This post first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: August 7, 2008 - For five years the shadow of schism has loomed over the 77-million member Anglican communion but the fresh idea of a covenant, which sprang from the bishops' 10-yearly Lambeth Conference that ended Sunday, might prevent the church's split. About 2.2 million Americans belong to the Anglican Communion's American wing -- the Episcopal Church in America. U.S. dioceses are among the most liberal in the Anglican Communion, an association of believers rather than an administrative body.
The division arose over the ordination of the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, a homosexual, as a bishop in New Hampshire, the widespread ordination of gays and lesbians as priests, and the clergy's consecration of same-sex domestic partnerships in church.
Some American congregations -- including the majority of former parishioners at Good Shepherd Parish in St. Louis County -- left their dioceses and under their pastors started new congregations. Some parishes fished for conservative bishops in other dioceses to shepherd them. In reaction to Robinson's election, about 10 percent of the Episcopal Church's 111 dioceses formed the Anglican Communion Network, an alliance of Episcopalians that disagrees with same-sex blessings and the consecration of openly gay priests.
Through the five years of divisive strife many Anglicans called for patience with the call: "Wait for Lambeth."
Coming together at Lambeth
Once every decade, the archbishop of Canterbury invites Anglican bishops to meet at the Lambeth Conference. Last Sunday, about 650 Anglican bishops concluded a three-week marathon meeting at the University of Kent at Canterbury, England. The conference is named for the archbishop's residence in London, Lambeth Palace, where the meeting used to be held.
"For this particular conference, the Archbishop of Canterbury wanted to avoid any win or lose resolutions or voting on things in general," said the Rev. Brooke Myers, rector of Holy Communion Church in University City. "He wanted to keep everyone talking to everyone else."
Neither the archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. Rowan Williams, nor his conference has legislative power over the various Anglican Church bodies. Resolutions don't have to be observed. Each church within the Communion has its own legislative process and presiding bishop. In the past, the priest who sits in the archbishop's chair in Canterbury, considered "first among equals," has wielded friendly persuasion. (Before he became archbishop, Williams had supported gay clergy in his home diocese in Wales.)
At Lambeth, Williams does have the power to include the bishops he wants. This year, he invited 880 bishops, excluding Robinson. The American in the center of the theological cyclone traveled to England, hovered at a distance giving occasional press interviews. He did not enter the meeting. "People thought he might disrupt it, but he did not," said the Rev. Anne Kelsey, rector of Trinity Parish in St. Louis' Central West End.
However, about 30 percent of Anglican bishops, virtually all conservatives, were no-shows. That concerns many, including the Rev. Geoffrey Coupland, interim rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in the city's Ville neighborhood.
Can a covenant heal the rift?
In his final address to Lambeth, Williams detailed one thread of hope: He reported that Lambeth participants had come to "a recognition -- though still with many questions -- that a Covenant is needed." He promised to oversee the writing of an Anglican Covenant, which all bishops would be invited to sign.
"What kind of a covenant can it be?" asked Holy Communion's Myers. He wondered how it could be worded to satisy "more conservative bishops who are vehemently opposed to the church's sanctioning gay life for ordained ministers" and other bishops who "are pretty adamantly for it." He added, "We have not been a covenantal church; we are a sacramental, creedal, catholic church. The Nicene Creed is enough of a covenant for me."
No matter how nuanced and loving the wording is, Williams faces a huge challenge. "Getting 700 or more bishops to sign on is difficult one," Myers said.
The promised Anglican covenant may bridge this wide theological divide by forming two tiers of membership in the Anglican Communion, some observers said. One tier would be for those in full agreement with the church. A second tier would be for those who agree generally -- but support gay rights. It's still a bit foggy, but second-tier members would be allowed to call themselves part of the Anglican Communion. Most U.S. and many Canadian dioceses, perhaps some British dioceses, would rank in the second tier. Some 10 percent of U.S. dioceses might sign on the first tier and remain in the U.S. Episcopal Church without switching ties to conservative churches in Africa or Australia,
In his farewell, Williams pleaded with Lambeth '08 participants to have "a season of gracious restraint" over the months that it will take to prepare, negotiate and circulate the Anglican Covenant. He beseeched liberals not to ordain gays and lesbians to the priesthood, elect them as bishops or allow priests to officiate at same-sex, partnership ceremonies. He asked conservatives threatening to walk out not to leave.
In University City, Myers expects that most priests will follow what their bishops ask about holding same-sex consecration ceremonies during the moratorium season. Most would ask permission and not follow the more audacious "do it, then ask forgiveness" mode, he said -- although the hiatus already has been breeched in Massachusetts and California.
Late Monday, a weary Bishop Wayne Smith returned to St. Louis, with high praise for his fellow bishops and "the near absence of poisonous statements, the tendency away from grandstanding, the fact that no one stormed out in protest."
Still, Smith, the bishop of the Missouri Diocese and its 14,000 Episcopalians from central Missouri to the Mississippi River, does not see a clear solution to heal the fissure. "The shape of any Anglican Covenant, from what I can see, remains an open question."
Different reactions at local churches
At Trinity Church, long a welcoming haven for gays and lesbians, many members are upset. The parish helped fund the Missouri Diocese's effort to help the church of Sudan. Kelsey, its rector, visited Sudan and invited its archbishop, Daniel Deng Bul, to preach at Trinity. Many Trinity parishioners were heartsick when Bul spoke in Canterbury against Robinson and ordaining gay clergy.
"Basically there were very hurtful things and a number (of parishioners) were upset, very upset," Kelsey said.
A gay member of the Church of St. Michael and St. George in Clayton said he is "angry" about having a second tier. "But I am going to observe the season of gracious restraint and not say anything negative until they come up with this covenant," he said, declining to allow his name to be used. "They better work fast. I am not sure I can be silent through even this Sunday afternoon."
At St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Ladue, Rev. Kelly Carlson, a St. Louis native and transitional deacon on track to be ordained a priest, is like many other Episcopalians who are waiting to learn more.
"The church will have to find a way to navigate what are irresolvable issues," said the Rev. John Musgrave, rector of Good Shepherd Church in Town and Country. "The energy that binds us at Good Shepherd is not about those issues but about how to form and shape us into community."
In the past, though, the issue hit that parish hard.
In 2004, Good Shepherd's then-rector, the Rev. Paul Walter, and a majority of its congregation left the Episcopal Church partly in reaction to the Episcopal Church's acceptance of gays. The group went to court to get title to the parish's Mason Road property. The Missouri Diocese contested the case -- and won. Smith then removed Walter. He and many former parishioners now worship at Maryville Center in Chesterfield as the Anglican Church of the Resurrection. Walter and a staff member did not return the Beacon's calls.
Meanwhile many Episcopalians advise patience as they figure out what happens next. Holy Communion's Myers observes, "In churches everything takes a lot of time, including even schisms."
Patricia Rice, a freelance writer in St. Louis, covered religion for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.