"We have not decided who we will affiliate with," a church spokesman told VirtueOnline. "That will be resolved in time."

Melodie Woerman, communications director for the diocese said a pastoral letter from Bishop Dean Wolfe, Episcopal bishop of Kansas, In the letter, Wolfe said the differences between the diocese and parish centered on "theology, the interpretation of Scripture, and the doctrine and the discipline of the Church." The letter was read to all 50 parishes in the diocese on Sunday.

The Overland Park vestry voted Feb. 28 to recommend approval of the agreement, and parish members will vote April 3 on the separation. The Council of Trustees of the diocese approved the agreement Tuesday.

The Overland Park church had only paid 13 percent of the $190,000 it was obligated to give the state diocese last year, according to diocese figures after the ordination last year of V. Gene Robinson, who lives with his male partner, as a bishop in New Hampshire.

"This decision served effectively to sever Christ Church from their responsibilities for the common ministry of this diocese," Wolfe said in the letter.

The Rev. Ronald McCrary, rector of Christ Episcopal Church, told The Associated Press that the church's vestry - its governing body - unanimously supported the proposed separation.

"The Episcopal Church and the diocese are pulling away from historical Anglican teachings," he said. "The Robinson case is the tip of the iceberg, but the substance of it is theology."

Bishop Wolfe had initiated a series of discussions late last year with representatives from both entities to see if their difference could be resolved.

"After many conversations over more than a year, in which everyone involved has been respectful of one another and that have been marked by the love of Christ," Bishop Wolfe said, "Christ Episcopal Church and the diocese sadly recognize that because of these significant differences, we can no longer remain together in communion and association within the Episcopal Church."

"Our conversations have been anchored in prayer and have resulted in much anguish by all involved," said the Rev. Ronald McCrary, rector of Christ Episcopal Church. "At this point, both our parish and the diocese desire only success for each other as we continue to respond to our Christian callings but taking separate paths."

During the next four weeks, parishioners at Christ Episcopal Church will consider the proposed agreement, which is intended to relieve the parish of the authority of the Constitution and Canons (church legal policies) of the national church, the Constitution and Canons of the diocese, and the authority of the Episcopal Bishop of Kansas.? Key elements of the agreement include:

* After the separation becomes effective, Christ Episcopal Church will claim no association with the diocese or the national church.

* The diocese will release Christ Episcopal Church from any claims the diocese may have for unpaid financial commitments required by diocesan policy; in property owned or possessed by the parish; and in the Christ Church Endowment Fund. Christ Episcopal Church will release the diocese from any claims it may have against the diocese. The agreement between the two sides calls for Christ Church to assume its $1.7 million mortgage debt and pay the diocese $1 million over the next decade, according to the diocese.

* A new entity, "Christ Church," will assume the current parish's mortgage debt and will purchase its assets with payments over time to the diocese.

* Christ Church will be led by the Rev. Ronald L. McCrary and will continue to worship at 91st and Nall and at the Mill Creek location in western Johnson County.

* The Bishop and Standing Committee of the diocese will terminate the authority of some clergy associated with Christ Episcopal Church to act as priests or deacons of the Episcopal Church.

* The diocese will make provisions for the ongoing pastoral care of Christ Episcopal Church parishioners who desire to continue to be members of the diocese and the Episcopal Church.

Bishop Wolfe and Father McCrary said, "It is the prayer of Christ Episcopal Church and the diocese that others will know we are Christians by the love and respect we have shown to one another despite our fundamental differences, in achieving a respectful and loving resolution of our differences without resorting to the use of civil courts or fostering enmity toward one another, and in reaching a resolution we can hold up to the community as one that seeks to do no harm to one another and that blesses each other as we follow Christ."

The Rev. Ron McCrary, Christ Church's rector, told the Kansas City Star "It's unfortunate that we have come to this spot, but this is a real win-win situation. There is no animosity or rancor of any kind. This could be a new model for other Episcopal churches and dioceses."

"One may disagree about where we are or what we are deciding, but I find our straight-forward approach to facing the issues of our day to be honest and responsible," said Bishop Wolfe.

The bishop said that provisions will be made for the pastoral care of those members of Christ Church who wish to remain loyal to the Episcopal Church.

Anglican Mission in America (AMIA) Bishop John Rodgers, on hearing the news said, "We can be thankful for the willingness of the Bishop and Diocese of Kansas to negotiate a "buy out" from the Diocese for Christ Church. It does reflect something of the grace or "radical love of Christ" of which the Bishop speaks. Would that other Bishops and Dioceses would do the same."

However, Rodger said his heart was saddened by the Bishop's willingness to suggest a parallel between earlier false interpretations and applications of Scripture by the Church regarding slavery with the direct contradiction of the clear and plain teaching of Scripture concerning human sexuality now officially embraced by the Episcopal Church.

"In Scripture slavery is admitted and permitted largely because the Church was in no position to dictate to the society on such matters. In "Philemon" we see how slavery is undercut even when and where it could not be removed. Slavery however is never enjoined or commanded in Scripture. It is never declared inherent in creation or God's will. In contrast biblical teaching on human sexuality is rooted both in creation, in divine command and in explicit Dominical and Apostolic teaching. There is no parallel."

Rodgers said the Bishop makes the comparison by suggesting that the "radical love of Jesus" might cancel Jesus' own teaching about the place of marriage and about the fulfilling of the law. Or that Jesus' "radical love" might revise the Apostolic teaching regarding the place of human sexual intimacy as exclusively within the marriage covenant, in which a man and a woman become one flesh, or about the declaration that adultery, fornication and homosexual sex are forbidden and odious to God.

"Radical Love it seems determines all. One wonders what the Bishop will say when in the name of the "radical love of Jesus" all of the existing world's religions are officially declared to be salvific by the Episcopal Church and thereby the radical love of Jesus itself is relativized and marginalized. And we cannot help but be reminded of Joseph Fletcher's "Situation Ethics" which made "radical love" the sole absolute and which view finally led him to renounce his orders and leave Christianity. Is it not possible to so isolate and interpret "radical love" to the point where it is no longer Jesus' radical love?"

"Does not love, as found in Jesus, seek to teach and do what is right and good and therefore good for the beloved? And is Jesus' radical love not at times a "tough love" that calls for repentance, precisely because it is radical love? God's love, God's Word and God's Righteousness: dare we separate what God has joined together? Jesus did not."

"Surely we must all pray for all who are, in the light of the radical love of Jesus, seeking to discern God's will in the matter of human sexuality. Let us pray that we all meditate deeply on God's Word, given to us supremely in Christ, Who is found in Scripture and in Scripture's teaching, on the teaching of the Church and the witness of creation. So help us God."

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