Editor's note - This visit isn't about mending relationships. This is about preparing liberals in the diocese to fight the conservative majority. We've already seen these meetings in the Diocese of Fort Worth and the Diocese of San Joquin.
House of Deputies president visits Albany as church faces rift
By MARC PARRY, Staff writer
Click byline for more stories by writer.
First published: Friday, January 18, 2008
ALBANY -- The highest-ranking lay officer of the national Episcopal Church will be in Albany Saturday for an event organized to build bridges between different wings of the church.
Episcopal House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson will speak at 2 p.m. at St. Andrew's Church, focusing on the state of the church and the broader Anglican Communion -- and how that affects the Albany diocese.
The address will be preceded at 1 p.m. by a celebration of the Eucharist, led by Albany Bishop William Love.
"This is the first time since Bill Love became bishop that a high-ranking representative of the national church has met with the bishop and with other Albany Episcopalians in a public forum," said Robert Dodd, president of Albany Via Media.
Albany Via Media, the group sponsoring Saturday's event, is made up of liberal-to-moderate local Episcopalians who want to keep the Albany diocese in communion with the national church.
A rift has split the Episcopal Church since the 2003 consecration of V. Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop. Last month, a diocese in central California became the first full diocese to break away from the national church.
Love is a conservative bishop, but his diocese includes a substantial liberal-to-moderate faction. Love's predecessor, Daniel Herzog, was an outspoken national opponent of ordaining gay clergy. The retired bishop made news in March with the announcement that he had rejoined the Roman Catholic Church.
The House of Deputies comprises clergy and lay deputies elected by each diocese. Any major decision made by the Episcopal Church requires the assent of the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops.
Dodd characterized Anderson of Michigan, as a liberal.
It remained unclear Thursday whether Love would stick around on Saturday for Anderson's presentation and the ensuing question-and-answer session at St. Andrew's, which is at Madison and North Main Avenues. Questions are expected to touch on issues such as outreach to other denominations and how other conservative dioceses accommodate their liberal-to-moderate minorities, Dodd said.
The overall theme steals a page from "the Gospel of Joan Rivers," Dodd joked. It's called " 'Can we talk?: Faith and Diversity in the Episcopal Church.' "
"The thing we'd like to get across to Bill Love is how significant a minority we are," said Dodd, a retired professor of geology and planetary science who lives in Columbia County. "And the fact that working together we can make a much better diocese."
No comments:
Post a Comment