OHIO: SIX EPISCOPAL CHURCHES MOVE TOWARD SCHISM

Six conservative parishes in northeast Ohio invited outside bishops—including Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti of Brazil—to conduct a joint Confirmation service on March 14, 2004.

This was a direct challenge to Bishop Clark Grew II, who supported Gene Robinson's consecration.

The service—attended by over 100 teens and adults—was declared illegal under Episcopal canon law, which prohibits visiting bishops from performing sacraments without local permission.

Rev. Roger Ames of St. Luke's, Bath, stated: "We are prepared to fight—to go to court—to protect what has been entrusted to us."

The parishes seek "adequate episcopal oversight" as called for by the Archbishop of Canterbury and 37 global primates in October 2003—something they say ECUSA's proposed "supplemental oversight" plan fails to deliver.

Their goal is not schism—but remaining Anglican within a church they see as abandoning orthodoxy.

"ECUSA calls us schismatic. In reality, our only goal is to remain Anglican."