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Episcopal retreat held in Navasota; some conservatives to boycott

The Episcopal Church's fractured House of Bishops begins a six-day spiritual retreat today in Navasota that will try to stem a growing national split over the ordination of an openly gay bishop.

Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said the retreat would address the sensitive issue of pastoral oversight of churches in the wake of the ordination of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

A number of conservative parishes are refusing to recognize the authority of bishops and church officials who support the ordination of gays and the blessing of same-sex unions.

They are demanding that they be placed solely under bishops who adhere to traditional biblical morality.

Griswold last year proposed a plan that would let outside bishops work with conservative parishes with the approval of the local bishop. But conservatives rejected that solution.

Exactly what Griswold will propose this weekend to resolve the impasse is unknown, said the Rev. Jan Nunley, deputy director of Episcopal News Service.

"No one has seen it," Nunley added. "No one knows what the plan is."

The bishops are expected to take up the issue Saturday and Sunday behind closed doors, but it was unclear whether they would take any official action.

"It's not a business or legislative meeting," Nunley said, adding that no news conferences were planned. Spring meetings at Camp Allen traditionally are retreats, she said, while fall meetings in North Carolina are business sessions.

The retreat will be the first meeting of bishops since the consecration of Robinson, who is expected to attend. A few conservative bishops will boycott the meeting, said Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, a member of the Anglican Communion Network, an organization of conservative dioceses and parishes formed in January.

"Some bishops have decided they cannot in good conscience attend the meeting," Duncan said in a statement. "Others have agreed to be present only for those sessions in which (oversight) will be discussed."

The rift in the church widened this past weekend when five retired American bishops and a bishop from Brazil violated church policy by confirming 110 Episcopalians in six Ohio parishes without permission of the local bishop.

Griswold criticized their actions, especially coming just before the retreat. "Why ... did these bishops decide that confirmation of these persons was pastorally necessary at this moment and act without permission of the bishop of Ohio?" he said in a statement issued earlier this week.

"In consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury and his chancellor, our bishops have been considering a draft plan for episcopal pastoral care which they will address further when we gather for our spring meeting later this week in Texas."

The conservative bishops said the American church has so far failed to provide care to conservative parishes, especially those in dioceses with liberal bishops.

"Our participation in (Sunday's) service represents `emergency measures' for those Episcopal congregations in revisionist dioceses who cannot in good conscience accept the radical actions taken by our General Convention last year and who now find themselves alienated from their bishops and diocesan leadership who voted for and support such actions," said retired Diocese of Texas Bishop Maurice Benitez, who took part in the confirmations.