| The Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt Revd Robert Duncan, one of the leading conservatives, dismissed the US House of Bishops pledge to “exercise restraint” in approving gay bishops and same-sex blessings.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at the start of his gathering of North American traditionalist, Bishop Duncan said that the Bishops’ promise was “the same stuff. It’s not movement.
“The American Church is moving in one direction,” he said. “The Western Church is moving in one direction. The classic Church stands where it has always stood.”
The Rt Revd Gene Robinson, whose episcopal consecration as a partnered gay man triggered the fiercest infighting, described the talks between the Bishops and Dr Williams as “the two hardest days since my consecration”. But he said thought the document was fair.
“I think people came here thinking this was going to be Katrina II,” he said, “and what in fact happened was a coming together of the bishops of the Church.”
A survey by the Living Church Foundation published on Wednesday said that very few members of the House of Bishops’ expressed complete satisfaction with the final version, but did not disagree with it enough that they felt they must dissent.
The Bishop of the conservative diocese of Central Florida, the Rt Revd John Howe, said that he thought most Anglican leaders would accept the statement, even though he did not think it was strong enough against same-sex blessings.
The Bishop of Rhode Island, the Rt Revd Geralyn Wolf, said that Bishops would not authorise same-sex unions “until a broader consensus emerges in the Communion” was “better than anyone could have expected”.
The Archbishop of Mexico, the Most Revd Carlos Touche-Porter, praised this week’s decision, saying it was not a compromise, but a decision to walk together. Speaking on Wednesday, he said that a group of conservative churches in the US “was determined to break away whatever”, and there was nothing the Episcopal Church could do to stop that. |
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