New Leadership slate upsets Episcopal conservatives; Three of the four voted to support the consecration of a gay bishop in New Hampshire

The four candidates to lead the Episcopal Church through 2015 include the first woman nominated for the position of presiding bishop. Three of the four also supported the consecration of an openly gay bishop, an action that polarized the American church and provoked angry protests by Anglican leaders in other countries.

The nominees announced Wednesday by a national church committee are Bishops J. Neil Alexander, 52, of Atlanta; Edwin F. Gulick Jr., 57, of Louisville, Ky.; Henry N. Parsley Jr., 57, of Birmingham, Ala.; and Katharine Jefferts Schori, 51, of Las Vegas.

Of the four, only Parsley voted against the consecration of V. Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, to be bishop of New Hampshire during the 2003 national meeting.

The new presiding bishop, who will replace the retiring Frank Griswold, will be elected June 18 during the 2.5 million-member denomination's triennial General Convention in Columbus, Ohio.

In addition to the Robinson consecration, the national church has been divided over the ordination of gay priests and the blessing of same-sex unions.

The nominees "face daunting challenges not only in the national church but in the communion itself," said Bishop Don A. Wimberly of the Houston-based Diocese of Texas and a member of the nominating committee. "The new presiding bishop will have to work to bring together varying groups within the Episcopal Church USA as well as work to reunify relationships with other parts of the Anglican Communion."

African churches rebel

Several national churches in Africa and Asia have declared they are no longer in communion with the American church over the Robinson consecration. The new presiding bishop will have to deal with the turmoil, which may take center stage at the worldwide meeting of bishops in England in 2008.

American conservatives were unhappy with the nominees.

"We are deeply disturbed that the list of nominees does not include any candidate who is representative of orthodox Anglicanism," the conservative American Anglican Council said in a statement Wednesday.

"It seems clear that none of the nominees for presiding bishop will lead (the Episcopal Church) back into the clear teaching and practice of Anglicanism, nor can we hope that they will stand up to the House of Bishops to say 'enough is enough.' "

The council said that although Parsley voted against Robinson, his actions in his own diocese belie his claims of orthodoxy.

Warring factions

The Rev. Laurens "Larry" Hall, rector of St. John the Divine Church in Houston and a traditionalist leader, said he did not think any of the nominees could unite the warring liberal and conservative groups within the denomination.

"I don't see any of them being a bridge between the divisions and that is sad," Hall said.

The Rev. Kendall Harmon, a conservative writer in South Carolina, said none of the candidates was known for evangelism.

"The mainline churches need to recover a way to communicate the Gospel to this culture," Harmon said. "Not one of these people are known for that. Where is the concern for the evangelistic and missionary task?"

But the Rev. Joe Reynolds, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston and a progressive leader, described the nominations as "a good slate."

"It represents the moderate mainstream of the Episcopal Church. They are all solid folks."

Leadership slate upsets Episcopal conservatives @ Houston Chronicle -