Following the Money: The future of the Episcopal Church

[NathanATX]

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When the General Convention of the Episcopal Church meets next month in Columbus, Ohio, a small network of theologically conservative organizations will be on hand to warn deputies that they must repent of their liberal attitudes on homosexuality or face serious consequences. The groups represent a small minority of church members, but relationships with wealthy American donors and powerful African bishops have made them key players in the fight for the future of the Anglican Communion.

[Daniel]

http://365gay.com/Newscon06/09/092006anglican.htm

Kigali) Conservatives within the worldwide Anglican Church have rejected a bid for unity by the denomination's spiritual leader and are preparing a document that is likely to lead to a breakup of the Church.

[Daniel]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2371548,00.html

It would seem that conservatives have made their move.

LEADERS of the Anglican Church’s conservative wing took the first steps yesterday in creating formally a new Church structure for anti-gay evangelicals in the United States.
After meeting in Rwanda, archbishops from the 20 African and Asian provinces in the Anglican “Global South” grouping said that they understood the “serious implications” of their decision.

But they added: “We believe that we would be failing in our apostolic witness if we do not make this provision for those who hold firmly to a commitment to historic Anglican faith.”

The primates will now push for a two-Church solution in the US. This could serve as a model for Anglican provinces elsewhere with liberal majorities and strong conservative minorities, such as in England, Wales and Scotland.

They are to develop an alternative Anglican structure in the US for the seven episcopal dioceses who appealed this year to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for alternative primatial oversight.

Their appeal came after the general convention of the Episcopal Church, when a female and pro-gay primate, Bishop Katharine Schori, was elected to succeed Frank Griswold as leader of the Episcopal Church. The conservatives are also angry that the Episcopal Church has stood by the election of the openly gay Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.

[Daniel]

http://www.nyblade.com/2006/9-18/news/religious/acceptance.cfm

Episcopal factions meet to discuss gay issues
Archbishop of Canterbury rejects acceptance of same-sex couples

By ELIZABETH A. PERRY
Monday, September 18, 2006

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, convened an urgent meeting with six U.S. Episcopal bishops Sept. 11-13 in New York to discuss the views of liberal and conservative factions in the church on the issue of homosexuality.

Bishops who participated represented a range of views in the Episcopal Church in the United States. Those in attendance were Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, USA Bishop Frank Griswold, Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori of Nevada as well as Bishop Jack Iker from the Episcopal Dioceses of Fort Worth, Texas; Bishop John Lipscomb from the Diocese of southwest Florida; Bishop Peter Lee from the Diocese of Virginia, and Bishop Robert Duncan from the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Peter Frank, director of communications for the Pittsburgh Diocese, said it is too soon to tell if the meeting would be able to heal the church’s divisions.

“We will have to wait to see what comes of it,” he said.

Rev. Susan Russell, president of Integrity USA, a national Episcopal gay organization, said she does not believe the meeting will lead to reconciliation between conservative and liberal factions.

“The majority of those attending the New York meeting are not interested in reconciliation,” she said. “They are interested in the American church capitulating to their demands to exclude the gay and lesbian baptized from full inclusion in the body of Christ as their criteria for unity.”


The meeting comes less than a month after Williams said in an interview with the Dutch evangelical newspaper Nederlands Dagblad that he rejects “inclusion” for same-sex relationships among the denominations that make up the Anglican Communion, even as he encouraged further dialogue.

“I don’t believe inclusion is a value in itself,” Williams said in the interview. “Welcome is. We welcome people into the church. We say, ‘You can come in, and that decision will change you.’ We don’t say, ‘Come in, and we ask no questions.’ I do believe conversion means conversion of habits, behaviors, ideas, emotions.”

Whatever the ramifications of this meeting, the actions of bishops in Africa undoubtedly have again grabbed the spotlight.

From the same article:

Conservatives were also upset by the election of Schori, a pro-gay progressive, as the first woman to lead any branch of the Anglican Communion. Some seven conservative Episcopal dioceses, including Pittsburgh and Fort Worth, have aligned with conservative Anglicans and refused to recognize Schori as their leader. Russell said this group of Episcopal dioceses is seeking to circumvent Schori’s leadership by putting themselves under the authority of “orthodox” bishops.


You'd think that these conservative guys- and they are all men- have their nickers in a knot because a woman is leading them. They have a word for this kind of bigotry:

Misogyny

Which Wikipedia defines as such:

Misogyny (/mɪ.ˈsɑ.ʤə.ni/) is hatred of or strong prejudice against women. The word comes from the Greek words μίσος (misos, "hatred") + γυνη (gunê, "woman"). Compared with anti-woman sexism or misandry (hatred of or strong prejudice against men), misogyny is usually regarded as directed against women by some men, though women can also hold misogynistic views. In feminist theory, misogyny is recognized as a political ideology - similar to racism or anti-Semitism - that justifies and maintains the subordination of women by men.