Feb 22, 2007 9:37 pm US/Central
DFW Episcopal Dioceses Want Changes In Church
by Jay Gormley
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
A line in the sand has been drawn for the Episcopal Church. The church is part of the Anglican Communion, which has 77 million members world-wide.
Leaders of the Anglican Communion gave the church an ultimatum. They demanded the church stop consecrating gay bishops and stop blessing same-sex marriages or split from the Anglican Communion.
"The Episcopal Church is being torn apart, and it's very sad," David Pyke, Good Shepard Church said.
The Episcopal Church has until the end of September to completely reverse its policy of the past. A split originally began in 2003 when the church consecrated its first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Leaders around the world have threatened that if changes fail to occur, the Episcopal Church may be forced out of the Anglican Communion.
The bishops in Fort Worth and Dallas have made their opinion on the matter clear. If the Episcopal Church does not change, both dioceses will break from the Episcopal Church and remain with the Anglican Communion.
"In this diocese, we are very committed to being both Episcopalians and to being part of the Anglican Communion," said Bishop Stanton, Diocese of Dallas. "There are deep riffs within the Episcopal Church and that may signal some type of division somewhere down the road."
Liberals in the Episcopal Church say it's impossible to meet a September deadline since only the general convention can change policy. The next time the U.S. General Convention meets is in the summer of 2009.
"The Episcopal Church is not run by the Anglican Communion. But they want a basis to go forward with their plans to start their own church in the United States and to interfere with what's going on here," said Pyke. "They can say, 'We're not going to talk to you anymore. We're not going to cooperate with you,' and that would be tragic."
In March, all of the U.S. bishops in the Episcopal Church will convene 30 miles south of College Station in Navasota, Texas. The bishops are expected to iron out a response to the Anglican primates.
(CBS 11 News)
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