Nov 9, 2003 4 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Less than a week after the Episcopal Church USA consecrated its first openly gay bishop, one of the most conservative Episcopal dioceses in America passed an amendment to its constitution Saturday aimed at allowing the diocese to ignore some of the national church’s policies. The amendment says the diocese will prevail “in cases where the provisions of the constitution and canons of the Church of the Diocese of Pittsburgh speak to the contrary” or where resolutions of the Episcopal Church USA are found “to be contrary to the historic faith and order of the one holy catholic and apostolic church.”

A second vote by clergy and parishioners at the Pittsburgh Diocese’s annual convention next year is required before the amendment can take effect.

Church leaders in the Pittsburgh Diocese in September approved resolutions declaring “null and void” the national church’s decisions this summer both to consecrate Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who is openly gay, and to approve the blessing of same-sex unions.

Both that vote and the vote Saturday are part of a national drive among conservative dioceses and clergy seeking to distance themselves from the Episcopal Church USA for making moves they believe go against the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Rev. W. Jay Geisler, the rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in McKeesport who on Saturday spoke in favor of the amendment, said the national church’s decisions over the summer equate to heresy.

“The Greek word heresy means to pick and choose,” Geisler said. “This is about sexual morality. This is about God’s word. We’re arguing here we can’t change (the diocese’s) constitution, yet at the same time, the General Convention has changed scripture, it has change the interpretation.”

The Rev. Harold Lewis, rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, called the amendment proposal “illegal” under church law. Before clergy and lay people voted on the amendment, he told the convention that those who support the resolution should do so with the understanding that they are severing themselves from the national church.

“May I add that this is just the most recent in a series of perplexing inconsistencies in diocesan life. (Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan Jr.) assured us that you’re not leaving the Episcopal Church, yet you endorse resolutions which belie that promise,” Lewis said. “You have asked us to work together in areas that we can, yet having deemed many of us to be unorthodox … and schismatic, you have rendered such a collaboration an impossibility.”

Also on Saturday, the diocese approved a constitutional amendment that allows those who are canonically a member of the diocese to vote at the national convention, even if they no longer reside within the diocese.

Diocese Canon Missioner Mary Hays said the amendment helps clergy who need to temporarily leave the diocese to continue their education or participate in missionary work. But some of the convention participants said the amendment would allow conservative clergy and their congregations in other dioceses to join the Pittsburgh diocese.

The national denomination of the Episcopal Church, with 2.3 million members, is the U.S. branch of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion. The Pittsburgh Diocese represents about 20,000 Episcopalians. U.S. conservatives who believe gay sex violates Scripture have said they want Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, to authorize a separate Anglican province for them in North America.

Last week, bishops overseas announced they were in a “state of impaired communion” with the Episcopal Church – a step short of declaring a full schism. International church leaders are not expected to announce any sort of permanent break until after a commission formed by Williams reports next year on whether a split can be averted.

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Pittsburgh Episcopal Dioceses: http://www.pgh.anglican.org