Episcopal churches hurt by confirmation of gay bishop

Church members at their annual meeting for West Tennessee congregations were told the diocese has had to cut $200,000 from its budget this year, at least partly because of philosophical clashes over homosexuality.

Much of the turmoil has been stirred by the confirmation of V. Gene Robinson as bishop of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire. Church members also have clashed over differences in their views toward same-sex marriages.

West Tennessee Bishop Don Johnson said pledge commitments by regional churches have fallen off by $80,000, or 9 percent. St. Andrew’s Church in Collierville is among several where pledges have fallen by as much as 50 percent.

Nationally, church revenues are down about $3 million.

Johnson urged convention participants in the first day of their two-day meeting Friday to stand together as a family in trying to work through spiritual clashes of “a challenging year.”

“Some of us have seen our greatest hopes for the church realized. Others of us have felt as if the spiritual rug had been pulled out from under our feet,” Johnson said. “It is within this context that we find ourselves being called to journey into the wilderness with God as our guide.”

Meeting at St. George’s Episcopal Church, convention delegates discussed resolutions that would define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. They also discussed allowing conservative Episcopalians to join the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes or other supportive associations and remain in the Episcopal Church.

“We’re asking permission to stand up for what we believe in,” Evie Wolfard, a vestry member at St. Andrew’s, told delegates. “If we’re not heard, we will leave.”

Opponents argued that allowing members to join the Anglican network would simply widen the rift in the church.

Nearly 300 clergy, delegates and alternates were expected to attend the convention to represent 33 parishes and more than 11,000 baptized members in West Tennessee.

———

On the Net:

The Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee, http://www.episwtn.org/