One of the top leaders in The Episcopal Church in the US has advised Episcopalians to "keep calm" during a visit to a divided diocese.
Episcopal House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson addressed more than 275 people from 21 of the 60 congregations in the Diocese of Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA on Saturday. She urged them to "hang in there with us" a month after the diocese asked for alternative pastoral care for many of its parishes wanting to leave the Episcopal Church."Keep your eyes on the prize, which is the reconciliation of the world through Jesus Christ, whom we love more than life itself," said Anderson to those wanting to remain in the Episcopal Church, according to the Episcopal News Service.
The Rev Tom Woodward, rector of St Bede's Episcopal Church in Santa Fe, said the meeting was a chance for people to share the "basic joy of being Episcopalians and not have to apologise for it", ENS reports.
In May, the Diocese of Rio Grande passed two resolutions asking the Episcopal head, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, for alternative oversight for congregations that feel "deeply alienated from the actions of the Episcopal Church especially since 2003," as Diocese Bishop the Rt Rev Jeffrey N Steenson, who also opposed the actions, wrote in the request.
The Episcopal Church, the US branch of Anglicanism, had widened rifts in 2003 when it consecrated an openly gay bishop.
Fearing the loss of even one of the diocese's larger congregations, Steenson expressed commitment to the recommendations of Anglican leaders, called Primates, to provide alternative pastoral care in order to keep the congregations together. Any congregation considering departure from the diocese and the Episcopal Church should be allowed to temporarily withdraw "for a season of discernment while maintaining membership in the diocese and the Episcopal Church", as another resolution stated.
