"I don't think we have an exact blueprint of how this will affect our relationship with other parishes," said Lori Goetz, Messiah's senior warden, or lay leader. "But never at any point have we entertained the notion of leaving the Diocese of Minnesota."

Messiah is among the largest Episcopal parishes in the Twin Cities and becomes the only one in the state to join the Anglican Communion Network, formed in 2004 in Plano, Texas, by congregations and dioceses who were opposed to the Episcopal Church's ordination of an openly gay bishop, V. Eugene Robinson.

Calling that action "egregious," founders of the network sought a way to unite U.S. parishes with Anglicans worldwide who similarly decried the actions of the American branch of Anglicanism.

"We see joining the network as a way of strengthening our relationship with Anglicans who have a number of grave misgivings about actions of the Episcopal Church over the past three or four years," said the Rev. John Newton, rector of Messiah.

The latest of those actions was the church's election in June of Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, who said she is "fully committed to the full inclusion of gay and lesbian Christians in this church."

But Messiah's vote last month followed her election only by coincidence, Newton said. The congregation's leadership, or vestry, deliberated for several months.

"The presenting issue as characterized in the media always was human sexuality," Goetz said.

"We were very intentional to distinguish between human sexuality issues and what we would consider something deeper: unilateral decision-making and affirming the authority of God as exercised in Holy Scripture."

It is unclear how Messiah's affiliation with the Anglican Communion Network - which passed on an 11-2 vote with two members of the vestry absent - might affect its day-to-day life as a congregation.

"I think the A.C.N. became a kind of lightning rod within Messiah, for those opposed and those for," said Gayle Miels, a longtime member of the parish who opposed affiliation. "It elevated the membership to something that may not have warranted all the angst that surrounded it.

"One would never know there was any divergence of opinion if you were to attend our church on a Sunday," Miels said. "But when we had our annual meetings or had a forum when this issue would come up, then you saw where people were really divided on this issue."

She said she hopes Messiah remains open to welcoming all and not become "an uptight church that is concerned with being 'correct.' "

That is one of the gifts of being Episcopalian, said the Rev. Michael Hanley of Roseville, who represented the diocese as a delegate to the most recent General Convention of the Episcopal Church.

"To me, for Messiah to say, 'We want to join this group but want to stay within the Episcopal Church,' that's good news," Hanley said. "There's nothing better than those who say we can disagree but want to remain a part of the larger group and talk to one another despite those disagreements."

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/15267641.htm
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