05587
Oct. 28, 2005

Liberal Episcopalians preparing
for possible split over homosexuality      

Leaders say leaked ‘Day After’ document
is nothing more than a ‘contingency’ plan

by Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service       

WASHINGTON — Liberal Episcopalians, fearing that a split over homosexuality is inevitable, have begun laying the groundwork for seizing control of church property and replacing bishops who leave the church.        

     Leaders of Via Media (“middle way” in Latin), a loose alliance of liberal groups in 12 dioceses, sketched out the plan during a Sept. 29 meeting in Dallas. A draft of the minutes was leaked to the media this week.       

     The group’s plan, titled “Day After,” is the latest indication that all sides are preparing for decisive battle when the church meets next summer in Columbus, OH.        

     “We want to do everything that might be necessary and appropriate to make sure that every Episcopalian who wants an Episcopal church has one,” said Christopher Wilkins, Via Media’s national facilitator.       

     The 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church has weathered disunity at home and division from other Anglican churches abroad since 2003, when it approved the installation of an openly gay bishop and moved a step closer to blessing same-sex unions.       

     Conservatives have predicted a “realignment” of Anglicanism in North America unless the U.S. and Canadian churches repent of those actions.       

     Wilkins and other Via Media officials insist that “Day After” is just a contingency plan, one that they hope they will never have to enact. They said they merely want to protect their churches.        

     Via Media leaders say they have not consulted with Episcopal Church headquarters on their plans.        

     Meanwhile, conservatives say the leaked plan shows that the group is hostile toward traditionalists who opposed the installation of gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire and are resisting the church’s growing acceptance of homosexuality.        

     “I do find it troubling that they would feel a need to have these kinds of talks about how to wield power in such a ruthless manner at this stage,” said Douglas LeBlanc, a spokesman for the conservative Anglican Communion Network.       

     That group, headed by Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, includes the bishops of Dallas; Albany, NY; Orlando, FL; Fort Worth, TX; Quincy, IL; Albuquerque, NM; San Joaquin, CA; South Carolina; and Springfield, IL. Most Via Media groups are in those dioceses.        

     The Via Media plan assumes that conservative bishops will leave next summer’s General Convention unsatisfied and will try to take their dioceses out of the church. Then it would look like this:       

     Liberals would be ready to file canonical complaints that the bishops have abandoned the communion.       

     Liberals would ask that the bishops’ offices be declared vacant and ask the church’s presiding bishop to appoint replacements.       

     Vacant positions in the church’s leadership structure would also need to be filled, and finances, deeds and other documents secured.      

     The liberal remnant would need to “be ready to take legal action on property” to ensure that parish buildings and assets remain in the denomination.       

     Lionel Deimel, president of Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh, one of the Via Media groups, said the leaked minutes have unleashed a “tempest in a teapot,” but liberals take the threat of schism seriously.       

     “If a bishop is going to try to take a diocese out of the Episcopal Church — which (church law) says he cannot do — then Episcopalians, the people who own the property, are going to fight him on it,” Deimel said.       

     Liberals aren’t the only ones preparing for a schism. In early 2004, a memo from the Atlanta-based American Anglican Council promised “faithful disobedience … on a widespread basis” in an effort by church conservatives to reverse the church’s liberal direction.

     Last month, 28 Episcopal bishops met to form a task force to help the church deal with a steady stream of property lawsuits.     

     The Rev. Susan Russell, a California pastor and who is president of the gay Episcopal group Integrity, said Via Media is simply concerned with “not following the lemmings over the cliff.”