Saturday 6th May 2006 could prove decisive in the future of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as the Episcopal Diocese of California elects its new bishop. The potential to open a unprecedented global rift in the Communion is immense as three of the seven candidates are openly gay.

|PIC1|In 2003 the Episcopal Church of the USA elected the first openly homosexual bishop in the Anglican Communion’s 450 year history, Gene Robinson in New Hampshire. That event created shock waves across the worldwide Communion, which are still very much felt today, as a heated debate on the matter continues.

Since that time, the issue has been such a delicate topic that no further gay or lesbian clerics have been elected bishop.

A spokeswoman for the American Anglican Council, Cynthia Brust reported, “This (the Diocese of California elections) is being watched internationally. We’re just watching and waiting.”

In 1979 the Episcopal Church’s General Convention attempted to resolve the topic when it resolved that the ordination of homosexuals was inappropriate.

The 2003 consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson led to a number of Episcopal churches leaving the core ECUSA, and instead aligning themselves with the Anglican Churches in Africa, who have been sternly against the consecration of gays.

The Director of Communications for the Episcopal Church, Canon Robert Williams said, “There is a diversity of opinion within the Episcopal Church about the understanding of human sexuality. The church, locally and internationally, is committed to a process of understanding and ongoing discovery.”

|TOP|The United States of America is a country founded deeply in the Episcopalian tradition, with 8 of the first 14 presidents being Episcopalian. But it now stands at a crossroads at whether it will remain in the worldwide Anglican Communion or break apart from it, which is a distinct possibility if another gay bishop is elected in California.

A Special Commission of the Episcopal Church has also been created, consisting of clergy and laypeople, with the goal to recommend a way for the Church to tackle the problem. In April 2006 it reported back that the Church should be extremely cautious about making any new consecrations of homosexual clergy, and that it should make a fresh statement of repentance, and apologise for the trouble it had caused the worldwide Communion.

Specifically the group explained that it was split over whether it should go a stage further and tell the 2.3 million-member Church to “refrain” from consecrating gays at all. Instead it has settled by telling members to use extreme and “considerable caution” before committing another consecration such as Gene Robinson’s.

|AD|In 2005 the ECUSA issued an apology for the pain it had caused the Communion, and it agreed not to consecrate any more bishops, homosexual or heterosexual, until the Church meets for its General Convention in June 2006.

For the elections in California, diocese clergy and laypeople will have multiple ballots until a candidate gains 51 percent of the vote. If a gay candidate is elected, the June convention will have to decide if he or she is consecrated.

However, recently the Presiding Bishop of the ECUSA, Frank Griswold spoke of his decision to allow the consecration of Gene Robinson. He said, “I am keenly aware of the difficulties [it] caused. I can understand the churches that opposed, but at the same time I have to respect the people of New Hampshire in their choice.

“To have abstained would have been meaningless and, assent to his election having been given, it would have been very odd for me not to attend his consecration.”

Today, 6th May, will see the Diocese of California elect its successor to the long-serving Bishop William Swing, who is stepping down into retirement. The results of the election could have the potential to push the Communion into an irreconcilable split, and change the face of Anglicanism forever.

The candidates are the Right Rev. Mark Handley Andrus of Alabama; the Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe, who is gay and works in the Diocese of California; the Rev. Jane Gould of Massachusetts; the Rev. Bonnie Perry of Chicago, who is gay; the Rev. Donald Schell of San Francisco; the Rev. Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton; canon pastor of Washington National Cathedral; and the Very Rev. Robert Taylor of Seattle, who is also gay.