By The Associated Press
Thu, Aug. 03 2006 03:12 PM ET
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The leader of a network of conservative Episcopal dioceses says the global Anglican Communion will unravel unless the archbishop of Canterbury helps U.S. conservatives distance themselves from the Episcopal Church.
Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan said that if Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams fails to address the concerns of U.S. conservatives "any hope for a Communion-unifying solution slips away, and so does the shape and leadership of the Anglican Communion as we have known them."
Duncan made the remarks Monday at a meeting of the Anglican Communion Network, which represents 10 Episcopal dioceses and more than 900 parishes with traditional views of the Bible.
Conservatives oppose the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop — V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. They also oppose the June election of the new Episcopal presiding bishop, Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, either because they reject ordaining women or because Jefferts Schori supports ordaining gays and blessing same-sex relationships.
Seven of the 10 network dioceses have appealed to Williams as the spiritual head of the world's Anglicans to appoint another U.S. national leader for them. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. arm of the 77 million-member world Anglican Communion.
Williams has suggested that a two-tier Anglican fellowship, with traditionalists on gay clergy issues having a stronger voice, might be a way to preserve unity within the faith. But he has not appointed a leader for U.S. conservatives.
Separately, the Union of Black Episcopalians met Tuesday in Richmond, Va., with speakers telling the group that the denomination's focus on gay issues was distracting it from fighting social problems such as racism and poverty.
"We waste our time trying to figure out who's sleeping with whom, instead of being about doing the work of mission and ministry," the Rev. Sandye Wilson, the group's immediate past president, told an applauding crowd. "Don't get sidetracked."
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