“They didn’t go far enough,” says the Rev. Neal Michell of Dallas, one of several dioceses unhappy with the Episcopal Church since the 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson, the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire. But to the Rev. Susan Russell, president of Integrity, a group of gay and lesbian Episcopalians, the bishops capitulated by singling out homosexuals as people whose lifestyle presents a challenge to the church. “They’ve scapegoated us, and that’s rank hypocrisy,” says Russell.
A closer look at the clarified position reveals a shift to the middle so slight and nuanced it’s almost imperceptible. It “reconfirms” the promise to “exercise restraint” and not consecrate openly gay or lesbian bishops, and it also pledges not to authorize rites for the blessing of same-sex unions, while leaving wiggle room for priests to “maintain a breadth of private response.” (Read: do what they want.)
“It’s very much a compromise,” says Bishop Henry Parsley of Alabama. But is it enough to keep the conservatives from leaving? Scores of parishes have aligned themselves with foreign bishops, and 10 dioceses representing 200,000 people, a tenth of all Episcopalians, say they are ready to break away. Last week leading conservatives met in Pittsburgh to discuss the formation of a new Anglican body to unite the disaffected.
For all the talk, America’s spat over gay bishops is trifling in comparison with problems like—well, like the recovery of New Orleans, where the prelates met. Doing the work of the Gospel, it seems safe to say, is more productive than debating it.
