October (Web-only) 2003

ARTICLE TOOLS

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The American Anglican Council's conference, "A Place to Stand," ended on Thursday with one bishop describing his resistance of the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop, and with 2,700 people pledging other forms of future resistance.

Bishop Stephen Jecko of the Diocese of Florida announced Thursday that he will reschedule his successor's consecration rather than allow what he described as a media circus. Jecko has been in conflict with Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold on whether Griswold should preside at the consecration.

Griswold had planned to consecrate Samuel John Howard in Florida—generally a conservative diocese—only one day before consecrating Gene Robinson (the Episcopal Church's first openly gay man to be elected a bishop) in New Hampshire.

Griswold sees those back-to-back consecrations as symbolic of his pastoral care for the entire Episcopal Church, across theological differences. Jecko said Griswold's actions belie any claim to such comprehensive pastoral care.

Jecko read aloud from a letter to Griswold, telling conference participants that it was his third request that Griswold not attend the consecration. The service was scheduled to occur at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Jacksonville. But Bishop Victor Galeone of the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine withdrew that welcome because of Griswold's media remarks about the supposed limited knowledge of Scripture's authors regarding the nature of homosexuality.

Jecko's letter did not specify a new date for the consecration.

Jecko, who read the letter from a laptop computer, stressed that his wording could change slightly when he circulated it via the Internet and print.

Jecko's voice was steady but pointed. "Your self-perception as a reconciler to the entire Episcopal ...