The Christian Century

One woman from Nevada and three southern men have been nominated to lead the Episcopal Church for a nine-year term as the badly divided denomination faces an uncertain future and threats of schism after decades of fighting.

Leaders of the Episcopal Church, in an analysis requested by Anglican peers overseas, stood by their decision to ordain an openly gay bishop and to bless same-sex unions, with a report arguing that there is a “genuine holiness” among gays and lesbians.

United Methodists have taken the first step toward full communion with Episcopalians and most Lutherans after their bishops approved an agreement to share the Eucharist, with members of the two other denominations.

The Episcopal Church Executive Council has decided to “voluntarily withdraw” its three official participants from a June global steering committee meeting of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Seeking to accompany its apology to overseas Anglicans for the anguish caused by approving a gay bishop’s ordination in 2003, the U.S. Episcopal bishops have decided to withhold consent for any new bishops elected by dioceses over the next 14 months.

Almost more than any other Christian group, Anglicans are notoriously—and proudly—hard to pin down. They are not fully Protestant yet not quite Catholic; hierarchical yet independent; scripturally literate but not literalistic; equal parts New York and Nairobi.

The Episcopal Church is hoping the financial fallout from a gay bishop’s election will level off this year after a conservative-led financial boycott helped create a 12 percent drop in giving in 2004.

Bavi Edna Rivera, a priest from California, became the first woman Latino-heritage bishop in the Episcopal Church when she was ordained last month as the suffragan, or assistant, bishop for the Diocece of Olympia, Washington.

Gwynne Guibord was the chief ecumenical officer for the mostly gay Metropolitan Community Churches based in Los Angeles when that position was eliminated three years ago. The MCC cleric was active in ecumenical circles, serving as president of the California Council of Churches, among other posts.

The bishops of the Episcopal Church have formally apologized for the “pain, hurt and damage” caused by the consecration of an openly gay bishop but stopped short of saying the action was wrong.