The conservative board had clashed repeatedly with the diocese bishop, Stacy Sauls, because of Sauls' support for the ordination of openly gay bishop V. Gene Robinson, a Lexington native. Church leaders were removed by the diocese's executive council on Jan. 7, after they allegedly failed to follow proper procedures for hiring a new minister.
Read moreThe vote, taken on the last day of the diocese's annual convention, had wide support among the 700 delegates gathered at a Reston hotel -- a sign, many said, of the desire not to let their differences lead to an open split. "What we're trying to figure out is how to stay together and proclaim the Gospel while we fight over what portions of the Gospel mean -- and it's just portions that we're fighting over," said the Rev. Lauren R. Stanley, associate rector of St.
Read moreUnder church law, the acting primate is the senior metropolitan by election, in this case Archbishop David Crawley, Metropolitan of British Columbia and Yukon and Bishop of Kootenay.
Archbishop Crawley, 66, has said that he does not wish to allow his name to stand in the primatial election.
Read moreTownsend said the label doesn't seem to fit, since the cemetery in the old church where she attends services contains the graves of several ancestors, and she has a plot there herself. Relatives buried in the old cemetery include George Pawley, one of the two men who bought the land in 1745 for use as a church.
Read more * Roman Catholic Church
* Russian Orthodox Church
* Coptic Orthodox Church
* Syrian Orthodox Church
* Armenian Orthodox Church
"I think the Episcopalian Church is very strong and we have many more thing s in common than we have differences," delegate John Lansche of Charlotte said of Friday's actions. "To me, this says the delegates are behind the bishop."
The Diocese of North Carolina is one of three Episcopal dioceses in the state and includes most of the state's largest congregations, in Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad and the Triangle.
Read moreThe bishop, under fire from some who say the move could split the church, also predicted victory on that step in a vote by diocesan clergy and lay leaders at the annual convention scheduled for June.
Read moreClarifying his own place in the disagreement after months of silence, the newly installed bishop said he would not ordain active homosexuals or allow their unions to be celebrated, but promised to oppose any limits on the diocese's participation in the national Episcopal Church.
Read more"If you must make a choice between heresy and schism, always choose heresy," said the Rt. Rev. Peter J. Lee to 500 Episcopalians meeting for the annual diocesan council at the Hyatt Regency in Reston.
"For as a heretic, you are only guilty of a wrong opinion," Bishop Lee said, quoting Presbyterian scholar James McCord. "As a schismatic, you have torn and divided the body of Christ. Choose heresy every time."
Read moreThe Rt Revd Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, England, has chaired
the working party on the Theology of Women in the Episcopate since it
was created in July 2000, and the culmination of its work has resulted
in a report being drafted for consideration. The House of Bishops of the
Church of England met this week in the lead up to the annual February
gathering of the General Synod in London, and one of the items on their