UNSETTLED TIMES FOR EPISCOPALIANS.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

Worldwide Anglican leaders' views on human sexuality are of more than passing interest to an Episcopal church in south Eugene, where the priest is gay and the board president is a lesbian who hopes to be ordained.

At an Episcopal church in west Eugene, meanwhile, a priest likens the issue to "the elephant in the living room" - a subject that few are eager to discuss after a similar debate four years ago spurred an exodus of about 20 families.

As in other Protestant denominations, the country's 2.3 million Episcopalians have long wrestled with the topic of homosexuality - and have landed somewhere in the middle. The church welcomes gays and lesbians into the pew and pulpit, but has no formal liturgy allowing for the blessing of same-sex couples.

For many Episcopalians, the debate is not with one another but with the 77-million member Anglican Communion, of which they are a part. The communion consists of 44 churches around the world with historic ties to the Church of England.

Leaders from all those churches emerged from a closed-door meeting in Tanzania, Africa, last month with an ultimatum for U.S. Episcopalians: Promise never again to consecrate an openly gay priest as bishop, as was done in 2003, and stop offering blessings to same-sex couples.

Some fear that the dispute could lead to a schism. American bishops will discuss how to respond - they've been given a deadline of Sept. 30 - when they gather in Houston for six days beginning today.

The Rev. Dennis Parker, approaching his fourth year as interim rector at south Eugene's Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, calls the dispute a "clash of cultures."

Anglican leaders who object most strenuously hail from Africa and other parts of the globe "where issues of human sexuality, especially homosexuality, are taboo and simply not discussed," he said. "They're just beginning the conversation that we've been having for 30 years."

Nancy Gallagher, a self-employed tax consultant who serves as senior warden, or board president, at Church of the Resurrection, said she is at once hopeful and frustrated by the ongoing debate.

"It's always so distracting to be talking about my sexuality when what we all should be talking about is how to better feed and house the world," she said.

The issue has continued to percolate since the appointment of Katharine Jefferts Schori - a former professor of oceanography at Oregon State University - as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. Jefferts Schori is the first woman to hold the American church's highest position.

Though women have been ordained in the U.S. church since 1974, Jefferts Schori's rise has proved a challenge to some in the larger Anglican fold. At the primates' meeting in Tanzania, seven conservative Anglican leaders refused to take Holy Communion with Jefferts Schori because of her support for ordaining gays and blessing same-sex unions.

In the weeks since, the married Jefferts Schori has won both praise and criticism for her plea that members mute their pro-gay advocacy in the interests of seeking greater reconciliation within the Anglican community.

A lack of unity

How this all plays out at the local level varies from parish to parish.

At St. Mary's, Eugene's largest Episcopal parish with about 800 members, the Rev. Ted Berktold finds himself confronting a range of perspectives - from longtime, traditional-leaning members upset about a possible schism to more recent arrivals "who have felt safe and welcomed in the Episcopal Church and now are wondering, `Is this a place that's still going to want us?' '

To help address such concerns, St. Mary's will sponsor a March 25 symposium, open to the public, on the primates' meeting in Tanzania. A series of workshops on reconciliation will follow, Berktold said.

For many, the underlying issue deals with institutional changes - such as revisions to church worship structure and the ordination of women - that date back several decades, Berktold said. "People start citing a series of concerns and end up at homosexuality," he said.

The recent past has seen greater authority for Anglican leaders in Africa and other parts of the Southern Hemisphere where church growth has exploded. Berktold said what troubles him most is the unprecedented lack of unity among bishops.

"Bishops are supposed to be a symbol of unity; they should be sitting together in loving disagreement," he said. "But when you have bishops who refuse to sit with one another, who refuse to take Communion with one another, we have no precedent for that."

At Church of the Resurrection, parishioners needn't look far - only to the pulpit - for a reminder of how the issue touches their lives. Parker, the church's interim rector, has been clear about his sexual orientation from the get-go.

"I'm not a gay priest; I'm a priest who happens to be gay," said Parker, who worked as an actor and corporate human resources officer before making a career shift to ministry. "This congregation was well aware of my orientation, and my partner, when they called me as their interim minister."

Parker said he is reluctant to address the current debate from the pulpit for fear he'll be accused of grandstanding. "I've mentioned it, but in terms of the Gospel message of justice, and respect for the dignity of every human being, and Jesus' command that we love one another," he said.

"Something powerful"

Gallagher, the Church of the Resurrection board president who aspires to ordainment, said she delights in being part of a church where gays and lesbians are embraced for their gifts of time and money, not their sexual orientation. Gallagher said she travels in social circles where it's harder to defend her choice to be a Christian than her label as a lesbian.

Gallagher said she's not dismayed to affiliate with a denomination that continues to question homosexuality. "We all have our prejudices, and we don't get them automatically removed when we go to church," she said. "As society wrestles with issues of homosexuality, so does the church."

But at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church on River Road, the mood may be more cautious. "There is a sense of questioning, with a bit of historical unease," the Rev. Bryce McProud said. "Now is a tender time for us."

When Episcopal leaders elected an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, St. Matthew's responded by offering an in-depth series on human sexuality. The result was about a 20 percent drop in parish attendance, including some members who helped start a new church, Fellowship of the Living Word, which defines itself as Anglican rather than Episcopalian.

At St. Matthew's, the Anglican Communion's stance on human sexuality "isn't talked about much, at least at church, but people are aware," McProud said. "It's a major concern for me personally, but there's not much I can do except pray."

Parker, at Church of the Resurrection, predicts that sometime in the future many Episcopalians "will be kicking themselves" in the same way that previous generations regretted their initial opposition to slavery or equal rights for women.

Many gay Episcopalians came out to their families and congregations long ago. "Now we're coming out to the global community, and we're going to get the same (initial) reaction we got when we came out the first time," Parker said. `People at first are not going to understand, and then they're going to say, `This is the same person who I still love.' '

McProud, at St. Matthew's, sees a bumpier road ahead.

"I believe strongly that we are in the throes of a new Reformation," he said. "I think Anglicans are at the forefront, and I don't know how things will get sorted out. It will probably take decades, but I fear it will be messy and painful.

"God is doing something powerful, but not necessarily pleasant or easy."