The executive council of the Episcopal Church announced yesterday that it would not comply with demands from leaders of the global Anglican Communion to retract the church\u2019s liberal position on homosexuality and create alternative supervision for disaffected conservative Episcopalians.<\/p>\n
The announcement came a day after the Anglican archbishop of Kenya said he would consecrate an American bishop in Texas to minister to alienated Episcopalians in the United States. In May, the archbishop of Nigeria installed a bishop in Virginia, a step considered by many to be outside the bounds of Anglicanism\u2019s traditional lines of authority.<\/p>\n
The churches in the Anglican Communion, which trace their heritage to the Church of England, have been brought to the brink of schism over the issue of homosexuality. The executive council\u2019s action makes clear that the Episcopal Church, Anglicanism\u2019s American branch, does not intend to back down.<\/p>\n
Leaders of the Anglican Communion\u2019s geographical provinces, known as primates, issued an ultimatum to the Episcopal Church in February demanding that it stop blessing same-sex unions and agree not to consecrate another openly gay bishop. The primates gave the Episcopal Church until Sept. 30 to comply.<\/p>\n