From: George Conger
Morning Edition (10:00 AM ET) - NPR
August 25, 2003 Monday
LENGTH: 904 words
HEADLINE: Conservatives in the Episcopal Church revolt against confirmation of Gene Robinson
ANCHORS: RENEE MONTAGNE
REPORTERS: BARBARA BRADLEY HAGERTY
BODY:
Conservatives in the Episcopal Church are staging a determined and
potentially costly revolt. Costly, that is, to the Episcopal Church of
the United States, which recently confirmed Gene Robinson to be its
first openly gay bishop. NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty reports.
BARBARA BRADLEY HAGERTY reporting:
The symbolism is hardly subtle, an Episcopal Church in Catonsville,
Maryland, draped its building in purple, a sign of mourning. A rector in
Ft. Worth, Texas, began the Sunday service by hurling the denominational
flag to the ground and then walking over it as he preached. Some priests
were more measured, but just as serious.
Reverend JOHN GUERNSEY (All Saints Episcopal Church): Paul wrote to the
church at Ephesus and said, 'Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.'
Well, God's church grieved the Holy Spirit this week.
HAGERTY: John Guernsey, at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Dale City,
Virginia, began a recent sermon by declaring that the confirmation of
Gene Robinson contradicted the Bible and church teaching. He told his
congregation of 550 that they could restrict their donations to make
sure that it would only go to the local church and its ministries.
Guernsey says if he didn't create a way to bypass the diocese and the
national church, many people would stop giving completely.
Rev. GUERNSEY: Our outreach ministries would have to take huge cuts. Our
work with the homeless in the community, our support of economic
development in Uganda, our help for the persecuted church in Sudan--How
could we possibly jeopardize all of that in order to force people to
support what they know to be wrong?
HAGERTY: Guernsey says 40 percent of the people have restricted their
giving in the first week and he expects the figure to grow, which could
be a significant blow, since All Saints gives the diocese and national
church more than $150,000 a year.
Mr. DONALD ARMSTRONG (Director, Grace Church): There are parishes all
over the country doing this.
HAGERTY: Donald Armstrong is director of the Anglican Communion
Institute and rector of Grace Church in Colorado Springs. Armstrong set
up a Web site right after the general convention in August, advising
churches how to tell their parishioners how to redirect their funds. In
the first two weeks, he says 10,000 people visited the site. Armstrong
says conservatives are sending a message to church leaders.
Mr. ARMSTRONG: If you guys aren't going to be doing the work of God, if
you're going to be causing this discord and division in the church, then
you're going to pay for doing that.
HAGERTY: Steven Duggan, a former treasurer of the national church, says
this is economic blackmail. And he says the ones who will be hurt are
not the leaders of the Episcopal Church USA, but the people the church
helps.
Mr. STEVEN DUGGAN (Former Treasurer, National Church): When you starve
the national church, you starve the church in Cuba, you starve the
church in Navajo land, you starve the church in El Salvador and Liberia.
It's not going to change people's minds. It's not going to change the
minds of those who voted at general convention.
HAGERTY: Conservatives say they know that, but they can't support what
they see as an attack on marriage. How much money is at stake is still
unclear. Many churches are waiting to see what action the leaders of the
worldwide Anglican church will take when they have their emergency
meeting in October. In fact, several bishops are parking the money for
their entire diocese in escrow accounts for the time being. But Louie
Crew, a gay activist and a member of the Episcopal Church's Executive
Council, says no one at the Episcopal Church is losing sleep over the
threat of economic boycott.
Mr. LOUIE CREW (Episcopal Church's Executive Council Member): We are a
very privileged group of people with an enormous wealth in our
endowments and in our contributions generously given by the diocese that
do, and we will be able to survive.
HAGERTY: He says a lot of conservative churches long ago reduced their
contributions and, anyway, Crew says, the church's stand on
homosexuality is attracting many people who call up the churches and ask
questions.
Mr. CREW: 'What time are your services? I want to come.' And these are
not necessarily gay and lesbian people. These are just people who
thought, 'My goodness, I didn't believe a church could be responsive to
the modern world.'
Mr. ARMSTRONG: Louie is the king of fantasyland, it seems to me, about
this issue.
HAGERTY: Donald Armstrong in Colorado Springs. He says many of the
churches that are unhappy have disproportionate economic leverage. For
example, just three evangelical churches in Virginia pledged more than
$400,000 this year. The average Episcopal Church gives about $11,000. He
says of course there are big liberal churches out there that will
continue giving.
Mr. ARMSTRONG: The majority of the large churches are in Texas, Alabama,
Colorado, places where people are conservative, and these churches have
grown, because God has blessed their faithfulness to the Gospel. And
these are the churches with all the money.
HAGERTY: He and others say if the leaders of the Episcopal Church think
that the conservatives will eventually get over their anger and fall
into line, they're making a serious miscalculation. Barbara Bradley
Hagerty, NPR News, Washington.
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RENEE MONTAGNE, host: