Polite rebuke

Religion | Anglican commission mildly taps radical bishops on the wrist | Edward E. Plowman

Pickings were slim for conservatives in the long-awaited Lambeth Commission's "Windsor Report" on the crisis in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

They had wanted to see the predominantly liberal U.S. Episcopal Church (ECUSA) "disciplined" for consecrating as bishop last year V. Gene Robinson, a homosexual living with his male partner, and for allowing same-sex blessings under official ECUSA auspices. Instead, liberal bishops in ECUSA got off with little more than a mild tap on the wrist, and Bishop Robinson kept his job.

The conservatives also had wanted approval of a plan that would allow conservative congregations to receive spiritual oversight by biblically faithful bishops, regardless of diocesan boundaries. The report rejected such a plan and accused overseas bishops who had come to the aid of North American conservatives of contributing to disunity.