The archbishop of
Canterbury indicated Friday that the Episcopal Church
isn't on the brink of losing its place in the world Anglican
fellowship, despite the uproar over Episcopal support
for gay clergy.
Anglican leaders,
called primates, had set a September 30 deadline for
the Americans to pledge unequivocally not to consecrate
another gay bishop or approve an official prayer
service for gay couples. Episcopal bishops have
dedicated their meeting here to crafting a response.
But after two
days of private talks with Episcopal leaders, Archbishop of
Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader,
said ''there is no ultimatum involved.'' The goal, he
said, is ''compromise.''
''It's been
presented sadly as a set of demands,'' Williams said in a
news conference before he left. ''I don't think that what
was in the primates' minds. In fact, I'm sure it
isn't.''
The Episcopal
Church is the Anglican body in the United States and has a
more liberal view of Scripture than most Anglicans overseas.
Tensions over Bible interpretation erupted in 2003,
when Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay
bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Over the past
four years, Anglican leaders have held emergency summits
and private negotiations, trying to prevent differences over
gay issues from shattering the Anglican
Communion.
The most recent
international conference was held in February in
Tanzania, where Anglican leaders reiterated their call for
the Americans to roll back their support for gays.
''This has
consequences for the full participation of the church in the
life of the communion,'' the primates said, in the document
they approved in Africa.
Williams
acknowledged that ''some primates would give a more robust
interpretation of the demands, some less.'' But the
archbishop said the Sept. 30 date was chosen simply to
coincide with the meeting this month of the Episcopal
House of Bishops.
Williams will
work with Anglican leaders and with members of the Anglican
Consultative Council, an international lay-clergy panel, in
evaluating whatever statement Episcopal bishops make
before they end their gathering Tuesday.
Pittsburgh bishop
Robert Duncan, head of a network of conservative
Episcopal dioceses that are considering splitting from the
Episcopal Church, said that Williams is
''de-emphasizing the ultimatum piece to try to get the
best results'' from American leaders.
''A great number
of the primates see that deadline very much as a real
deadline,'' Duncan said, ''just as many of us had.'' (Rachel
Zoll, AP)
