Episcopalians Shaken by Division in Church

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/us/02episcopal.html

[The New York Times] 1 Jul 2006--But what really rattled the pews was the "theological reflection" issued in London on Tuesday by the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury. He has written of his liberal views on homosexuality, but as primate of the Church of England, the "mother church" of the Anglican Communion, his primary task is finding a theologically justifiable route out of a seemingly irreconcilable conflict.

But some Episcopalians said they were shocked because the archbishop's statement came just six days after the Episcopal Church convention passed a resolution intended to mend fences with the Anglican Communion. The archbishop's statement raised the prospect of "ordered and mutually respectful separation" between churches that could not come to agreement, suggesting to many Episcopalians that they would eventually have to choose sides.