Episcopalians in Los Angeles have elected a lesbian priest -- the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool -- to serve as an assistant bishop, a move likely to widen the rift between conservative and liberal Episcopalians, and between the U.S. church and sister Anglican churches abroad. Conservative congregations had already cut ties with the national church after Episcopalians approved their first openly gay bishop, the Right Rev. V. Gene Robinson, in 2004. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the election of a second gay bishop in America "raises very serious questions" about the Episcopal Church's role in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Can anything keep Episcopalians together now?
Split or no split, this was the right move: Mary Glasspool's election came less than a year after the Episcopal Church lifted a moratorium on naming new gay bishops, says Yael T. Abouhalkah in the Kansas City Star, and the move will surely "irritate conservative followers of my faith." It was also the right thing to do, and a clear "step forward for the Episcopal Church."
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