wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Liberal Episcopalians preparing for possible split over

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Note #8999 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05587
Oct. 28, 2005

Liberal Episcopalians preparing
for split over homosexuality
	    
Leaders say leaked 'Day After' document 
is nothing more than a 'contingency' plan

by Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service
	 
WASHINGTON - Liberal Episcopalians, fearing that a split over homosexuality
is inevitable, have begun laying the groundwork for seizing control of church
property and replacing bishops who leave the church.
	 
	Leaders of Via Media ("middle way" in Latin), a loose alliance of
liberal groups in 12 dioceses, sketched out the plan during a Sept. 29
meeting in Dallas. A draft of the minutes was leaked to the media this week.
	 
	The group's plan, titled "Day After," is the latest indication that
all sides are preparing for decisive battle when the church meets next summer
in Columbus, OH.
	 
	"We want to do everything that might be necessary and appropriate to
make sure that every Episcopalian who wants an Episcopal church has one,"
said Christopher Wilkins, Via Media's national facilitator.
	 
	The 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church has weathered disunity at
home and division from other Anglican churches abroad since 2003, when it
approved the installation of an openly gay bishop and moved a step closer to
blessing same-sex unions.
	 
	Conservatives have predicted a "realignment" of Anglicanism in North
America unless the U.S. and Canadian churches repent of those actions.
	 
	Wilkins and other Via Media officials insist that "Day After" is just
a contingency plan, one that they hope they will never have to enact. They
said they merely want to protect their churches.
	 
	Via Media leaders say they have not consulted with Episcopal Church
headquarters on their plans.
	 
	Meanwhile, conservatives say the leaked plan shows that the group is
hostile toward traditionalists who opposed the installation of gay Bishop V.
Gene Robinson in New Hampshire and are resisting the church's growing
acceptance of homosexuality.
	 
	"I do find it troubling that they would feel a need to have these
kinds of talks about how to wield power in such a ruthless manner at this
stage," said Douglas LeBlanc, a spokesman for the conservative Anglican
Communion Network.
	 
	That group, headed by Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, includes
the bishops of Dallas; Albany, NY; Orlando, FL; Fort Worth, TX; Quincy, IL;
Albuquerque, NM; San Joaquin, CA; South Carolina; and Springfield, IL. Most
Via Media groups are in those dioceses.
	 
	The Via Media plan assumes that conservative bishops will leave next
summer's General Convention unsatisfied and will try to take their dioceses
out of the church. Then it would look like this:
	 
	Liberals would be ready to file canonical complaints that the bishops
have abandoned the communion.
	 
	Liberals would ask that the bishops' offices be declared vacant and
ask the church's presiding bishop to appoint replacements.
	 
	Vacant positions in the church's leadership structure would also need
to be filled, and finances, deeds and other documents secured.
	 
	The liberal remnant would need to "be ready to take legal action on
property" to ensure that parish buildings and assets remain in the
denomination.
	 
	Lionel Deimel, president of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh,
one of the Via Media groups, said the leaked minutes have unleashed a
"tempest in a teapot," but liberals take the threat of schism seriously.
	 
	"If a bishop is going to try to take a diocese out of the Episcopal
Church - which (church law) says he cannot do - then Episcopalians, the
people who own the property, are going to fight him on it," Deimel said.
	 
	Liberals aren't the only ones preparing for a schism. In early 2004,
a memo from the Atlanta-based American Anglican Council promised "faithful
disobedience ... on a widespread basis" in an effort by church conservatives
to reverse the church's liberal direction.

	Last month, 28 Episcopal bishops met to form a task force to help the
church deal with a steady stream of property lawsuits.
	 
	The Rev. Susan Russell, a California pastor and who is president of
the gay Episcopal group Integrity, said Via Media is simply concerned with
"not following the lemmings over the cliff."
	 
	"I've said all along that if a split happens in the church - and I'm
not convinced it will - the burden of that cannot be laid on the folks who
are committed to staying," Russell said.

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