Pooka
09-26-07, 10:23 AM
Leaders of the Episcopal Church in the United States have agreed to halt the ordination of gay clergy to prevent a split in the Anglican Church.
The Church will also no longer approve prayers to bless same-sex couples.
Many African Anglicans threatened to leave the worldwide Anglican Communion after the ordination of the first openly gay bishop four years ago.
The American Church was told to meet the conditions by 30 September or lose membership of the communion.
US bishops made the decision after a six-day meeting in New Orleans.
The meeting was attended in part by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who urged the Episcopal Church to make concessions for the sake of unity.
The Episcopal Church is the American wing of the Anglican Communion, which has 77 million members worldwide.
Plea for unity
The BBC's religious affairs correspondent, Robert Pigott, says the agreement will help defuse the crisis triggered by the US Church's consecration of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2003.
But traditionalists in the US are already making plans to set up their own independent Church.
Conservative churchgoers believe homosexuality is contrary to the Church's teachings.
However, liberal Anglicans have argued that biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence.
The Episcopal bishops did reaffirm their commitment to the civil rights of gay people and said they opposed any violence towards them or violation of their dignity.
The meeting in New Orleans follows a summit of Anglican leaders in Tanzania earlier in the year which gave the US Episcopal Church a deadline of 30 September to define its position on the issue.
The leaders threatened that a failure to do so would leave their relationship with the US branch of Anglicanism "damaged at best".
Source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7013552.stm)
The Church will also no longer approve prayers to bless same-sex couples.
Many African Anglicans threatened to leave the worldwide Anglican Communion after the ordination of the first openly gay bishop four years ago.
The American Church was told to meet the conditions by 30 September or lose membership of the communion.
US bishops made the decision after a six-day meeting in New Orleans.
The meeting was attended in part by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who urged the Episcopal Church to make concessions for the sake of unity.
The Episcopal Church is the American wing of the Anglican Communion, which has 77 million members worldwide.
Plea for unity
The BBC's religious affairs correspondent, Robert Pigott, says the agreement will help defuse the crisis triggered by the US Church's consecration of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2003.
But traditionalists in the US are already making plans to set up their own independent Church.
Conservative churchgoers believe homosexuality is contrary to the Church's teachings.
However, liberal Anglicans have argued that biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence.
The Episcopal bishops did reaffirm their commitment to the civil rights of gay people and said they opposed any violence towards them or violation of their dignity.
The meeting in New Orleans follows a summit of Anglican leaders in Tanzania earlier in the year which gave the US Episcopal Church a deadline of 30 September to define its position on the issue.
The leaders threatened that a failure to do so would leave their relationship with the US branch of Anglicanism "damaged at best".
Source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7013552.stm)