"Episcopal Leaders Consider Barring...Gays"

From Yahoo News:

By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer Sun Sep 23, 6:30 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS - As Episcopal leaders consider barring more gays from becoming bishops to prevent an Anglican schism, the world Anglican family is already dying by a thousand cuts.

We shall see, Rachel.

This is the part of the article that I wanted to highlight:

The strain on Anglican relations with other Christians was clear at an ecumenical service in the Morial Convention Center here Thursday night with the archbishop of Canterbury and Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

Catholic Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans didn't attend. A spokeswoman for Hughes said he had a scheduling conflict and that Baton Rouge Catholic Bishop Robert Muench was participating in his place. But Muench sat in the audience so far back from the stage that few people knew he was there until an Episcopal leader asked him to stand up and wave.

This is no small snub. Anglicans and Catholics have been in high-level negotiations for years to rebuild ties between their churches. Those talks have been complicated not only by Robinson's election, but also by the ordination of women in Anglican provinces.

At the time, it seemed kind of funny. Perhaps Bishop Meunch thought his presence would not be noted, but I wonder if this could be a story manufactured by the press. It did not occur to me that this was a major snub, but perhaps it was.

Anyway, I don't care if it was. I'm tired of reading about Episcopal bishops and Anglican archbishops begging for scraps at Rome's door. Give it up, please. The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church believe that theirs is the only true church, and they are not ready to accept other Christian denominations as equals. Let them be.

Ephraim Radner has the final word:

If Anglicanism continues on the path of slow but steady splintering, it will effectively do as much harm as a formal schism. Anglicans in Africa, who derive much of their stature from their global ties, will become just another church. The 2.2 million-member Episcopal Church, which has played such a central role in U.S. history, will also be marginalized.

"If that happens, people will say, `This wasn't much of a church anyway,'" said Ephraim Radner, an evangelical Anglican and a theology professor at Wycliffe College in Toronto. "The results will be the disappearance and dissolution of Anglicans as a whole in North America."

So. The Episcopal Church may be marginalized. Maybe on the margins is a good place to be. Maybe we stand closer to Jesus Christ when we are marginalized.

Lord, have mercy on the House of Bishops

Lord, have mercy on us all.