Facing gay rift, Anglican sees ‘two-track’ church
Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, said divisions among the world’s 77 million Anglicans over gay clergy and same-sex unions could divide their church into a “two-track model” yielding “two styles of being Anglican.”
The formula could avert a formal breach between liberals and conservatives but bring new strains in the relationship between the global Anglican Communion and American Episcopalians who resolved this month to open the door to ordaining openly gay bishops and to start the process of developing rites for same-sex marriages.
Archbishop Williams insisted that the issue should not be debated “in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are — two styles of being Anglican.”
In a lengthy message published yesterday on his Web site, the archbishop offered a detailed and nuanced response to events at the Episcopalian convention in Anaheim, Calif., earlier this month when gay-rights advocates in the United States chalked up major victories over conservatives on sexual issues.
The formula could avert a formal breach between liberals and conservatives but bring new strains in the relationship between the global Anglican Communion and American Episcopalians who resolved this month to open the door to ordaining openly gay bishops and to start the process of developing rites for same-sex marriages.Archbishop Williams insisted that the issue should not be debated “in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are — two styles of being Anglican.”
In a lengthy message published yesterday on his Web site, the archbishop offered a detailed and nuanced response to events at the Episcopalian convention in Anaheim, Calif., earlier this month when gay-rights advocates in the United States chalked up major victories over conservatives on sexual issues.
(Via NYT)
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