There comes a time when you watch fire gradually engulf a structure, when beams start to collapse in wondrous blaze. I am feeling that way as I watch major U.S. denominations like the Episcopal Church. I see bridges start to burn and chasms of theological differences start to look too wide to ever be spanned again. A major event took place a week ago when bishops of the Episcopal Church the American branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion seemed to make it clear that homosexuals in leadership are going to be part of the church as it moves into the future. In essence, bishops refused to provide an accommodation for parallel leadership for those conservative Episcopalians who want all this inclusivity stuff to be stopped. After about four years of testing and restraint, the bishops seem to be saying the time has come to stick to their guns, come what may. On March 20, the bishops worded a statement that the Anglican Communions efforts to put a parallel authority structure into place violates our founding principles as the Episcopal Church following our own liberation from colonialism. They sought to remind everyone that the Episcopal Church had declared itself independent from the Church of England a long, long time ago. The Episcopal leaders are being asked to stop ordaining gay bishops and to halt allowing the blessings of same-sex couples. But they reiterated their commitment to include all Gods people including gay men and lesbians in church life. They also called for an urgent face-to-face meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who leads the Church of England. They want that to include a committee of the churchs primates, who each leads an international province, like the U.S.s Episcopal branch. The resistance to accommodation seems to embolden conservative Episcopalians to look to bolting. On Monday, Grace and Stephens Parish in Colorado Springs, one of the states largest with about 2,000 members, voted to secede from the Colorado Diocese and the national church. Its rector, the Rev. Don Armstrong, said, The national church and the House of Bishops have made it clear theres no place or tolerate for conservative, orthodox Episcopalians. In Arizona, congregations have been split and there has been realignment under the umbrella of African primates who, among other issues, oppose ordination of gays. A writer in the Daily Telegraph in London on Saturday declared that the American churchs position to hold firm and to reject the Anglicans Communions call for parallel leadership dooms Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury. Hes finished, said Damian Thompson, His authority has been utterly destroyed by the decision of the American bishops to reject his scheme to hold together the Anglican Communion, he said. Other denominations facing similar divisions are watching that one closely.

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