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Churchgoers Confused By
Gay Divisions
17 Sept 2006-
London- The Archbishop of Canterbury said divisions in the church have
left many ordinary Anglicans confused and weary.
In a letter to
leaders of the world's Anglican churches released Saturday, Archbishop
Rowan Williams also said there will be no quick response to plans by
seven dioceses of the U.S. Episcopal Church to seek leadership outside
the church because of their opposition to the appointment of gay clergy.
Anglican
leaders have been bitterly divided over the Episcopal Church's decision
to confirm an openly gay man, V. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New
Hampshire.
In July, the
Anglican Church in Nigeria called the U.S. branch ``a cancerous lump''
that should be cut out of the Anglican Communion.
Williams wrote
he prayed for Anglican leaders but `most especially for all those
ordinary people of God, in the Episcopal Church and elsewhere, who are
puzzled, wearied, or disoriented by our present controversies.''
`So many say
they simply do not want to take up an extreme or divisive position and
want to be faithful to scripture and the common life. They want to
preserve an Anglican identity that they treasure and love passionately
but face continuing uncertainty about its future,'' Williams wrote.
He recommended
humility to all sides in the controversy.
`All our
churches are, in one way or another, partly sound and partly not and
none of our churches would, on the basis of their virtue and their
strength alone, merit God's approval,'' he wrote.
To the seven
Episcopal dioceses who have sought `alternative oversight'' - taking an
outside bishop as their leader and disaffiliating with the Episcopal
leadership - Williams urged patience.
`I continue to
hope that colleagues will not take it for granted that there is a rapid
short-term solution that will remove our problems or simplify our
relationships for good and all without the essential element of
personal, probing conversation,'' the archbishop wrote.
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