Indeed, they are concerned enough - despite having another co-religionist as presiding bishop - to conclude that a nationwide effort is needed to "defend" TEC and "combat" the Anglican Communion's 2004 Windsor Report, in the words of the Rev. William Coats, a retired Diocese of Newark priest.

So it was that a new group, "The Episcopal Majority" (TEM), began its first meeting at St. Columba's in Washington on the day before the investiture of Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. The date was deliberately chosen to show the participants' "unconditional support" for TEC's new leader, said retired Missouri priest, the Rev. David Fly, a main mover behind TEM. Jefferts Schori returned the favor, sending her "blessings" and expression of support for the first "important" meeting of The Episcopal Majority.

Keynoted by Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno, the confab drew some 130 persons from 47 dioceses, including some of the ten dioceses aligned with the conservative Anglican Communion Network.

Fly said the new organization aims to give a voice to what he called the "broad middle majority" of Episcopalians who he believes stand behind TEC and the direction it has taken, including on issues of human sexuality.

Even so, an advance notice of the meeting - titled "Remaining Faithful" - said that it was for groups and individuals who "affirm the orthodoxy" of TEC and at the same time its "autonomy" and the full inclusion of homosexuals in the church, while resisting efforts to evict TEC from the Communion.

"We still honor a church in which disagreement can occur and members still live together," Fly told TCC.

"The point isn't that we agree about everything; the point is that we're willing to use the kind of democratic machinery we've got to deal with our disagreements as opposed to... leaving or saying we're going to change it," said the Rev. Canon Mark Harris, author of "The Challenge of Change: The Anglican Communion in the Post-Modern Era." "We hope to offer some real encouragement for Episcopalians to live within the system we've got," Harris said.

Fr. Fly said that the idea for the new group arose after he and others were "disturbed" by what they saw at General Convention. A "negative attitude" had taken root, the "right" been allowed to "define the terms of debate." A church once seen as a "big tent" now saw groups pitching their own tents that they each declared to be the "true" ones, he said.

A friend's question - "What are you going to do about it?" - spurred a "conversation" between Fr. Coats and himself about a possible nationwide organization, which led to a "manifesto" sent to friends around the church, and their responses. The pace was quickened by the establishment of a "blogspot" in August (episcopalmajorityonline.org ), which Fly said got 7,000 hits in the first three weeks, and had had 30,000 as of November 3. (This, despite the fact that other versions of the Episcopal Majority domain name were quickly secured by those deemed to be from "the dark side" - conservatives.)

That led to the organizational meeting of The Episcopal Majority, which was kicked off with a feisty address by Bishop Bruno.

"We need to wage reconciliation, to constantly work for dialogue and conversation, reaching out and touching others who are different than us," Bruno said. "If you don't sit around a table and talk...you get nowhere," he added - even while remarking that opponents have not been listening to each other in dialogues up to now.

Bruno maintained that: "If we, the elders of the church, and the youthful leaders of the church...will be strong enough to stand up and say all people are acceptable in this church...it will continue to be the great place it's always been."

He averred that Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori "better damn well have a seat at that table," evidently referring to next February's meeting of Anglican primates (provincial leaders).

The liberal, pro-gay bishop, who termed himself a "creedal catholic," noted that his own opposition to women's ordination began to be changed years ago after a woman deacon ministered to him; this year he voted for Jefferts Schori for presiding bishop.

As for TEC's openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson - who was at The Episcopal Majority meeting - there is "a lot less written in scripture about [him] than there is about me as a divorced man," Bruno declared (surprising this writer, who was unaware of this fact).

"We as a majority need to speak and reach out in such a way that people remember we're a different tribe. We're an odd and inclusive tribe," made up of "revolutionary people," who "sometimes fight over things to the nth degree," but then find a resolution. Sometimes, he said, we take "dips" such as General Convention did with B033-the resolution urging the church to forefend the possibility of further gay bishops that was feverishly adopted at the 11th hour, despite the House of Deputies' rejection of a similar resolution the previous day.

Asked by the Rev. Susan Russell of the Episcopal gay group, Integrity, how the church can "move beyond" B033, Bruno said a task force in his diocese would propose something on that score before the next General Convention. "I can't retire before then," he said. On November 4, the day of Jefferts Schori's investiture, Integrity said the gospel vision set forth by the new P.B. should move the church to revisit B033.

"Ordaining gays and lesbians is our tradition," one woman at the Washington gathering asserted. "The only thing that's different is we're being honest about it now."

-Property Issues, And The Anglican Covenant-

Those attending the meeting approved a ten-member steering committee, including Frs. Fry and Coats, to plot TEM's future course based on results of the meeting; and adopted a draft statement of purpose for the group. They also took part in workshops on the proposed Anglican covenant (aimed at ensuring unity in basic belief and practice among provinces that adopt it), waging reconciliation, communications within and by the organization, how to be a reconciling force amid the changing landscape of the Anglican Communion, and legal issues arising from conflict within the church.

The latter, well-attended, workshop proved that liberals and a good number of conservatives have at least one common interest, and that is retaining church property in the event of secession or separation. Concern about realty has risen as some Network dioceses have formally acted to limit their accession to TEC's constitution and canons to those regulations that (in the dioceses' view) do not contradict scripture and historic faith. Three Network dioceses also have withdrawn from the internal TEC provinces (regional groupings of dioceses) to which they belonged.

The legal issues workshop heard from the presiding bishop's chancellor, David Booth Beers, and Sally Johnson, chancellor to the president of the House of Deputies. Beers maintained that there is no "epidemic" of property lawsuits involving Episcopal parishes, and that TEC has won or is winning most of the some ten parish property disputes that have arisen in the last few years. Moreover, both lawyers argued that, under TEC canons, dioceses are (in Beers' words) "a creature of General Convention" and "can't leave" TEC or align with another Anglican province. Perhaps the only highlight for conservatives was Beers' conclusion that the handful of dioceses that appear to be distancing themselves from TEC have not yet acted on their regulation changes in a sufficient enough manner to initiate court action.

Though an operative Anglican covenant is probably a 6-8 years off, a report of the TEM workshop on the subject indicated that participants were wary of the prospective pact; a few were not even sure if they wanted to join in discussions about the concord, which most evidently fear will be "punitive" or go against the justice pledge of the 1979 Prayer Book's baptismal covenant.

Some in the workshop, for example, recommended against approving a covenant at all, especially in a time of conflict, while others suggested lobbying for a minimalist covenant, trying to get the discussion about it reframed in terms more favorable to TEM's viewpoint, or asking Archbishop Rowan Williams to remove conservative West Indies Archbishop Drexel Gomez as head of the covenant design group. Notably, most in the workshop agreed that it would not be such a "bad thing" to "walk apart" from the Communion - if they were not placed in that position against their free will.

Asked about the covenant, Bishop Bruno said, "I think they're asking for a set of rules that if you don't hit this benchmark, you'll be excluded." They want a "magisterium," somebody to "tell us when we're wrong."

Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire said "we don't want a covenant that tries to be a set of international canon law and is basically a format whereby we can punish any errant constituent church."

Among other prelates spied at the meeting was San Diego Bishop James Mathes. Sited among clergy was Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk, who was at pains a few years ago to repudiate her involvement in Druidism. Ruppe-Melnyk kept her parochial post but her husband, William - also an Episcopal priest/Druid - did not, and he has now become a fulltime Druid priest.

Interestingly, it appeared from a report of the communications workshop that the name Episcopal Majority may not stick, as some participants thought it may be too reminiscent of the Moral Majority or Silent Majority. And at least a few attendees apparently wondered how TEM could confirm that it indeed represents "the majority for the mainstream."

Asked why The Episcopal Majority movement did not channel itself into the pre-existing Via Media group, which has chapters in 12 dioceses, Fr. Fly acknowledged that the two bodies both aim to support TEC, and that Episcopal Majority was receiving some backing from Via Media, whose facilitator, Christopher Wilkins, was at the Washington meeting. But he said that TEM is trying to deal with broader issues confronting the church, and will also attempt to build some international coalitions; some at the D.C. meeting specifically called for the new group to reach out to likeminded Anglican provinces around the world.

The latter objective is noteworthy, in light of signs at General Convention that TEC, if excluded from the Communion, may be poised to become the nucleus of a rival communion that might include others in the minority of liberal Anglican provinces, such as Brazil and Southern Africa. TEC itself includes 15 other countries besides the U.S., it was stressed at the convention.

Whatever the future may hold, Fr. Fly was optimistic after the main session of The Episcopal Majority meeting November 3. "I feel God has led us to the mountaintop and allowed us to look over and see the other side, and what I see is hope," he said. "We have something we've just begun, but it will be powerful in this church of ours."

*ALSO IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING Bishop Jefferts Schori's investiture was a meeting of "Bishops Working for a Just Society" (BWFJS), a three-year-old coalition of bishops from 30 dioceses that focuses on public policy and social justice advocacy. A founding member of BWFJS, Washington Bishop John Chane, said the agenda included a discussion of the Millennium Developments Goals, the minimum wage hike, the cost of health care, and sharing information on these issues with clergy and congregations.

Sources included Episcopal News Service