The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which has split on the subject of homosexuality, particularly since the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire. There has even been talk of a schism in the U.S. church.

As a result, Griswold said, he has spent considerable time talking to international clergy. "Their issues are malaria, HIV/AIDS with no medicines really at hand, they're seeing entire generations disappear . . . [there are] tensions between various religious groups, particularly with a very militant Islam.

"The primates say to me, 'Not that we agree with what you all have done with respect to sexuality, but these are the life and death issues with which we live every single day,' " Griswold said.

Yet Griswold, in Salt Lake City for a conference of the Episcopal Communicators, acknowledges there is no getting away from the controversy stirred when the church's 2003 General Convention confirmed the election of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of the New Hampshire diocese.

That convention also voted to allow the blessing of same-sex unions, much to the chagrin of evangelicals who argued that the church's actions would "tear the fabric" of the Anglican Communion, the 77 million-strong global association of churches.

Griswold believes the more immediate threat of a schism in the worldwide Anglican mission comes from within the U.S. church. "There are entities within my own country, this country, who are determined to make a domestic question an international question," he said.

"Certain right-wing forces within this country and the Episcopal Church are driving a lot of the active displeasure among primates in other parts of the world, saying such things as 'If you really are orthodox, then you will sign on to the condemnation of this church in the United States.' "

At issue is a divergent view of how Scripture ought to be read: Doctrinal absolutists argue that the Bible unequivocally condemns "disordered sexuality." Liberals point out that Episcopalianism always has been inclusive and liberating. In the end, it's about context, Griswold said.

"For instance, in the portion of Romans that talks about homosexuality, clearly the Biblical writers assume that everyone was naturally heterosexual, and therefore any kind of homosexual behavior was unnatural. Well, I think there's a big question mark there," he said.

"It is more than simply a deliberate choice, the way you might decide to have apple pie as opposed to pumpkin pie," he said. "So can you take a text that presupposes everyone is naturally heterosexual and absolutely apply it in a context where we have a much more nuanced understanding of the development of the human personality?"

It's a question many within the Anglican Communion seem reluctant to debate.

Earlier this month, at the behest of the international church, the Episcopal Church's executive council voted to voluntarily withdraw from official participation in the June meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, a high-level advisory group that meets every three years.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to halt the secession of congregations from the American body, the church's bishops in March imposed a one-year moratorium on approving any new bishops, regardless of sexual orientation.

The moratorium will remain in effect until June 2006, when the church holds its next general convention - although many wonder if a schism could come sooner.

Griswold stops short of dismissing the doomsayers. He believes that about 20 percent of churchgoers are enthusiastic about the direction the Episcopal Church is headed, that 20 percent are deeply troubled, and the rest "are what I call the diverse center."

And that diverse center has its doubts.

"I don't know what it's going to take for the [Episcopal] church to come to some kind of agreement on these issues or even if that's possible," said Karen Cramer, the youth ministry coordinator at St. James Episcopal Church in Midvale.

"I would hope that the church can maintain its unity and remain as one. That's been a long-standing tradition, but I don't know that it's possible. There's no way to know."

But like Griswold, 15-year-old Jim Brinkmann would like to see the spotlight shifted to social justice, equal rights and eradicating hunger. In December, his youth group at St. James raised $10,000 to help build a well in Zambia as part of a church project for World Vision, an international Christian relief and development organization. The goal: Help fight AIDS in Africa.

Brinkmann said he has gotten the occasional kudo at school, but most of his classmates want to hear the latest dish on the Episcopal Church's gay issue.

"Every church has issues, but there's much more to the Episcopal Church," he said Tuesday. "There's a lot of freedom and expression of what we want to see happen in the world."

END