Virginia churches break from US Episcopal Church

WASHINGTON, Dec 18: Eight congregations in the Virginia Diocese of the Episcopal Church voted overwhelming to break away, the Church announced, in the latest sign of a rift in the US denomination over its ordination of a gay bishop.

Two of the larger parishes, The Falls Church and Truro Church in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, voted to join the conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America organization, which is linked to the Episcopal Church of Nigeria.

The Nigerian church is headed by Peter Akinola, who has supported a proposed law in Nigeria that calls for prison terms for homosexual activity.

The breakaway is the latest challenge to Presiding US Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to head the 2.4 million-member US Episcopal Church. She has been under fire from conservative Episcopalians because of her stand in favor of blessing same-sex unions and support for the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

In addition to voting to join the breakaway Convocation of Anglicans of North America, The Falls Church and Truro Church congregations voted in favor of keeping parish property worth millions of dollars, the churches said yesterday.

The Episcopal News Service said six other Virginia congregations announced on Sunday that their members had voted to sever ties with the Episcopal Church.

''A burden is being lifted,'' Bishop Martyn Minns of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) said of the Virginia churches' decision.

Minns characterized the road to separation as a painful family struggle that centered on such central issues as what it means to be a church and how to best love and care for homosexuals.

The breakaway churches called CANA, ''a gift'' that allows them to stay firmly connected to the rest of the Anglican Communion and its heritage.

''We agree, as Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has indicated, that when two groups have irreconcilable differences, the pastoral thing to do is find a gracious way to separate,'' the Rev John Yates, rector of The Falls Church, said in a statement.

The votes in Virginia came two weeks after a diocese representing 48 California parishes took a major step toward breaking with the Episcopal Church over the homosexuality issue. The 10,000-member Diocese of San Joaquin approved an initial move away from the church and could break away if approves a similar measure next year.

Jefferts Schori, a former Oregon State University professor, set precedent in November when she became the first female leader in the history of the Episcopal and Anglican churches, most of which do not allow women to serve as bishops.

Bishop Peter Lee of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia said he was saddened that the congregations had voted to separate from the Episcopal Church. With Sunday's votes they have created Nigerian congregations occupying Episcopal churches, he said in a statement.

The Episcopal Church is a branch of the 77 million member Worldwide Anglican Communion, a loose federation of national churches around the world and the issue of homosexuality has echoed throughout the communion with some leaders suggesting splitting into two churches over it.

REUTERS