COLORADO: EPISCOPAL BISHOP TOUTS UNITY

Bishop O'Neill Says He'll Protect Canterbury Ties Amid Division

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News September 8, 2004

LOVELAND - Bishop Rob O'Neill assured more than 100 Episcopalians in a packed meeting hall Tuesday that while controversies such as same-sex blessings are part of an "ongoing discussion" in Colorado, he will never allow the diocese to be separated from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

"That's a no-brainer," said O'Neill about the Canterbury connection, as he spoke to a relaxed and friendly crowd at All Saints Church in Loveland.

It was the first of eight meetings scheduled to discuss a just-released bishop's task force report on how to "live together in disagreement" over issues such as whether to develop same-sex blessings.

O'Neill's reference to Canterbury was an allusion to the London-based headquarters of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

A majority of its 38 provinces reject the Episcopal Church USA's pro-gay policies, which are shared by O'Neill.

The question is, how much authority - if any - does Canterbury have to force the American church to change its position?

"This is really the key issue - part of the ambiguity of Anglicanism," O'Neill told the crowd.

O'Neill and Pat Washburn, one of 11 task-force members of liberals and conservatives, fielded questions from the audience, which represented at least 10 of Colorado's more than 110 parishes.

As the crowd shed jackets in the rising heat, Washburn spent the first hour reviewing the 23-page report. It recommended that the beleaguered diocese - beset by squabbling clergy and a $500,000 decline in pledges - put its differences aside during a "season of restraint." Arguably, the major example of that is that the bishop would hold off on developing same-sex blessings for at least two years until the national church revisits the issue at its convention in 2006.

Washburn said the goal should be a "transparent, less dysfunctional diocese," one where "we speak the truth and say what we mean. There's been a lack of trust in the diocese and it didn't start now."

Ginny Mortenson, a longtime member of All Saints church, said her parish of about 240 families was "pretty evenly balanced on both sides" about same-sex unions, though she was sure those differences would never divide the parish.

"We're all friends and will be for a long time," she said.

END