The election of openly homosexual cleric Mary Glasspool as a suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles is immensely saddening but not surprising. It is merely the latest indication of the trajectory the Episcopal Church in the United States (TEC) has been taking for decades.
What can we deduce from this election? It seems that the bonds which tie the Episcopal Church’s leadership to its revisionist agenda are stronger that their bonds with the provinces of the Anglican Communion. Indeed the drive to have homosexual activity affirmed in the life and ministry of that church appears to be more important than heeding the gospel call to repent and be transformed through the grace of Christ.
The ratification of this election by the bishops and committees of the Episcopal Church sends a clear message to the Anglican Communion that any notion of gracious restraint is to be jettisoned and that the whole Covenant process is to be viewed, at best, as a well-meaning but futile exercise. It seems to be the final nail in the coffin as far as TEC’s relationship with authentic Anglicanism is concerned.
We stand with orthodox Anglicans across the United States both inside and outside TEC following this decision to move further from Scripture and from the Anglican Communion. Surely it would now be appropriate to recognise those Anglicans in the USA and Canada who have remained faithful to principles of classical Anglicanism, as expressed in the Jerusalem Declaration 2008, namely the Anglican Church of North America.