An unavoidable distancing?

From South Carolina-

The local Episcopal diocese says the national church is straying from biblical teachings and has taken steps to distance itself.

During a recent convention in Mount Pleasant, leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina approved four resolutions opposing the Episcopal Church of the United States' decision to allow non-celibate homosexuals to ascend to the offices of priest and bishop and to permit Episcopal priests to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.

The issue of sexual orientation has been a source of constant friction in the denomination since 2003, when the Rev. Eugene Robinson, a gay man living with a male partner, became the ninth bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire.

"We're (Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina) in a marriage where there has been serial adultery," said the Rev. John M. Barr III, rector of Church of the Holy Comforter in Sumter. "The husband (the national church) has not repented. The wife has gone to him again and again, and there has been no change. There comes a time when the wife no longer remains in the bedroom. At minimum, she has to move down the hall. It's not because she doesn't love the husband; it's because things can't go on the way they are. You can't be complicit in that type of unfaithfulness."

Barr, one of several deans in the South Carolina diocese, was a leader of the standing committee that drafted the four resolutions on Oct. 24. The diocese stretches from Sumter County to the coast and is led by Bishop Mark Lawrence.

Barr insisted that the passing of the resolutions — which he called "an act of civil disobedience" — was about the diocese's desire to stay faithful to Christian tradition as it has been interpreted since the time of Jesus.


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http://www.theitem.com/article/20091101/ITNEWS01/711019977/-1/itnews