Two large Episcopal parishes in Viginia voted to split from the U.S. Episcopal Church Sunday, drawing the latest line in the denominationís controversial divide over its ordination of a gay bishop. According to Reuters, the Falls Church and Truro Church in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, voted to join the conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America organization, which is linked to the Episcopal Church of Nigeria.
The Nigerian church is headed by Peter Akinola, who has supported a proposed law in Nigeria that calls for prison terms for homosexual activity. Ankinola has also been reported as calling homosexuality ìsatanic.î
The breakaway is the latest challenge to Presiding U.S. Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to head the 2.4 million-member U.S. Episcopal Church. She has been under fire from conservative Episcopalians because of her stand in favor of blessing same-sex unions and support for the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.
According to the Associated Press, the secessions could lead to battles over the churchesí property, although both sides say they want to avoid legal fights. The move is also likely to escalate divisions in the worldwide Anglican Communion, a 77-million-member alliance in which the Episcopal Church is the American branch.
The AP reports that the Rev. Martyn Minns, rector at one of the two large parishes, Truro Church in Fairfax, said at a news conference: ìA burden is being lifted. There are new possibilities breaking through.î
Clergy members at some of these churches have for many years criticized what they regard as a leftward drift in the Episcopal Church and saw the consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003 as the last straw.
Minns characterized the road to separation as a painful family struggle that centered on such central issues as what it means to be a church and how to best love and care for gays and lesbians.
