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| THEOLOGICAL DISPUTE | |
 February 8, 2005 
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JIM LEHRER: The deepening divide between the Anglican Church and its
American branch, the Episcopal Church. Jeffrey Kaye of KCET-Los Angeles
has our report. SPOKESPERSON: Hi guys. SPOKESPERSON: How are you? SPOKESPERSON: Wonderful. JEFFREY KAYE: St. James Church in affluent, predominantly Republican
Newport Beach, California, is a place one wouldn't normally associate
with rebellion and radical change. SPOKESPERSON: How's it going? Good. JEFFREY KAYE: But St. James is a house of worship in revolt. In August,
it severed its ties with the Episcopal Church of the United States.
With its 2.3 million members, the Episcopal Church is the American branch
of the worldwide Anglican Communion. For 58 years, St. James was a part
of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. Now, say its lay leaders, their
bishop is 11 time zones away. JEFFREY KAYE: Where is your home now? GROUP (All): Uganda. JIM DALE, St. James Church: Uganda is our home. Our bishop is Bishop
Kisekka. Our archbishop is Bishop Henry Orombi. We are part of the diocese
of Luweero, and that's home. JEFFREY KAYE: Parish leaders say the Anglican Church in Africa, which
they joined, is more willing to uphold what they see as traditional
Christian values. They complain the U.S. Episcopal Church wants to mirror
American culture. JILL AUSTIN: In the scripture it says in Hebrew that "He is the
same yesterday, today, and forever." I began to ask: Why all of
a sudden are things changing? What was good 2,000 years ago is not the
same today. JIM DALE: If Christianity is going to move to the culture and flow
with the culture, it's not Christianity. It's not Christianity. JEFFREY KAYE: St. James is one of three parishes in southern California
to formally leave the Episcopal Church. Nationwide, between 20 and 100
other parishes, depending on who's counting, have split from the Church.
That's out of more than 7,000 parishes. A year ago, a still photographer recorded dissenting Episcopalians
as they founded "the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and
Parishes." Members describe the conservative group as a "church
within a church." It includes ten of the one hundred bishops who
head Episcopal dioceses in this country. SPOKESPERSON: There are 65 "yes" votes. JEFFREY KAYE: The long-simmering revolt gathered steam in August 2003
after church leaders voted to consecrate the ordination of a gay bishop,
V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire and to approve the blessing of same
sex marriages. SPOKESPERSON: What is one image that god has been speaking to us at
St. James? JEFFREY KAYE: The Reverend Praveen Bunyan, rector of St. James, says
tolerance of homosexuality represents a symptom of a larger problem:
What he sees as the Episcopal Church's increasing failure to adhere
to biblical orthodoxy. REV. PRAVEEN BUNYAN, St. James Church: I pray for Gene Robinson. I
pray for all the people. And it is nothing personal. I do not hate anybody
or I do not dislike anybody. I pray for all people. But as a church,
are we upholding the authority of scripture? Are we upholding the lordship
of Jesus Christ? And from these two basic tenets the Episcopal Church
has been going astray and going away, while the rest of the Anglican
Communion had remained faithful to this historical teaching. JEFFREY KAYE: To outside observers, there are few obvious indications
of change at St. James. The liturgy and the vestments remain the same.
But signs now read Anglican instead of Episcopal. And dues that once
went to the head of the LA Episcopal diocese now go to Bishop Evans
Kisekka, whose cathedral is in a town 40 miles from the capital of Uganda.
St. James leaders say that in the global South, Anglicans practice a
purer form of Christianity than the American Episcopal Church. JIM DALE: There is nothing left here now. So let's look overseas.
Let's look at the growth and vitality and excitement of Christianity
in Africa or the southern hemisphere where Christianity is growing and
exploding because we took the bible to those countries, and they believed
it. And they have put that to heart and they have seen the power of
the bible and the power of the gospel transforming lives in those countries.
And we wanted to be a part of that. JEFFREY KAYE: J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the Los Angeles diocese of the
Episcopal Church, is on the other side of this issue. THE RT. REV. J. JON BRUNO: I think that fundamentalism is the reason
for this schism. JEFFREY KAYE: Bruno says the interpretation of scripture must be flexible
and evolutionary. THE RT. REV. J. JON BRUNO: We're making assumptions that our way is
the right way. We even did that with, in this country, with slavery,
when we tried to prove the importance of how the white majority had
privilege because it was intended by God. But I do believe that the worldwide consensus of fundamentalism that's
having a rise is a major problem. If Jesus gave us memory, intellect,
and reason, shouldn't we use all those things and not just go by a book,
road map, that is so rigidly interpreted by some people that it leaves
a gulf between us? JEFFREY KAYE: The gulf is deep, dividing the Anglican Church, which
has more than 70 million members throughout the world, most in the southern
hemisphere. The Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. is one of 38 provinces,
or divisions, within the worldwide Anglican Communion. Since the Robinson consecration, 22 of the 38 provinces, including
Uganda, have denounced or broken ties with American Episcopalians. And
in October, a report issued by international Anglican leaders asked
the U.S. Episcopal Church to express regret for selecting an openly
gay bishop and to stop blessing same sex unions. SPOKESPERSON: We pray for unity in your holy church. JEFFREY KAYE: Last month, a group of conservative Episcopalians held
a vigil outside a Salt Lake City hotel where 140 church leaders attended
a semi-annual bishops' meeting. The dissenters stood in the cold to
show support for the conservative bishops inside. THE REV. MARTHA GILTINAN, Hamilton, MA: The incarnation really kind
of called us to kind of make our presence here with them to say we're
here to support you and to pray for you, and to pray for this whole
process. JEFFREY KAYE: Inside the closed door meeting, conservative bishops
pushed for a formal statement, one which would have apologized for appointing
a gay bishop and would have declared a moratorium on blessing same-sex
unions. But after the meeting, Church leaders announced those demands
would be discussed at a later time. The bishops issued a carefully worded apology: "We as the house
of bishops express our sincere regret for the pain, the hurt, and the
damage caused to our Anglican bonds of affection by certain actions
of our church," they wrote. Church leaders called the statement
an "act of repentance." JEFFREY KAYE: What are you repenting for? THE RT. REV. CHARLES JENKINS, Episcopal Bishop, Louisiana: Well, now,
we are repenting for the hurt that we have caused one another. JEFFREY KAYE: Are you repenting for the consecration of Bishop Robinson?
Are you repenting for blessing of same-sex unions? THE RT. REV. CHARLES JENKINS: No. JEFFREY KAYE: No. THE RT. REV. CHARLES JENKINS: That was not what we said. THE MOST REV. FRANK GRISWOLD, Presiding Bishop, Episcopal Church:
I think the regret we can offer wholeheartedly and as a unified body
is regret for the consequences our actions have had in other context.
But that does not mean that we necessarily regret the action itself.
Certainly, I, having participated in the ordination of the bishop
of New Hampshire, do not regret having done so, though I recognize the
complexities that that action has had in other places and regret the
pain that it's caused other people. JEFFREY KAYE: Bishops who lead the conservative Anglican network said
the meeting left them both hopeful and disappointed. THE RT. REV. ROBERT DUNCAN: Many of our people in the non-network
dioceses are just holding on by their fingernails. And the more that
this house of bishops could have said, the better they'd be able to
hang on. The fact that we have said we're sorry, that will be some encouragement
to us and to the rest of the world, but it's actually not -- it's not
enough to hold our people to stop this hemorrhage. JEFFREY KAYE: For his part, LA's Episcopal bishop remains unrepentant.
THE RT. REV. J. JON BRUNO: Repent means turn around, walk in a different
direction and say that the acceptance of people who are gay, the acceptance
of women, the acceptance of people who are divorced, the acceptance
of people because of differing ethnicities is wrong. I refuse to do
that. I think that God has room for all of us in this world and in this
church. JEFFREY KAYE: The dispute between Bruno and the three churches that
have broken away from his diocese goes beyond the theological. SPOKESMAN: They are not justified in claiming property and assets
that have been put in their trust by the Episcopal Church in the diocese
of Los Angeles. JEFFREY KAYE: He is suing them for taking property, which he says
belongs to the diocese. The churches argue they own the buildings and
their contents. While the legal arguments will be made in a California court, the venue for the theological dispute moves next to Belfast. That's where, starting Feb. 20, leaders of the worldwide Anglican Church are scheduled to meet to further debate how Anglicans should treat homosexuals. |
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