Churches appeal for new bishop
But Episcopal congregations say they're willing to negotiate futures with Bishop Howard.
By JEFF BRUMLEY, The Times-Union

Six North Florida Episcopal congregations are willing to negotiate their futures with Bishop John Howard but are also asking international church leaders to help them secure a different bishop to oversee them.

A spokesman for the bishop welcomed the churches' willingness to talk but regretted to hear they appealed their case to the archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

"It's disappointing that political tactics are being used -- real disappointing," said the Rev. Canon Kurt Dunkle, the bishop's chief of staff.

The congregations and their priests are at odds with Howard for not distancing himself and his Jacksonville-based Episcopal Diocese of Florida from the Episcopal Church USA. The churches say the denomination violated Scripture by electing an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003.

On Friday, Howard rejected the congregations' June request that he temporarily assign them another bishop, saying it amounted to a "divorce" between the churches and the diocese. But Howard said he was open to discussing a less comprehensive form of alternative oversight for them.

The Rev. Sam Pascoe, rector at Grace Church in Orange Park, said the churches' only concern is that the oversight allow them to conduct their ministries "with a clean conscience."

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