Episcopal Church

The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori was empowered to take charge of the Episcopal Church on Saturday in a Gothic sanctuary filled with well-wishers and the acrid smell of hot wax and incense, becoming the first woman to lead a national church in the Anglican Communion's roughly 500-year history.

In a sign of how difficult it may be to avoid a church schism over Anglicans' treatment of homosexuality, a high-ranking African archbishop Tuesday angrily accused liberals of "subverting the faith" and assailed a report that called for reconciliation. The strong response from Archbishop Peter Akinola, Anglican primate of Nigeria, signaled a rough road ahead as the archbishop of Canterbury and other leaders of the 77-million-member Anglican Communion seek adoption of the report on the U.S.

The Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold III, the Harvard and Oxford university-educated Episcopal bishop of Chicago known for his ecumenical activism, was elected Monday as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. Griswold was named leader of the 2.4-million member church in the United States in a close race with another bishop backed by conservatives.

Overcoming last-minute allegations of misconduct, the first openly gay bishop in the history of the Episcopal Church -- and perhaps of any Christian denomination -- was confirmed here Tuesday. The vote by the nation's Episcopal bishops to confirm the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson as the next bishop of New Hampshire set the stage for a new and pivotal struggle within the 2.3-million-member church over homosexuality and its place in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Over the years, parishioners have given the Episcopal Church much more than their Sunday morning tithes and offerings. Their generosity has transformed the church into a landowner -- a position the church is now reexamining as it seeks ways to help Southern Californians in need of housing. "People have been very wonderful to the church in giving it land and helping them build churches, and the church needs to give back to the community," said the Right Rev. J.

The Rev. Malcolm Boyd, author and gay priest, stood near the altar in his white vestments and long, narrow green stole. Smiling warmly at the congregation, he began to speak of a chance encounter with a woman during a cruise to Catalina. She had a broad, plain face. Her smile was engaging, magnetic. "It was her attitude that drew me to her. It was remarkably kind, trusting and giving," he said.

Near dusk Saturday outside St. Mary's Episcopal Church, on a hillside of Park Avenue, the air was thick with the smell of burnt residue from the city's devastating fire. Inside the red brick church, parishioners weren't dwelling on their losses, but on their victories. South and down the hill, the Pacific was in full view with the sun a large ball on the horizon.

Eleven o'clock Sunday morning, and the parking lot at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena is full. A goodly number of Porsches, Audis, Jaguars, Mercedes-Benzes and Volvos stand fender to fender, and more than a few sport bumper stickers. But these are not slogans of traditional piety such as "Jesus Is Coming Soon" or "Smile--God Loves You." The All Saints crowd prefers messages like "Question Authority," "Stop Apartheid," "Boycott Shell" and "Support Greenpeace."

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and preservationists have reached an uneasy compromise that will save the oldest Episcopal church in the city. As a result, the church will be moved across the street from its present one-acre site. Church officials say the $500,000 cost of moving the building should be used for more worthy causes, but preservationists say the church has historic value as an example of the craftsman style of architecture. Episcopal officials decided last year to demolish St.

Top Anglicans at a crucial meeting in Tanzania this week sternly rebuked their communion's American branch on issues involving sexuality and biblical interpretation. The decisions now facing the U.S. Episcopal Church and the global Anglican Communion may push them further down the road toward schism. Who attended the Dar es Salaam gathering, and what happened? About three dozen of the worldwide Anglican Communion's top bishops, or primates, participated in the Feb.