No resolution in Anglican gay fight

The Anglican Church’s gay rights dispute appeared no closer to resolution this week after its leaders gave US counterparts until September to stop blessing same-sex unions but failed to spell out the consequences if they did not comply.

The Anglican leaders, meeting at a major summit in Zanzibar, Tanzania, said the US Episcopal Church must stop blessing same-sex unions by 30 September.

A statement issued after the meeting said if the US Church did not stop approving same-sex unions, its relationship with the Anglican Communion would be damaged at best, Reuters reported.

If the reassurances requested of the House of Bishops cannot in good conscience be given, the relationship between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole remains damaged at best, and this has consequences for the full participation of the church in the life of the Communion, the statement said.

The Anglican Church has faced a split over homosexuality since the ordination of openly gay US bishop Gene Robinson in 2003. Canadian Anglican leaders’ blessing of same-sex unions has also angered church conservatives.

The head of the Anglican Church, the archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, admitted this week’s statement was an interim solution that certainly falls very short of resolving all the disputes.

Williams insisted homosexuality was inconsistent with Church teaching. He hinted the Episcopal Church might not be included in the 2008 Lambeth Conference, a major Anglican summit held every 10 years, if it did not stop blessing gay unions.

Tensions were high at the summit in Tanzania, as several conservative leaders refused to take communion with the progressive leader of the US Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori. Jefferts Schori has angered conservative Anglican leaders by backing Gene Robinson.