Diocese opposes female leadership

Jun. 20--The first woman chosen to lead the Episcopal Church faced a conservative backlash yesterday when a Texas diocese said it would seek leadership elsewhere.

Many in the 2.2 million-member denomination yesterday hailed Sunday's election of Katharine Jefferts Schori to be their next presiding bishop.

But the Diocese of Fort Worth told the church's General Convention, now meeting in Columbus, that it was appealing to the leaders of sister Anglican churches abroad for immediate oversight and pastoral care by the head of some other country's church.

"It's nothing against Katharine, but our bishop is opposed to the ordination of women," said the Rev. Canon Charles Hough, of Fort Worth. The diocese has been fighting female ordination for a long time, he said.

At a reception in her honor last night at Trinity Episcopal Church, Jefferts Schori called Fort Worth's action "understandable."

When asked what she might do, she said, "Try to build relationships."

Fort Worth, San Joaquin, Calif., and Quincy, Ill., are the only dioceses in the denomination that don't ordain women. Resistance to female clergy is more prevalent in other parts of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, made up of churches around the world with ties to the Church of England.

The Episcopal Church strained its relationship with the larger body in 2003 by approving the election of V. Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, as bishop of New Hampshire. More-conservative parts of the communion oppose gay clergy.

It was unclear yesterday whether or how Fort Worth's action might affect such things as control of diocesan property. The convention has allowed congregations that dislike their bishop to seek "pastoral care" from another one, but only for such things as confirmations and blessings.

Fort Worth now argues that an entire diocese can seek spiritual leadership from other Anglican churches.

Some at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, where the convention runs through Wednesday, said they were overjoyed at Jefferts Schori's election because of her qualifications as well as her gender. She is bishop of Nevada and worked as an oceanographer before being ordained.

"I'm still bubbling: I'm still getting goose bumps," said Iris Harris, a deputy from the Diocese of Washington.

But Becky Spanos, a member of the conservative Anglican Communion Network, said she was disappointed in the choice because Jefferts Schori has no experience as rector of a parish.

Spanos said, however, "that she will bring pastoral care that is lacking."

Others questioned whether someone who comes from a diocese of 6,000 can lead a large American denomination.

Acting on the convention's most contentious issue, the church's House of Deputies last night discussed a resolution discouraging the election of more gay bishops and barring the development of rites to bless same-sex unions.

The resolution might pass today and go to the House of Bishops for final action. It includes a commitment to pastoral care for gay and lesbian Episcopalians and an apology to them for causing them pain.

The Anglican Communion sought the bans on gay bishops and same-sex rites, and it asked Episcopalians to apologize for the turmoil they'd caused by electing Robinson. A resolution apologizing for the distress -- but not for the choice itself -- passed among the deputies, who are half clergy and half laypeople.

Procedural changes that limit floor debate are helping accelerate the pace of the convention as it reaches its final days.

fhoover@ dispatch.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

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