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U.S. Anglican leader: Gay bishop rift deepening
(CNN) -- The U.S. Episcopal Church will risk a break with the Anglican Church, based in Britain, if it allows the consecration of an openly gay bishop in its New Hampshire diocese, the president of the American Anglican Church said Friday. Rev. Canon David Anderson, speaking from London, said the diocese's decision to go forward with the consecration -- after Anglican primates released a statement saying they "deeply regret" such an action -- was unfortunate. "The recognition is that New Hampshire said just yesterday that they're going to proceed," Anderson said on CNN's "American Morning." "And so what that means is that in fairly short order the American Episcopal Church will demonstrate ... defiance of the global Anglican family that has gotten all of us into this difficult situation." Anderson said a break was "in the vicinity of 80 percent likely if the consecration goes forward." At the conclusion of a two-day emergency meeting with the archbishop of Canterbury on Thursday, the primates of 37 Anglican churches -- including Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold of the U.S. Episcopal Church -- issued a statement saying that if the Rev. Gene Robinson is consecrated, "the future of the communion itself will be put in jeopardy." "This will tear at the fabric of our communion at its deepest level," the statement said. The Anglican leaders also called for creation of a commission to study how to deal with deep theological disagreements between individual churches in the decentralized 77 million-member communion. In the meantime, they asked individual churches not to "act precipitately." Anderson said the statement "doesn't provide the kind of immediate action we might have liked, but it lays out a framework for how it will be dealt with." Griswold, who voted to confirm Robinson's selection as bishop at the U.S. church's national convention in Minneapolis in August, was vague when queried by reporters about whether he would try to find a way to stop the consecration from going ahead. Asked if he would ask Robinson to step aside for the good of the larger church, he said, "I might do many things." He also noted that the installation of Robinson as a bishop would not be official until the November 2 consecration and that events could intervene. "I'm simply saying anything could happen. The Second Coming [of Christ] can occur, which would certainly cancel an ordination," he said. "At this point, I am scheduled to be in New Hampshire on the second of November. Something could happen to me, but I hope it won't." But Griswold also said he stood "fully behind the careful process used by the diocese of New Hampshire to discern who it wished to have as its next bishop," as well as the national convention's decision to confirm Robinson's election. Under U.S. church law, lay people and clergy in individual dioceses elect bishops, who are then confirmed by the national convention and consecrated. Normally, approval of diocesan choices is routine, but the decision by New Hampshire Episcopalians to pick Robinson, who lives openly with a male partner, set off a firestorm. Conservatives within the U.S. church, who object to the decision on biblical grounds, turned for support to primates of Anglican churches in the Third World who believe gay and lesbian relationships are a violation of traditional Christian teaching. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, recognized by Anglicans as the spiritual head of the communion, summoned Griswold and the other primates to Lambeth Palace, his seat in London, for an emergency meeting to discuss the controversy over Robinson's appointment, as well as a decision by an Anglican diocese in Vancouver, Canada, to approve a liturgy to bless same-sex relationships. However, Williams said that because of the decentralized structure of the Anglican Communion, the ultimate decisions on such issues are in the hands of individual national churches. The primates' final communiqué said that "as a body we deeply regret" the decisions of the U.S. and Vancouver churches because they "could be perceived to alter unilaterally the teaching of the Anglican Communion." A decision by Robinson to step aside would not be unprecedented. Canon Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest in the Church of England, was nominated as bishop of Reading but withdrew amid strong objections from Anglican conservatives. His decision allowed the English church to avert the controversy that is now threatening a schism in its American counterpart.
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