibate gay man to the priesthood. The Rev.

The former treasurer of the Episcopal Church admitted this week in federal court in Newark, N.J., that she embezzled more than $1.5 million from the church and evaded income taxes on part of the stolen money. Ellen F. Cooke, 52, who served as the church's top financial officer from 1986 to 1995, pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transfer of stolen money and one count of tax evasion.

The idea took shape on a sleepless night several years ago, after California Episcopal Bishop William Swing was asked to gather religious leaders for the United Nations' 50th anniversary commemoration in San Francisco. "It struck me profoundly that the nations of the world have been moral enough to get together to struggle for global good for 50 years, and in those same 50 years the religions of the world hadn't spoken to each other," said Swing, who pledged the rest of his life to the task.

The Episcopal Church says it will investigate allegations in the current issue of Penthouse magazine that priests in the denomination's Long Island diocese participated in same-sex marriage ceremonies and homosexual orgies in front of the altar. Two priests have resigned, church officials said--the Rev. William Lloyd Andries, rector of St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, and the Rev.

The Archbishop of Canterbury concluded a three-day visit Sunday to Los Angeles, leaving behind his blessings but carrying home the burdens of an American church divided by issues of human sexuality. Throughout his visit, the Most Rev. George L. Carey--primate of the Church of England and spiritual leader of 2.5 million Episcopalians in the United States--cautioned the Episcopal Church not to rush to ordain non-celibate gays and lesbians.

Charging that the Episcopal Church is beset by moral confusion, 10 conservative bishops vowed Tuesday to take their fight against the ordination of non-celibate gays and the blessing of same-sex unions to the church's highest policy-making body. They also served notice that they will form a new "fellowship" within the church to minister to parishes whose bishops fail to uphold traditional church teachings on sexual morality. However, the 10 prelates left the 2.