The Rev. Steven McClaskey really didn’t want to retire right now from his pastoral post at Trinity Church in Rock Island.<\/p>\n
Yet, he also didn’t want to risk losing his pension, which advisers and he felt was endangered, by the continued dispute between Episcopal Church leaders and the worldwide Anglican Communion.<\/p>\n
The two sides have been at odds since the 2003 consecration of the Rev. Gene Robinson, a non-celibate homosexual, as a New Hampshire bishop. The crisis escalated in 2006 when Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was named as the church’s presiding bishop.<\/p>\n
Anglican archbishops issued a Sept. 30 deadline for Episcopal Church leaders to give “unequivocal assurances” that they will stop advocating teaching and practices “incompatible with Holy Scripture;” and would not consent any longer to consecrating bishops living in a same-sex relationship or blessing same-sex unions.<\/p>\n
The Episcopal House of Bishops gathered Thursday and continue to meet this weekend in New Orleans to discuss the dissension, including a face-to-face meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.<\/p>\n