Episcopal Bishop John Howe is under no illusions about the potential tumult that lies ahead for his diocese and his denomination.
“I think a lot is going to happen in the next few months,” he said earlier this week by phone from Orlando.
Howe, bishop of the Diocese of Central Florida, which includes 12 parishes in Polk County, will join the Episcopal House of Bishops for six days of meetings beginning today in New Orleans. The bishops are facing the potential for schism as dissatisfied conservatives threaten to break away from the church over the role of gays.
But Howe, himself a conservative, is exercising caution and attempting to restrain as many as 20 of the 89 parishes in his diocese from bolting the denomination.
The international Anglican Communion has given the bishops until Sept. 30 to declare they will not consecrate any more noncelibate homosexuals as bishops, nor authorize the blessings of same-sex unions. Howe and most observers have said they do not expect the bishops will give the “unequivocal assurances” asked of them.
The American church’s General Convention in 2006 urged “restraint” in the election of bishops “whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church,” but gay priests have been candidates for bishop in at least two dioceses since then. And although the Episcopal Church has never officially authorized same-sex blessings, some bishops have allowed the ceremonies.