PITTSBURGH — As many as six Episcopal bishops and more than 200 Episcopal congregations have taken a first step toward forming an alternative to the Episcopal Church that will unite conservatives irked by the church’s liberal drift.
Meeting in Pittsburgh Sept. 25–28, the Common Cause Council of Bishops brought together nine North American splinter groups to lay the groundwork for a conservative counterpart to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.
The nine North American groups claim to represent 600 congregations; the Episcopal Church in the United States has 2.3 million members and more than 7,000 congregations. Conservative Episcopalians, a minority in the church, have decried the church’s increasingly progressive stance on gay rights and biblical interpretation, especially the 2003 election of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.
Issues such as the ordination of women remain to be decided, according to Common Cause. It remains to be seen whether other Anglicans — including Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams — will recognize the new federation.
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