ECUSA: CONSERVATIVES AND LIBERALS DUKE IT OUT ON RADIO

NPR – ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

MELISSA BLOCK, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

MICHELE NORRIS, host: And I'm Michele Norris.

It’s been six months since Gene Robinson was confirmed as the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church. Since then, conservatives have threatened to punish the national church by withholding their money. Today, the treasurer of the church told officials that was an empty threat. Pledges for next year are only slightly down from last year, yet conservatives say the church has no idea of the problems that it may face. NPR’s Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports.

Kurt Barnes, the treasurer of the Episcopal Church, describes himself as a conservative man, not one prone to “gilding the lily.” He’s keenly aware of the controversy roiling the church since it recognized gay unions and consecrated Gene Robinson, a gay priest, as bishop of New Hampshire.

Given all this, Barnes says he’s pleased that he’s received commitments from more than three-quarters of the bishops, and so far, their pledges to the national church are down only 7 percent.

“The impact is what I would describe as insignificant,” Barnes said. He recommends dioceses cut spending by 5 to 10 percent.

Jim Naughton, a spokesman for the Diocese of Washington, DC, says this isn’t cause for rejoicing but it’s not the predicted apocalypse either. “The narrative line since General Convention has been, ‘Oh, watch out. The Episcopal Church is taking in water. The Episcopal Church is going down.’ And that’s definitely not happening.”

Reverend Don Armstrong, rector of the 2,400-member Grace Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs, says the bishops are spinning the narrative. Angry conservative parishioners in Colorado have withheld some $350,000 from their diocese, he says, but the bishop is covering the loss locally and maintaining national contributions. “As we move into 2004 and their monthly income decreases, they’re going to be faced with the reality that they don’t have the money in the bank to write the checks.”

Kendall Harmon of the Diocese of South Carolina adds that the situation will grow more acute. Entire churches are leaving the denomination to join conservative offshoots like the Anglican Mission in America. “Basically, the vast majority of a parish just left from St. John’s, Melbourne, and went to the Anglican Mission in America. So in that diocese, most of the pledge… is going to go down.”

But Naughton notes a counter-trend: parishioners supportive of gay inclusion are making up shortfalls. “Many people in those parishes have said, ‘Fine. If you’re not going to give to the diocese, we’re going to give directly.’ So this idea that people are voting with their pocketbooks goes both ways.”

And so in this war of words and finances, with too much smoke to see clearly, both sides are claiming victory.

Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR News, Washington.

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