Pittsburgh Episcopalians Weigh Division

From NYTimes.com:



By SEAN D. HAMILL
Published: October 1, 2008

PITTSBURGH — The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh will vote Saturday on whether to secede from the national church, part of the continuing fallout from 30 years of theological disputes that boiled over five years ago after an openly gay bishop was elected and consecrated in New Hampshire.

If it does vote to secede, as expected, Pittsburgh would become the second diocese to vote to leave the American branch of the Anglican Communion, which has 2.4 million members. The diocese in San Joaquin, Calif., voted to secede last December.

Two other dioceses, in Fort Worth and in Quincy, Ill., are contemplating similar votes.

Should a split occur, the Pittsburgh Diocese intends to align itself with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, a theologically conservative province that covers six nations in South America. The San Joaquin Diocese also joined that province.

Representatives on both sides in Pittsburgh say there will be no outright winners, particularly because a lengthy legal battle over ownership of church property is almost certain if the diocese votes to secede.

“No one goes to church to fight,” said the Rev. Peter Frank, a spokesman for the diocese, whose conservative leader, Bishop Robert W. Duncan, was removed by the national church on Sept. 18 for pushing for secession. “It’s going to be difficult. And, at the same time, there’s hope in this. It’s time to move on.”

The drive to divorce the Episcopal Church arose after the election of V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire. But the secessionists say the issue is not simply about homosexuality. “Bishop Robinson is a symptom, not the cause of our disagreement with the Episcopal Church,” Mr. Frank said.

The dispute includes complaints that the national church allows open debate on whether Jesus is the Son of God, or that the only way to God is through Jesus — tenets of faith that conservatives find indisputable.

But an opponent of secession, the Rev. Jay Geisler of St. Stephens Church in McKeesport, Pa., pointed out that those tenets are in the Book of Common Prayer, which guides the church. Mr. Geisler added, “I just can’t see Jesus Christ forcing us to go one way or the other and split apart.”

In January, a group called Across the Aisle was formed to fight secession. Because of that group, “those people who felt isolated before by the diocese’s push for secession, aren’t feeling so isolated anymore,” said Joan Gunderson, a vestry member of Church of the Redeemer in Pittsburgh who is on the group’s steering committee.

The Rev. Charles Robertson, canon to the national church’s presiding bishop, said, “We’re finding that they do not all want to leave; they want to find some reason not to leave.”

The diocese has 22,000 members among 74 churches and missions in southwest Pennsylvania. The diocese said that as many as 50 of those churches would leave the national church, but Across the Aisle members say that number has fallen and might now be closer to 45.

Last November, the Pittsburgh Diocese took a required preliminary vote on the issue; the clergy voted 109 to 24 to leave the diocese, and the laity voted 118 to 58 to do so.

“But it’s one thing to say you’re going to do something, and it’s another thing to actually do it,” said the Rev. James Simons, rector of St. Michael’s in Ligonier, Pa., and the only member of the diocese’s eight-member Standing Committee who opposes secession.

The voting on Saturday will take place at the annual meeting of the diocese at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Monroeville. A simple majority of both the clergy and the laity is required to approve secession.

If secession is approved, the national church will select a new administration and begin work to retain ownership of church property, just as it has done in San Joaquin. The initial steps would put Mr. Simons in charge of the diocese as the only remaining member of the Standing Committee, leading the move to select a new bishop.

It would be a difficult move for Mr. Simons, who is theologically conservative himself.

“We’d be a lot stronger if we’d stay together,” he said.