The roots of schism have been boring into the Anglican church since at least the 1970s and the ordination of women priests.But the ordination of openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson is attributed with accelerating the schism, with the result that some branches of the church have broken away from the mainstream, and the church’s blessing of same-sex families has exacerbated tensions.
In 2008, conservative Anglicans declared that the schism was all but upon the church; that episode was one more in a string of demands from Anglicans seeking to convince North America’s Episcopalians to "repent" for their support of GLBT members of the faith.
Another splinter group of the Episcopalians, The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), formed one year ago this month; the new splinter does not accept that gays might serve God in certain capacities.
A years-long moratorium of gay and lesbian bishops imposed on North America by the rest of the Anglican church--which had about 80 million members worldwide--was broken recently, when Mary Glasspool was ordained as a bishop in Los Angeles, leading to a rebuff from Anglican leader Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Anti-gay African chapters of the faith have reached out to some North American Episcopalian churches, and the Roman Catholic Church sparked cries of poaching when it opened its ranks to disaffected Anglicans looking to a more "traditional" faith within Catholicism, but adherents of ACNA prefer not to join up--although the New England diocese has acquired a former Catholic church located in Amesbury, Massachusetts, and intends to use the building as the cathedral for the faith’s newly minted New England diocese, the Boston Globe reported in a June 3 story.
The newly repurposed church, which was once owned by the Archdiocese of Boston, will serve as the meeting site for 100 ACNA bishops and delegates as the year-old church sets about organizing itself, the Globe reported.
The delegates and bishops will meet next week.
Formerly Sacred Heart Church, the rechristened All Saints Anglican Church has drawn plaudits from local Catholics who are happy to see their former spiritual home once again used as a center of worship.
One former nun, Patricia Perry, who now runs a chocolates shop, told the Globe, "I’m thrilled that they’re here."
Added Perry, "It’s just a little more special now that they’re going to make my old church into a cathedral."
The new diocese’s archdeacon, Donald P. Roberts, told the Globe that, "We have the largest facility of any of the churches in the diocese," which at the moment comprises 18 parishes across New England.
Overall, the new branch includes about 800 congregations.
SIC: EBMA