[Apologetics] Meeting held on Anglican-Episcopal split

[Art Kelly]

Sept. 20, 2007, 6:50PM
Meeting held on Anglican-Episcopal split

By RACHEL ZOLL AP Religion Writer 
© 2007 The Associated Press 

NEW ORLEANS — Episcopal bishops met privately for
seven hours Thursday with the archbishop of
Canterbury, trying to preserve the church's role in
the Anglican family despite Episcopal support for
gays.

The denomination is the Anglican body in the U.S. and
has a more liberal view of Scripture than most
Anglicans overseas. Tensions over Bible interpretation
erupted in 2003, when Episcopalians consecrated the
first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New
Hampshire.

Archbishop Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual
leader, has been struggling to keep the 77
million-member Anglican Communion from breaking apart
— an effort he has called "exhausting." Unlike a pope,
Williams doesn't have direct authority to force a
resolution.

Few details of the talks were released. But Canon
James Rosenthal, a spokesman for Williams, said that
in the first few hours alone, about 25 of the more
than 100 participating bishops had a chance to discuss
their concerns directly with the archbishop. The issue
of what Scripture says about same-gender relationships
came up immediately, Rosenthal said.

Anglican leaders have set a Sept. 30 deadline for the
Americans to pledge unequivocally not to consecrate
another gay bishop or approve an official prayer
service for gay couples. If Episcopal leaders say no,
they could lose their full membership in the Anglican
Communion.

The full article is at
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/5152865.html





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