FW diocese votes
against Episcopal leadership
By DAVID MICHAEL
COHEN, Star-Telegram.com from the Web. June 22, 2006
Fort Worth, TX June 21 -- The
election of the first female presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the
Diocese of Fort Worth voted to seek leadership elsewhere in the Anglican world.
If the request is approved, the diocese would be the first to break ties with
the American church.
The elevation of Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to presiding bishop on Sunday
was the last straw for one of the most conservative Episcopal dioceses in the
nation. Fort Worth's is one of three dioceses that does not recognize
female priests, much less bishops.
The diocese's Standing Committee, in Columbus, Ohio, for the church's triennial
General Convention, unanimously adopted a resolution asking for alternative
leadership Sunday night.
On Monday, Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker and Deputy Judy Mayo each read the
resolution to one house of the church's bicameral General Convention, Suzanne
Gill, Iker's spokeswoman, said by phone.
For the diocese to leave, it would need the approval of Archbishop of Canterbury
Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the 73 million-member Anglican
Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is the American branch.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Iker said that he would prefer the archbishop to
take the diocese under his own pastorship. Williams has acknowledged the
diocese's request and "understands our concerns," Iker said.
Jefferts Schori, of Nevada, is the first female presiding bishop for any of the
38 provinces that make up the worldwide communion.
Although Fort Worth would be the first diocese to break with the Episcopal
leadership, numerous individual parishes have transferred or sought transfer to
other Anglican jurisdictions, mostly based in Africa and Southeast Asia, since
the confirmation of the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New
Hampshire, in 2003. Robinson's ordination has driven a wedge between the
Episcopal Church and other members of the Anglican Communion.
Although the Fort Worth diocese denounced the church leadership when Robinson
was confirmed, the diocese stopped short of seeking withdrawal from the church.
However, in anticipation of this year's convention, Iker wrote a statement
titled, "Separation? At what cost?" which said that dioceses dissatisfied
with church leadership should "consider all the options."
The Fort Worth diocese has long disagreed with the Episcopal Church over the
ordination of women and gays, and the recognition of same-sex unions, but none
of those decisions is as problematic as Jefferts Schori's election, Gill said.
"Bishop Robinson was the bishop in New Hampshire," she said. "And while a
bishop is a bishop of the whole church, he would not be required to make
visitations at the diocese of Fort Worth, he would not be the principal
consecrator of new bishops -- in other words he would not be the chief pastor of
the diocese of Fort Worth.
"But the presiding bishop is considered the chief pastor over all 111 dioceses
in the Episcopal Church."
In May, Iker and other members of the conservative Anglican Communion Network
warned that unless the Episcopal Church reversed its position on same-sex
marriages and the ordination of gays, "the state of impaired or broken communion
among those formerly together in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion
can be expected to become permanent."
Tuesday afternoon, after the convention's House of Deputies refused to impose a
moratorium on the ordination of gays, Iker said a permanent break may be
inevitable.
"This ought to be seen as an indication of the direction our new presiding
bishop intends to take the church," Iker said.
Episcopalians in Fort Worth who remain loyal to the American leadership would
find themselves in a tough position if the 19,000-member diocese fell under
another primate's jurisdiction, said George Komechak, president of Fort Worth
Via Media, an Episcopalian group supportive of the progressive decisions of the
national church and opposed to parishes leaving the church.
Iker "probably would have a number of people with him if he joined another
province, and we, being loyal Episcopalians, would try to put together an
Episcopal organization within Fort Worth with allegiance to the Episcopal
Church," Komechak said.
"That would probably entail a lot of legal entanglements over property."
However, Komechak expressed confidence that a strong base of Fort Worth
parishioners would stay loyal to the national leadership.
"Within any parish in Fort Worth, you'll find people who are staunchly
conservative and who are more moderate, and they all go to that church and
worship together," he said.
David Michael Cohen, 817-390-7400
dcohen@star-telegram.com
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