Episcopal church faces another showdown over gays
By Michael Conlon
Wed Mar 22, 8:18 AM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Episcopal Church is headed for another showdown over homosexuality in a rift that has already shaken the worldwide Anglican church family to which it belongs, and threatens even more division.

The next flashpoint will occur in an unlikely place -- Columbus, Ohio -- where the Episcopal Church's triennial general convention will have to confront the issue again, and may even have to decide whether a second openly gay person should be made a bishop. While the meeting does not take place until June, developments have already begun to play out.

Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, said in a recent BBC interview his church "is not just going to settle down quietly into being a federation. My anxiety about it is that if (the church family) is broken we may be left with even less than a federation." the rest