The Episcopal House of Bishops ended its six day meeting in New Orleans yesterday with the almost unanimous approval of a Statement responding to the requests of the Anglican Primates.

Reporters for the Boston Globe and the New York Times seem to have reached somewhat different assessments of the probable success of their endeavor.

Michael Paulson writes for the Globe:

The Episcopal bishops of the United States, attemptingto head off a schism over gay rights and biblical interpretation,yesterday promised to "exercise restraint" by not approving more gaybishops and not authorizing a formal ritual for blessing same-sexcouples.

The statement is expected to have little practical impact in theUnited States. Priests in many dioceses around the country, includingMassachusetts, are already blessing same-sex unions without anationally authorized rite, and that practice will not stop. And evenbefore yesterday's statement, several bishops had said the EpiscopalChurch was unlikely to approve another gay bishop anytime soon becauseof the uproar that greeted the 2003 approval of an openly gay priest,V. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire.

The pledge, part of an eight-point statement issued in the finalminutes of a six-day meeting in New Orleans, reduces the likelihoodthat the Episcopal Church will be ousted from the 77 million-memberglobal Anglican Communion, according to many US church officials. Onlyone of the approximately 160 bishops in attendance could be heardvoting against the measure, although several of the most conservativebishops had left the meeting Friday.

"I think it lessens the possibility of schism," said Bishop M.Thomas Shaw of Massachusetts. "I think this is going to meet the needsof the archbishop of Canterbury, and it shows how much we want to bepart of the Anglican Communion."

The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine JeffertsSchori, referred to the statement as a clarification of positionsalready articulated by the US bishops, but said she hopes that "oursacrificial actions and united actions" will help stave off schism.

However, Neela Banerjee of the Times writes:

Bishops of the Episcopal Churchon Tuesday rejected demands by leaders of the worldwide AnglicanCommunion to roll back the churchs liberal stance on homosexuality,increasing the possibility of fracture within the communion and theEpiscopal Church itself.

After nearly a week of talks at their semiannual meeting in NewOrleans, the House of Bishops adopted a resolution that defied adirective by the Anglican Communions regional leaders, or primates, tochange several church policies regarding the place of gay men andlesbians in their church. But the bishops also expressed a desire toremain part of the communion, and they appeared to be trying to stakeout a middle ground that would allow them to do so.

Still, up to five American dioceses led by theologicallyconservative bishops may try to break with the Episcopal Church andplace themselves under the oversight of a foreign primate in the comingmonths, said the Rev. Canon Kendall Harmon, a conservative Episcopalstrategist.

Well have the chaos here increase as more individuals, parishesand dioceses begin moving, Mr. Harmon said. What will happen is thatwe will see more of the disunity here spread to the rest of thecommunion.

In a voice vote, all but one bishop supported a resolution, calledA Response to Questions and Concerns Raised by Our Anglican CommunionPartners. Several conservative bishops who are considering leaving theEpiscopal Church were not in attendance.

The resolution affirmed the status quo of the Episcopal Church, both theological conservatives and liberals said.

The full text of the Statement is here.

I confess that my eyes grow dim when I encounter bureaucratic legalese, but to my Catholic "sensibilities" it looks like a "Hail Mary" pass, wafted aloft in the hope that Rowan's outstretched arms can haul it in.

Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is a longtime Commonweal contributor.

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