'Broken' communion

Religion | Worldwide Anglican bishops seek to halt same-sex blessings | Edward E. Plowman

It was clear from the very outset that something was seriously wrong as 35 primates, or chief bishops, of the worldwide Anglican Communion gathered in Northern Ireland for a crucial five-day meeting last month. In years past, they always received the Eucharist, or communion, together as an expression of unity. This time the majority declined to participate.

The snub was proof that the leaders of nearly half of the global body's 38 provinces, or regions, meant business when they declared they were in "impaired" or "broken" communion with the 2.3-million-member U.S. Episcopal Church (ECUSA) and the much smaller Anglican Church of Canada over homosexuality.

At issue was ECUSA's 2003 consecration of a gay bishop living with his male partner and the decision of the Canadian church's New Westminster diocese to institute rites for "blessing" same-sex unions—despite the Communion's official position that homosexual practice is "incompatible with Scripture." (An increasing number of liberal U.S. dioceses also conduct same-sex blessings, but New Westminster rejected a direct appeal by the primates not to proceed.)