With the national church’s elevation last week of an openly gay man, the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, to a bishop of New Hampshire, conservative Episcopalians are vowing to divorce themselves from the organization, essentially breaking off relations with an institution that has been in place since the Revolution. These dissident dioceses account for perhaps 20 percent of the American church’s 2.7 million members. In the international Anglican community, meanwhile, numbering about 77 million, conservative leaders (mostly in developing countries) say they will boycott meetings with the American church. The Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the worldwide church, appointed a commission in October to study these problems.
The traditionalists say the American church has strayed too far from Biblical teachings, and they aren’t going to put up with it anymore. This schism sets the stage for potentially vicious litigation over tens of millions of dollars of church property–and it raises a question at the heart of the culture wars: whose church is it anyway?
What the conservatives are trying to do, says the Very Rev. George Werner, the second-ranking officer in the Episcopal Church, is to “take the money and go,” claiming that property in their dioceses belongs to them. He adds: “I don’t think that’s going to fly.” Courts would rule that control of property ultimately rests with the national church, he says; besides, he doesn’t expect an exodus of church members.
But while church officials put up a good face, the conservatives are devising ways to assert independence, and keep their money at home. A diocese in Pittsburgh is changing its bylaws to allow it to reject American church practices it cannot abide–namely, the consecration of a gay bishop. The conservative American Anglican Council, which Father Anderson leads, is circulating applications to create an independent network of as many as 300 conservative churches. Already, at least four dioceses say they will stop contributing money to the national church. From Dallas alone, that could mean a loss of $500,000 a year.
Some conservative congregations are talking about simply walking away from their church buildings just before winter hits. “That way,” says one conservative church member, “the bishop will have to heat the building all winter long.” It’s a cold, hard-eyed strategy. But in the battle for the soul of the church–and its assets–it seems that things are going to get fierce.
