Episcopal Church suspended for stance on gay ‘marriage’

The Anglican Communion voted Jan. 14 to censure its American branch, the Episcopal Church, during a meeting in Canterbury, England, called to reflect on the future of the Communion.

The vote passed by a two-thirds margin and included prominent voices among African bishops who have loudly condemned the Episcopal Church for its liberal stance on gays.

The dramatic demotion, suspending the Church from voting and decision making for three years, follows a string of Episcopal Church decisions stretching back to 2003 when it elected Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as a bishop of New Hampshire. In July 2015 the Episcopal Church voted to allow its clergy to perform same-sex “marriages,” a move not taken by the majority of churches in the Anglican Communion.

A statement issued by the Anglican Communion on Jan. 15 reads: “It is our unanimous desire to walk together. However, given the seriousness of these matters we formally acknowledge this distance by requiring that for a period of three years the Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies.

“The traditional doctrine of the Church in view of the teaching of Scripture upholds marriage as between a man and a woman in faithful, lifelong union.”

The Anglican Communion consists of 44 member churches from around the world, representing about 85 million Christians.

The suspension comes after four days of discussions among church leaders — “primates” in church parlance — over the Episcopal Church’s position on gay “marriage” in relation to the position of the broader Anglican Communion.

Jeffrey Walton, the Anglican program director at the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, said the suspension of the Episcopal Church is significant but does not, at this point, represent a schism, or irreparable rupture, within the Anglican Communion.

“This is not kicking the Episcopal Church out of the Anglican Communion, but it is saying that by making these decisions for the past 12 or so years the Episcopal Church has created this distance and there will be consequences to those decisions.”

(RNS)