By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
COLUMBUS, Ohio
The Episcopal Church USA, which shocked the Christian
world by approving an openly gay bishop in 2003, delivered a new shock Sunday by
electing a progressive woman as its presiding bishop.
Katharine Jefferts Schori, bishop of Nevada, is the first
woman named to lead a national church in the Anglican Communion, the world's
third-largest Christian denomination and one that largely does not accept female
clergy.
Her election brought screams of delight in the governing
meeting Sunday afternoon, particularly by women celebrating 30 years of women's
ordination in the 2.3-million-member U.S. church.
MEET THE BISHOP: Jefferts Schori brings 'open heart'
It also provoked outraged from traditionalists. Like most
in the 77 million-member Communion, they object to her 2003 vote in favor of New
Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the world's first openly gay Episcopal
bishop, and to her support for the blessing of same-sex unions in Nevada. "God
welcomes all to his table. People who agree and people who disagree. ... All of
the marginalized are most especially welcome at the table," she said at a news
conference Sunday.
Traditionalists say homosexual behavior is "incompatible
with Scripture" and the bishop-elect's views will deepen the acrimony within the
global Anglican family and the Episcopal Church, its U.S. arm since the
Revolutionary War.
Anglican leaders have asked the U.S. church to express
"regret" over breaking the "bonds of affection" by electing Robinson; to set a
"moratorium" on choosing more gay bishops; and to provide pastoral care for
those who refuse to accept the sacraments from priests or bishops who approved
Robinson. No resolutions on these points had final approval Sunday.
Jefferts Schori's election is a signal that the church will
"continue its trajectory in the wrong direction," says David Anderson, head of
the American Anglican Communion, a traditionalist group.
Whether it will lead to a schism, nationally or worldwide,
is unclear.
In 2003, traditionalists dramatically exited the convention
to protest the vote on Robinson and asked the leader of the Communion,
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, for relief. "We're not going to appeal
to Canterbury a second time," Anderson says. "We have learned that justice
delayed is justice denied."
Jefferts Schori will be installed as the 26th presiding
bishop Nov. 4 at the Washington National Cathedral.
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