A House Divided

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Conservative prelates in far-flung corners of the Anglican Communion, which consists of 38 independent provinces around the world, felt the same way. Response to Robinson's appointment from church leaders in Africa and Asia, the fastest-growing areas of Anglicanism, was especially swift and stern. "We cannot be in fellowship with them when they violate the explicit Scripture that the Anglican Church subscribes to," said Peter Karanja, provost of the All Saints Cathedral Church in Nairobi, Kenya. "It's outrageous and uncalled for." Bishop Lim Cheng Ean, leader of the Anglican Church of West Malaysia, was only a bit less blunt: "Practicing homosexuality is culturally and legally not acceptable here." He indicated that the bishops in the nine-nation Southeast Asian province may consider severing relations with the U.S. church when they meet this week.

The delicate task of keeping peace within the worldwide communion will fall to its spiritual leader, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. Though the Archbishop does not have the authority of a Pope, he is primus inter pares. Williams narrowly evaded a rift over a gay but celibate bishop on his home turf in July, when that bishop-appointee, after meeting with the Archbishop for six hours, declined the office, citing concerns about church unity.

The Archbishop cannot talk the American church out of a done deal, but he may be able to broker a peace plan. Anglicans officially declared homosexuality to be "incompatible with Scripture" at their most recent Lambeth Conference--a once-a-decade meeting of the world's Anglican bishops--in 1998. Still, dioceses have traditionally been granted generous latitude in deciding their local practices. Archbishop Williams announced last Friday an emergency meeting of the 38 primates from around the world to consider the actions of the U.S. church. "I hope," he said in an official statement, "we will find that there are ways forward in this situation which can preserve our respect for one another and for the bonds that unite us."

Such a meeting of the church's leaders on a single, urgent topic is "very, very rare," says the Rev. J. Robert Wright, official historiographer of the Episcopal Church. "To my knowledge it has never been done before."

Other Protestant churches are carefully watching developments in the Episcopal Church. "In the past the struggle around homosexuality in one denomination has presented a template for the struggle in other churches," says the Rev. Eileen Lindner, a historian with the National Council of Churches. Lindner points out that Presbyterians, United Methodists and Evangelical Lutherans all have "substantial, active, gay faithful caucuses" that now will push to re-examine the question of gay clergy. In fact, Reverend Wright, who escorted "ecumenical observers" from other churches at last week's conference, said the prevailing view was that "a logjam had been broken."