AKRON: HOMOSEXUALITY DEBATE DIVIDES THREE EPISCOPAL CHURCHES

Each of Three Churches in Greater Akron Area Has Different View on What Is Acceptable

By Colette M. Jenkins, Beacon Journal Religion Writer — July 11, 2004

On any given Sunday, you can hear the same prayers, readings, psalms and devotions at Church of Our Saviour, St. Luke's Episcopal Church and Hudson Anglican Fellowship.

But while they all look like Episcopal churches — using the Book of Common Prayer as their primary guide for worship — there is something very different going on in each one a year after the Episcopal Church's painful debate over homosexuality.

Church of Our Saviour is proud to be part of the Episcopal Church USA, which ordained an openly gay bishop. St. Luke's is still Episcopal but would rather not be. Hudson Anglican never was Episcopal, having started with people who left the Episcopal Church over the ordination.

Those differences are a reflection of the division that remains within the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

It was August when delegates to the Episcopal General Convention confirmed the Rev. V. Gene Robinson and acknowledged the blessing of same-sex unions has become part of the church's common life. Since then, the chasm has widened. Orthodox Episcopalians and Anglicans worldwide have called for global leaders to discipline and censure the U.S. church, and there is discord within parishes and dioceses, including the Ohio Diocese.

Shortly after the vote, 16 members of Christ Church Episcopal in Hudson left and formed Hudson Anglican Fellowship. Although the independent church is not affiliated with the Episcopal Church, it was established in the Anglican tradition. The congregation has grown to include more than 100 people and worships at 9:30 a.m. each Sunday at the restored octagon-shaped Danforth Barn on Darrow Road.

The Rev. David "Doc" Loomis, the founding pastor, says his congregation is not interested in dividing the church any further but wants to be part of the "realigned" American Anglican church. The church has placed itself under the spiritual oversight of orthodox bishops in the Anglican Mission in America, a part of the province of Rwanda.

"The Anglican church is splitting in two because the main body of the Episcopal Church fails to recognize Scripture," Loomis said. "More than 70 percent of the worldwide Anglican Church stands with us and against ECUSA."

Anglican archbishops from Africa decided in April to reject donations from any diocese that recognizes gay clergy and recommended giving the Episcopal Church three months to repent for ordaining an openly gay bishop or face expulsion. Bishops in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East are also furious over the American church's move. African leaders represent 18 provinces with a membership of more than 55 million people, compared with the Episcopal Church USA's 2.3 million members — a much smaller fraction of the global Anglican Communion's 77 million members.

Last month, the Anglican church in Canada approved a measure to implement rites for the blessing of same-sex unions, complicating the possibility of unifying the global church. Within days, the American Anglican Network asked global leaders to recognize it as a true Anglican province in North America, if the Episcopal Church does not repent and immediately cease blessing same-sex unions.

Ohio Diocese Bishop Mark Hollingsworth Jr. says each congregation in the diocese is currently focusing on its ministry rather than the issues arising out of last year's General Convention, and that this is likely to continue until the Archbishop of Canterbury gives some direction.

The Rev. Meghan Froehlich, pastor at Church of Our Saviour in Akron, supports unity. "Four words describe what we do here at Church of Our Saviour — welcome, worship, caring and outreach," Froehlich said. "We extend an open welcome. There are no exclusions, regardless of age, race, gender, life experience."

The Rev. Roger Ames, pastor at St. Luke's, disagrees. He says the American church has clearly violated the orthodox stance of the Anglican Communion. He and his charismatic, evangelical congregation have declared themselves in "impaired communion" with the local diocese and the national church, and are withholding contributions in favor of orthodox Anglican organizations.

"We totally reject what the U.S. church has done and we are pulling together to reject its revisionist, liberal agenda that is anti-authority, anti-biblical and anti-marriage," Ames said.

While conservatives like Ames are in the minority in the Episcopal Church, their viewpoint probably holds sway when it comes to global Anglicanism. They have been pleading with upset Episcopalians not to leave their churches, but to wait and see what the commission does.

"We have an informal understanding that everything is on hold until the archbishop issues his response," Ames said. "Until then, we — conservatives and liberals — are in a period of waiting together."