Members of two of the largest Protestant denominations in the United States are gearing up for national conventions this summer, when the topic of homosexuality once again promises to heat things up.
The 4.7-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will hold its biennial Churchwide Assembly Aug. 17-23 in Minneapolis, while the Episcopal Church will meet for its triennial General Convention July 8-17 in Anaheim, Calif.
(snip)
Leaders of the Episcopal Church, which has 2 million members nationwide, held a live online "webcast" this week to discuss the upcoming Anaheim convention.
Participating were Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the leader of the Episcopal Church; Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies; the Rev. Gregory Straub, General Convention executive, and the convention's host bishop, Bishop J. Jon Bruno of Los Angeles.
It was the Episcopal Church that propelled the issue of gay clergy into the national headlines when it elected an openly gay priest, the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.
Nearly six years later, the issue continues to tear at the seams of the denomination.
Archbishop Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and head of the global Anglican Communion, this week compared the divisions within the church to the deep-seated and longstanding tensions in the Middle East.
"The other day we were giving quite intense attention to the situation in the Holy Land, and in that discussion I thought there are echoes of language we hear nearer home," Archbishop Williams said. "Emergencies mean all the rules and standards are suspended. We can't discuss while there are tanks on the lawn. We can't discuss when there are facts on the ground."
More here-
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090516/NEWS10/905160400/-1/NEWS04
2 comments:
Episcopals?? oh dear - hope that was not your error.
No it was the Toledo Blade but I've corrected it. (Went right by me the first time).
Post a Comment