By way of background:

Radner was a delegate to last August's General Convention of the U.S. Episcopalian Church, at which the selection of V. Gene Robinson as bishop of the New Hampshire diocese was confirmed by delegates.

That approval process is standard procedure, but the confirmation was complicated by the fact that Robinson lives openly with his male partner of 13 years. Some warned beforehand that the confirmation would cause great problems for the U.S. Episcopal Church.

Although the confirmation was approved by the necessary majority of delegates, the process irked - to put it mildly - many of those who attended and the half year that has passed since has brought turmoil throughout the worldwide Anglican Church, of which the U.S. Episcopal Communion is a part.

At the extreme, "schism" is discussed; at the minimum, laity and clergy are involved in the sort of hand-wringing that accompanies the "what are we going to do now?" syndrome.

Radner, who has been at Ascension since mid-1997, was one of several delegates - laity, clergy and bishops - who walked out of the Minneapolis convention, protesting the legitimacy and constitutional validity of the approval.

He said at that time that the consent of the convention to Robinson's election violated the church's constitution "in that it knowingly contradicts the historic faith and order that defines our identity as part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church."

And so, six months later, the interview with Radner was unsatisfactory in the sense that it produced no easy quick-question, quick-answer dialogue. It's not that the veteran of 22 years of the Episcopal priesthood wouldn't answer certain questions, but that he wanted and intended to focus on what for him is the center of the issue: the communion of the church, in its sense of parish, diocese, worldwide faith expression and in its broader, ecumenical sense, too.

The interview was satisfactory - even edifying - in the sense that the priest exudes an aura of love for his church and its integrity. He is, by his own calculation, no homophobe, but a priest dedicated to preserving the structural, traditional and communal integrity of the church.

Radner, a lively intellect - he has a doctorate in theology from Yale University, where he also taught - is affable and clearly a man with a peacemaking mission.

"Communion" is a word used in all Christian churches. It refers to the sacrament or symbolism of the Lord's Supper, and, by extension, to the Body of Christ, the church - the community of believers throughout the ages with Christ as its head.

Radner clearly grieves about the threat to institutional communion that the Robinson affair and the national and worldwide reactions afterward have brought.

Individuals, parishes and even dioceses are threatening to quit the national body. Anglican institutions worldwide are seeking to distance themselves from the U.S. Episcopals.

The fiscal problems that would ensue over personnel, property and finances are dismayingly complex.

The Rev. Ephraim Radner: There are virtues that ought to predominate in the Body of Christ.

Radner, however, focuses not on separation, but on unity, both that which prevailed before and that which yet remains a goal.

"There are virtues that ought to predominate in the Body of Christ," Radner said, enumerating peace, self-control, mutual subjection, love and forgiveness as a few of them.

Submission to conciliar process ought to be stereotypical of how Anglicans and Episcopalians operate as a sign of that communion, Radner said.

The conciliar process, the priest said, "involves the Lambeth Conference of Anglicans, the Anglican Consultative Council, the Meeting of Primates (archbishops) and the Archbishop of Canterbury."

"It has been the practice of the church that we reflect and respond to the calling of communion within this framework, but the Minneapolis general convention failed to give itself over to the process and the Word, even though it had been decided by Lambeth, the council, the primates and the Archbishop of Canterbury that we would not at this time in history go this route.

"The issue is not gays and sexuality in the first place, but how we interpret the Scriptures about sexuality and other matters within the process of communion. Many of us feel that the convention in August betrayed the process, the communion itself and, as a result, the integrity of the Scriptures," Radner said.

"There was a commitment by the American church not to do this without patiently going through the process. But cultural imperialism won the day."

The pastor's articulate love for his church is clear as he talks about his involvement on both national and international levels - he is a participating member of the Anglican Communion Institute, an influential think tank of Episcopalians - to maintain the solidarity of the church, as well as working at the level of his own Downtown Pueblo parish.

Concern for the people of Ascension is why "I really don't want to say anything publicly that might promote divisiveness. Sure, I have my own views and judgments, but what's immediately important to me is the vitality and unity of this congregation," he said.

"We're a strong, healthy and growing parish," he said, explaining that Ascension has grown by 20 percent in the last two years, half of that in the last six months.

Radner admits that, when he returned from Minneapolis, "I was frightened what I might find, and I was worried about division in our parish.

"But it hasn't happened. While there are people on both sides of the issue, our parish is articulate, informed and is making a conscientious approach to continually discovering what it means to be church.

"I think I can say that, as a parish, we are committed to living the virtues of communion, among ourselves, with the diocese and the worldwide church with all its ecumenical considerations and dimensions," he said

Radner's bishop at the time of the general convention, the Right Rev. Jerry Winterrowd, supported the confirmation of Robinson, as does the bishop who succeeded Winterrowd in January, the Right Rev. Robert O'Neill.

On a larger scale, Radner is aware that American Episcopalians, like Americans in general, are too often seen by African, Asian and Third World churches "as doing whatever we want because we think we have the money and the power. We need to step back, to evaluate the communion and realize that we can't simply strike out on our own. The result of that refusal to step back has been enormous, and has brought disintegration and division to the American church and to the whole Anglican communion.

"We have to hear the Scriptures with the larger church. That's my bottom line about all this," he said.

The priest refuses to give credence to the expression, "God renews the church through division."

"That encourages separatism and schism," he said, "and that's not what communion is about.

"Renewal is accomplished by communion, not division," he said.

Reflecting his concern for his church - "there are some who warn this could be an apocalyptic division, a dark unknown" - Radner said that the "history of the Christian church does not bode well for our future. Over the centuries, it's always been easier to split off than to reconcile."

The pastor laments what he has seen happen in the half-year since the Minneapolis convention: "It's been personally stressful to me to see people I admire, people with whom I've worked, now estranged from each other, and to realize the damaged ecumenical implications for a genuine catholic or universal church, as well. In some ways, much of what I've worked for and toward for more than 20 years has crumbled."

Radner, last June, was among five candidates being considered to become the Episcopal Diocese's 10th bishop. Delegates to an election convention in Denver chose O'Neill, a Massachusetts priest, instead.

There's no faulting that choice, but had the Colorado Episcopalians chosen Radner, they would have found an articulate priest who clearly loves his church, grieves the threat that hovers over it and works with dedication to avoid breach and heal wounds.

These days, Episcopalians need that sort of priest.

END